The Karate Kid

Covar · Mar 7, 2014

[CONTAINER][POSTER]

[/POSTER][MOVIE]Title: The Karate Kid

Tagline: A Challenge He Never Imagined. A Teacher He Never Expected.

Genre: [GENRE]Action[/GENRE], [GENRE]Adventure[/GENRE], [GENRE]Drama[/GENRE], [GENRE]Family[/GENRE]

Director: [DIRECTOR]Harald Zwart[/DIRECTOR]

Cast: [ACTOR]Jaden Smith[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Jackie Chan[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Taraji P. Henson[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Yu Rong-Guang[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Tess Liu[/ACTOR], [ACTOR]Xu Ming[/ACTOR]

Release Date: [RELEASE]2010-06-10[/RELEASE]

Runtime: [RUNTIME]140[/RUNTIME]

Plot: [PLOT]12-year-old Dre Parker could have been the most popular kid in Detroit, but his mother's latest career move has landed him in China. Dre immediately falls for his classmate Mei Ying but the cultural differences make such a friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre's feelings make him an enemy of the class bully, Cheng. With no friends in a strange land, Dre has nowhere to turn but maintenance man Mr. Han, who is a kung fu master. As Han teaches Dre that kung fu is not about punches and parries, but maturity and calm, Dre realizes that facing down the bullies will be the fight of his life.[/PLOT][/MOVIE][/CONTAINER]

Ravenpoe · Mar 7, 2014

This movie is cheesy as fuck but I still lo-oh... it's the new one.

Well... still wasn't bad, but I felt like little smith was too young for the role, and the whole setting it in china and making it about kung fu kinda makes the title no longer make sense. But it was a decent story, and Jackie Chan played a great role.

But is it the best around? Nope.

Covar · Mar 7, 2014

Supposedly everyone on set called it the Kung-fu Kid. Jackie Chan didn't find out about the original name until they were in the States to promote it.

I think it's a surprisingly strong remake, hitting a lot of the right notes of the original story while updating things that don't make sense outside of the 80s (Jackie Chan was obviously not a soldier in WW2 and his family weren't in US internment camps). I think a lot of people can't get passed the name.

filmfanatic · Mar 7, 2014

Covar said:
Supposedly everyone on set called it the Kung-fu Kid. Jackie Chan didn't find out about the original name until they were in the States to promote it.

I think it's a surprisingly strong remake, hitting a lot of the right notes of the original story while updating things that don't make sense outside of the 80s (Jackie Chan was obviously not a soldier in WW2 and his family weren't in US internment camps). I think a lot of people can't get passed the name.

Actually, it was originally called The Kung Fu Kid. I'm guessing a producer forced the name change in an attempt to sell it on name branding.

tegid · Mar 7, 2014

Covar said:
Supposedly everyone on set called it the Kung-fu Kid. Jackie Chan didn't find out about the original name until they were in the States to promote it.

I think it's a surprisingly strong remake, hitting a lot of the right notes of the original story while updating things that don't make sense outside of the 80s (Jackie Chan was obviously not a soldier in WW2 and his family weren't in US internment camps). I think a lot of people can't get passed the name.

Super agree. I think the original is only a clear winner due to nostalgia (*gasp*)

Enviado desde mi GT-I8190 mediante Tapatalk

filmfanatic · Mar 7, 2014

tegid said:
Super agree. I think the original is only a clear winner due to nostalgia (*gasp*)

Enviado desde mi GT-I8190 mediante Tapatalk

True, '80s nostalgia might be a factor. While the remake does have a stronger backstory for Mr. Han (the Miyagi character), I thought that going with kids rather than teenagers was not as effective, along with giving it a wider scope not working quite as well as the tight focus of the original's setting.

ThatNickGuy · Mar 7, 2014

I liked this a lot more than I expected to. It's not even remotely as iconic as the original, but I think Jaden Smith carries (or at least carried in this movie) a lot of the same charm his dad has. And Jackie Chan put in a pretty good performance. He played a very different kind of character from Mr. Miyagi and I think that works to the movie's favour.

Dave · Mar 9, 2014

Stop trying to make Jaden Smith a star. It's not going to happen. He has no emotional range and his acting is wooden and just not believable. I know you have lots of money and pull, daddy Will, but your kid just doesn't got it.

Ravenpoe · Mar 9, 2014

Dave said:
Stop trying to make Jaden Smith a star. It's not going to happen. He has no emotional range and his acting is wooden and just not believable. I know you have lots of money and pull, daddy Will, but your kid just doesn't got it.

Let's make the Smith's a deal. Jaden can be in movies, but you have to keep Willow from making any more 'music'.