THE KARETE KID 2010

THE KARATE KID, starring Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan and Taraji P. Henson, is a story about a bullied boy who learns self-defense and much more under...Work causes a single mother to move to China with her young son; in his new home.

First off, the casting was brilliant. Obviously Jackie Chan is the greatest living martial artist on the planet. He has more film credits and more stunts than almost any living actor. Since I live in Asia, I am probably more aware than most Americans of his tireless activities and charity works off camera. He did no-smoking campaigns in Hong Kong, save the tigers in Cambodia, and promoted world peace, fitness and martial arts everywhere else. Plus, he makes me laugh. The man has made a career out of being the funny, but unbelievably talented Kung Fu movie star. And he just keeps going. He is 56 years old but no one can hold a candle to his martial arts ability.

Pat Morita was Mr. Miyagi. In fact, he said in an interview, that he personally created the Sensei as a character in movies. And I strongly agree. He should be remembered and honored. Butthe new movie is not an exact remake of the old. And the performance of the new actors shouldn’t be degraded by our emotional ties to the originals. The two films both exist and are both good, full stop. And Mr. Miyagi and Mr. Han both exist. And each is great in his own right.

Probably Mr. Han, Chan’s character, won’t be as quoted as often as Miyagi, but that’s because his lines were in Chinese. And the pronunciation is difficult for many westerners.

When I first heard Jaden Smith was playing Dre Parker (Daniel San) my first thought was that he was from an incredibly talented family, son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. I also remembered him from the movie, “The Pursuit of Happyness”, which was great. I didn’t see him in “The Day the Earth Stood Still” because it starred Tom Cruise and I was afraid people would see me buying a ticket.

The only concern I had about Jaden was that he was too young, twelve-years old. While both “Karate Kid” films dealt with being the new kid in school and being the geek that no one liked, two demons which I wrestle with to this very day, the original was about a boy in high school, a boy trying to become a man. Also, the guys who were beating up Daniel San were basically full grown men. When Miyagi defeated them, he was a hero. The kids beating up Jaden Smith were 14. When Mr. Han defeated them, he should have been arrested.

Although I may have gone into the theater with some slight reservations about a film with such a young kid as the focus, those reservations disappeared minutes into Jaden’s performance. The kid is hip, cool, sassy, good looking, and very likeable. The fact that he isthe new kid in school, in China, as opposed to California, means he is facing a bigger challenge than Daniel San and it more than makes up for his lack of years.

Just like in the first movie, Daniel San, Dre gets a crush on a girl who is out of his league. Wen Wen Han the young Chinese actress who plays Mei Ling was excellent. And as a character, she was infinitely more interesting than Ally inthe original . In the film, Mei Ling is a musician trying out for the Beijing Academy of Music, facing her own daemons. Dre teaches her the pinky-swear, and they both promise to support each other’s dreams.

As for sheer action, the kung fu was, of course, incredible, because Jackie Chan, unlike Pat Morita, is actually a martial artist. The modern version of “wax-on, wax-off” was also a pleasant surprise. An article I read aboutthe original said it was one of the only karate movies that was about karate. I definitely felt that way about the new version as well. It was about martial art and about taking martial art to your everyday life.

Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) tells Dre (Jaden Smith) “Kung fu is in everything we do. How we put on a jacket, how we take off a jacket, how we treat people. Everything is Kung Fu.”

On the whole, the greatest strength of the movie is that it is not a remake. This film is not just a modern reboot of the original. It is almost a parallel story, which loosely follows the original formula. There were a lot of really fun references to the original movie. Particularly funny for me, as a Chinese speaker, was the fact that some of the dialogue was exactly the same, except in Chinese.

Notable lines translated into Chinese were, “There is no fear in this dojo” And, “One on one problem, the boy can handle, but not six on one problem.” The one line they did not translate, unfortunately, was “Sweep the leg Johnny.”

As an American living in Asia (I said that already) I completely related to many of Dre’s problems adjusting to his new country. I remember not being able to read street signs, getting lost everywhere I went, stumbling through my first words of Mandarin, and trying to watch cartoons, only to find that they were dubbed into Chinese. In those early silly days in China (ROC) I remember constantly insulting or interrupting people, simply because I didn’t understand the culture and every time I had a problem I had to go to great lengths to find the one person who spoke English well enough to understand me.

I give huge kudos to the US movie-makers and the American viewing audience for getting out of the American bubble and supporting a movie about anAmerican living abroad.

The Kung Fu training center was exactly like my experience in Shaolin Temple, with hundreds or even thousands of students, in colored track suits, doing forms and practicing for hours. And of course, all of them better than me.

Go see “Karate Kid”. Don’t waste time comparing it to the original. Just enjoy it, and let the memories and emotions wave over you. You may even shed a tear or two.

I was watch this movie. 2 times...is a nice movie, you will enjoy want (^)