The 1984 original The Karate Kid, starring Ralph Macchio as Daniel Larusso and Noriyuki ‘Pat’ Morita as Mr. Miyagi has a special place in most children of the 80s hearts. A story not just about Japanese martial arts, but also about the cross-cultural, father-son relationship that develops between the lead characters. This is a movie that has gone down in family film history. It is therefore not surprising that when the Smith family (Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith produced the film) were looking for a project for eleven year old Jaden (Pursuit of Happyness) they turned to this 80s classic.
It is fair enough to go into this film with trepidation; not only is it a remake of one of your childhood favourites, it also appears to be a fairly inaccurate one. Set in China and utilising the martial art of Kung-Fu, the title seems oddly redundant (interestingly the film is titled Best Kid in Japan) But in terms of story-arc the 2010 reboot wisely sticks to the original plotline and whilst it doesn’t come up to the standards of its namesake, it is still an enjoyable and entertaining film in its own right.
Directed by Harald Zwart (The Pink Panther 2), the film follows mother, Sherry (Taraji P. Henson, Date Night) and son, twelve year old Dre (Jaden Smith) as they move from Detroit to Beijing. Not happy about the move and feeling isolated in a foreign land, Dre becomes the target of kung-fu trained bullies, led by Cheng (played by a superbly menacing, Zhenwei Wang). Cheng and his friends are bigger and stronger than Dre and have been trained to show their opponents no mercy. Dre’s life in China looks set to be miserable until he is saved from a beating by Mr Han (Jackie Chan), his building’s maintenance man.
Jaden Smith certainly has the charm and screen presence to carry a film, and also the physical and mental stamina. Trained for months by Jackie Chan’s stunt team- Smith is one impressive athletic, as too are all the child actors involved. However there are definite weaknesses to this film, the most obvious being the blown-out running length, no family film should run 140 mins.
While the connection between Smith and Chan is really good when the film is running at fun training montage level, with Smith showing himself to be as hugely likeable an actor as Chan, the story doesn’t hold up as well during the more serious moments. This is probably due to the immaturity of Smith, both as an actor and character; in the original, Daniel Larusso is a teenager, Dre is a few years younger. It is the father-son bond that develops in the original film, that is most missed in this remake; the physical transformation of Dre is handled well, but sadly the emotional one is not fully realised.
Showing both Beijing and Kung-Fu in the best possible light, this updated The Karate Kid film is pleasing to look at and easy to watch. As a children’s film it is the perfect thing to take a younger cousin or niece and nephew along to as an excuse to engage in your own bit of childhood nostalgia. It is up to you to decide whether to show them the original beforehand or not.
First published on Trespass
