The Karate Kid (2010)

director: Harald Zwart

writers: Christopher Murphey, story by Robert Mark Kamen

starring: Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan

genre: Family, Sports

As with every remake that comes out we wonder did we really need this film to be remade? Ive seen already this year 4 remakes including this one and thats not counting re-imaginings of films like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. I cant say they were all bad or even some without reason. But what with the lack of ideas these days? But most importanly what with the lack of writers coming up with smarter updates of the films they are remaking. If comic books can run for 60 years with the same characters and still find new ways of developing them and continuing them, couldnt the same happen for films?

The Karate Kid or most correctly the Kung Fu Kid (as it should have been called) is about young Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) and his Mom (Taraji P. Henson) moving to Beijing China for work. There he will be a fish out of water and be confronted cultural shock. As things get better for him he finds racism in school bully's that know Kung Fu and beat him up. To regain his honor he asks for help from the secret skills of his building's maintenance man Mr. Han (Jackie Chan). With Mr. Han's help he will regain his honor with Kung Fu skills by confronting the bully's in a Kung Fu tournament.

Besides the well known story from the original the main changes made are of locale and ages of the main characters. By keeping everything so familiar this remake does nothing to be different than the original. Their is no fresh take and no deviations to the story. New viewers who haven't seen the original will be ok with it but everyone else will be sadly disappointed. The film isn't all bad despite its similarities to the original film. The acting is good, the fighting isn't terrible, the emotional level of the story and lessons are well played and written. But it's not enough to make this film good or worth seeing in the cinema.

Should I recommend this film? and to who is the question. The film is a good option for parents with a family and without a option to see anything in the cinema. For everyone else I cant recommend this film as there are better choices out there. People curious should wait for DVD or see the original film. Or people should instead just go see Inception again or the new film Predators.

Personal Rating:

Review by Paul