The Karate Kid – Review

Sure, they might be remaking our childhood but The Karate Kid is one that’s done right. Even more important, is that The Karate Kid exemplifies why we [Americans] love martial art movies. At its core, it still rallies up our spirits to make us stand up and cheer, but the film works for it. I think many of us were ready to hate this film, but those attitudes are quickly waxed off by Harald Zwart, the film’s director, as he has never delivered anything as good as this film before. It’s a film destined to be shrugged off until one sees it, and then wins them over by the final shot.

And we thought Jackie Chan was washed up, old, and had “lost it”, a fair statement in his American output like A Spy Next Door, but his Mr. Han is one of his best roles he’s had in a decade, regardless of a film’s country of origin.

The film structurally follows the original’s but the new location of China really adds to the film’s meaning and flavor. Zwart must have been in love with China, because his cinematography and framing is beautiful, as we follow Dre (Jaden Smith) as a young, lost boy in a strange land because his mother took a job offer. The film has many new changes from the original, notably the character’s ethnicity switch, which works wonders for the film. The other switch is to China, far different instead of the original film’s California setting, is best the addition, notably for Mr. Han’s teachings of kung fu. It makes the believability that a young 12-year old boy could become who he becomes.

Sure the changes might seem superficial, and they possibly are, but they spice up a story that was originally used Rocky as a template. The underdog story again works, but the film does slightly suffer from a bloated running time. The film is bloated at its 140 minute running time, most noticeably in the second act. Meiying’s and Dre’s romance doesn’t work, mainly because of their age, and they don’t have the chemistry of Elisabeth Shue and Ralph Macchio. Her subplot of her strict parents and her need to get in the Beijing Academy of Music pokes itself up in the main storyline causing the film to wander. A better handling of this and more focus on the evil martial arts teacher could have really helped an already great film.

I know many are confused or annoyed over the title and the fact that Dre learns kung fu instead of karate, by claiming racial ignorance. Yet it isn’t racially ignorant, as the film is called The Kung Fu Kid in Asian markets, and by keeping the title of The Karate Kid, it’s instantly recognizable to us. Whatever, because the only real issue outside its bloated second half, is that you’ll be hard of hearing during the final minutes as audiences will once again be standing up and cheering. 2010′s The Karate Kid is its own thing, far better than the few sequels the original spawned, and sits nicely as a companion to the original classic.

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