(2012-04-29 01:38:35)

Not The Karate Kid

While this is a technically sound movie, in of its own right, the use of the title, from a classic movie AND one that actually is involved with Karate is the travesty.This movie has NOTHING to do with karate. Several other martial arts forms are actually used. This was another blatant attempt by Hollywood to suck in an audience because they are expected something that the movie does not offer. I am a serious Jackie Chan fan but I feel that he has betrayed my faith in him by making this movie. Maybe if they had given it some other name I would not be as upset about what I feel is a total lie.

(2012-04-28 08:24:53)

Entertaining

This review is from: The Karate Kid (Amazon Instant Video) By no means Academy Award bound but an enjoyable remake with a few changes. Enjoyed the location change to China an obvious upgrade from Reseda California. Overacting on the Mothers' part but thoroughly impressed with Jaden Smiths' performance. But then again comes from movie star stock, the beautiful Jada Pinkett Smith, and fresh prince Will Smith, so was not any big surprise in his ability to provide a stellar performance. Always enjoy Jackie Chan but only a teaser in this flick of his usual physical humorous stunts,acrobatics and signature antics. Actually think Pat Morita (Mr Miyagi) was a much more rounded and well developed character in the first. Never really cared much for Ralph Macchio and considered him the weak link in a great movie in the original version. He got lucky with a couple of great movie parts My Cousin Vinny and Karate Kid. Probably had a relative in the casting departments. This remake out shines the sequels by leaps and bounds and is close to if not equaling the original film.

Michael_Elliott

(2012-04-28 09:36:18)

Decent Remake But Too Many Issues

Karate Kid, The (2010) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Remake of the 1984 classic has Jaden Smith in the role of Dre, a11-year-old boy who moves from Detroit to China when his mother (TarajiP. Henson) needs a job. Once there Dre begins to get bullied by someneighborhood kids but Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) agrees to take him underhis wing and prepare him for an upcoming tournament where he will faceoff against the bad kids. I'll start off by saying that this film isn'tanything close to the original. That's as far as I will go in comparingthe two versions. This 2010 film starts off horribly and I was reallyshocked at how much I was hating this film for the first hour. I had alot of problems with the film and most of it dealt with the screenplay.I thought the Dre character was downright annoying and I had a veryhard time giving any sympathy to him. I also had a major problem withthe role of his mother who certainly should win an award for thedumbest mother of the year. She really, really got on my nerves as sheseemed so stupid as she didn't seem to understand why her young sonwould have issues moving half way across the world even if he wasn'tgetting picked on. I thought the first half of the film didn't do Mr.Han any favors either as we get a few really bad nods to the originalmovie and sadly it takes Chan a little bit to warm up to the role. Atabout the hour mark is when the film expands and it generally getsbetter throughout the rest of the overly-long 140-minute running time.I thought the highlight of the movie were the terrific scenes in Chinawhere we get some amazing visuals that are perfectly captured in the2.40:1 widescreen picture. These visuals are certainly the highlight ofthe film as the vivid colors just jump right off the screen. Anothermajor plus are the actual fight scenes that are well shot and I'd saythey contain some pretty good drama. As I said earlier, Chan has a hardtime warming into the role but once the training start it seems thatthe actor gets everything together and delivers a fine performance. Weget to see Chan with a bit more drama than normal and I thought hehandled it well. Henson does what she can with the role of the motherbut the screenplay doesn't do her any justice. Smith, on the otherhand, just isn't an actor....yet. Perhaps he'll grow into somethingspecial but as of yet I haven't been impressed with anything he's doneand if you take away his famous last name then there's no doubt in mymind that he wouldn't be getting top billing in anything. He justdoesn't have the dramatic range that the character needs and even thescenes where he gets angry just made me laugh because the actorcouldn't pull it off. As you can tell, there's a lot of good and a lotof bad in this 2010 version of THE KARATE KID. I'm sure many young kidsmight identify with the character but as an adult I had a very hardtime getting into the picture due to the rather weak screenplay. Thisisn't a totally worthless film but it's too bad more couldn't have beendone with it.

(2012-04-27 21:18:32)

t-bone

This review is from: The Karate Kid (DVD) the product was great and in great condition and lastly arrived in a timely fashion

(2012-04-27 13:16:55)

SUPRISINGLY GOOD REMAKE

I was a big fan of the Karate Kid series of movies back in the '80's (okay, well not that one with Hillary Swank) and a couple of coworkers who had seen this one told me not to expect much with this film, so going in I wasn't expecting to like it so much. Plus, in many films I've seen with Jackie Chan, he can get a tad annoying in my opinion. However, this movie was nothing but a pleasant surprise! Yes, the story did drag a bit at times, and I thought they would have been smarter to have shortened it, nor do I think we needed the scene where we learn about Master Han's tragedy. It didn't really add anything to the story in my opinion, though I suppose it was told so that he appeared multi-faceted, not just the guy teaching Kung Fu to the kid. I was really surprised that they added a lot of details and elements from the first two Karate Kid movies into this film - the thing with using the chopsticks to catch flies, the kid doing manual labor to gain muscle memory for use in martial arts (you know, the wax on/wax off thing), they even managed to get a Chinese version of that d-bag from the 1st Karate Kid film - "strike first, strike hard, show no mercy!" The film did a nice job of recreating a lot of those details and themes from the Karate Kid (1984) yet managed to be its own unique film as well. The ending was great too, expected, but a nice take on the classic. FINAL GRADE: B+

DrooRadley

(2012-04-26 19:50:10)

A remake that actually surpasses the original

The remake takes the basic plot of the original 1984 film and makesjust a few cosmetic changes to it. The main character, instead of awhite teenager (named Daniel-san) who moves from Jersey to California,is now a black 12 year-old (named Dre Parker) that moves from Detroitto China. Instead of learning karate from an old Japanese guy, helearns kungfu from Jackie Chan. And you wouldn't be the first to thenask "why isn't it called the Kungfu kid then?" But really, does itmatter? The fighting style is different, but the soul of the movie, I'mhappy to report, is the same.Something that occurred to me early on was that in the movie poster andopening credits, Jaden Smith gets top billing. Yeah, he's playing theeponymous character and all, and he did a pretty good job in Pursuit ofHappiness, but the other guy is Jackie Chan, a legendary superstar inboth the Eastern and Western movie scene! There were so many ways whereSmith could've gone wrong: he could've easily just played it easy andjust been a shallow character throwing Fresh Prince attitude around inan Asian society (like Lil Bow Wow in Tokyo Drift), but he insteadchanneled a truly frightened and vulnerable little boy. And that's whyhe earns that top billing.From the opening scene where he and his mother are moving out ofDetroit, Smith just sucks you in with his innocence and sweetness. Nomacho bravado; just a kid who's sad he's leaving his home. And here hesidesteps another landmine – he could've just been this mopey kidchanneling sad puppy-dog eyes for the entire movie like Frodo, but whenhe meets the cute Chinese girl that snags his heart, the charming FreshPrince genes in him comes out to play.In the original movie, Daniel-san was a teenager who moved interstate.Smith's character is a kid who moved to a completely different country.As an American kid in China who can barely speak a word of Chinese, heis not only even more isolated, but his age also means he is less ableto deal with the dramatic change in lifestyle. He's scared, he'slonely, and you can see this on his face even before the bully makeshis entrance and smacks the crap out of him.And here is why Smith is such a good young actor. A lot of actors areafraid to look like scared little wimps on camera because it's not veryglam, but Smith goes there. He goes way out there, and you will see onthe screen a scared little boy who's barely holding it together. Andthis is where the movie really works, and this is why Jaden Smithreally earns his top billing. Dre Parker is more likable thanDaniel-san, and Smith does the scared little boy character so well thatyour heart will just crack into a hundred pieces for him. Daniel-sanfought in that tournament because he's the underdog and he wants to putthe bully in his place, but Dre fights because he doesn't want to beafraid anymore. And because of this one key factor, this deeperconnection with the protagonist, I think the new film is a lot betterthan the original, iconic it may be.And as for the fight sequences, it's both brutal and stylish, and notonly does it surpass the original in terms of stunt work, but it canreally hold its own against other kungfu movies. And these are littlekids that are fighting too! I'm not going to spoil it, but wait tillyou see Jaden Smith's version of the Crane Kick. It's awesome.How does Jackie Chan compare with Pat Morita? Well, Jackie Chan made acareer for himself by playing the bumbling clown who can also do crazystunts. In this movie, he only fights once, and he plays a more subduedand serious role. And while Smith's acting clearly outshines Chan's, itis actually pretty good to see Jackie Chan just play a regular guy. Hissurrogate father relationship with Smith played out extremely well, andyou can see quite a good chemistry between the two. Chan's side-storyabout his family is one of the weaker parts of the story, but itdoesn't detract much from the story.Rounding off the coming-of-age stories in this movie is of course, thelove arc involving the Chinese girl. The scenes of Dre trying to Romeothe girl were so funny and sincere that it really didn't feel likefluff in between the cool fight scenes at all. This arc was more thanjust a reason for Dre to enter the tournament to fight the bully,because the blossoming relationship between the two really showed hischaracter growing from a boy to a young man. It reminded you ofchildhood innocence, and once again made Smith's character so much morereal.The movie is far from perfect though, with a few moments that justpulls you out and makes you go "what the hell?" Like Dre's mother, forexample. I don't care how proud of your son you are, but when your boyis getting beat within inches of his life, you don't cheer for him toget up. And while I can buy how good Dre becomes at kungfu under JackieChan's tutelage, there are just some things he does in the tournamentthat are way too impressive and makes you ask "when did he learn that?"But these moments are few and far between, and it only takes you out ofthe experience for a few seconds before you get back into the excitingride.When this movie was announced, I didn't think it was necessary toremake the 1984 movie. But now that I've seen it, I'm glad they didbecause for once, the remake surpasses the sequel.

(2012-04-23 08:16:06)

Excellent Movie !

This review is from: The Karate Kid [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) This is one of my best movies of all time so far !!!! i will always love this movie !!!! i would recommend this to everyone that likes this kind of movie and personally one of my favorite bonuses is the Justin Bieber music video and i am a huge Justin Fan !!!!!! excellent movie !!!!!!!! 5 star

billandbonnie

(2012-04-22 15:50:33)

This remake represents the highest form of flattery

The old adage says that "imitation is the highest form of flattery".But there is a form of flattery that represents an even greater art -imitation which results in a superior product than the original. So itwas with Mozart's aping of Haydn's symphonies - he took a form stylizedby a predecessor and made it better. So it is with this "Karate Kid"movie. The original, while seldom proclaimed a "great" movie bycritics, was nonetheless a good story told with style and depth - henceits success and longevity. Its immediate successors (sequels) were goodentertainment but never reached the apex of the original. However, thismovie is in many ways better than the original "Karate Kid". I believethat most likely this is because a much larger budget and more creativepeople were involved in this project. I am not afraid of giving awayinformation that would consider "spoiling" because I believe that mostpeople seeing this film have already seen the original - who hasn't?The entire story line is represented point by point - young boy isuprooted from his home with only his mother and gets his ass kicked byolder boys who are tutored by a vindictive merciless instructor whoencourages their bullying. The young boy is in turn mentored by anunassuming martial arts master who reveals the mysteries of the Orientas well as martial arts prowess. In the grand finale, young boy kicksass himself and, against great odds and unfair play, wins thetournament - and his self respect (and the girl). Even the samesubplots and back story are there - tragedy in the life of the mentorand a love interest for the young boy. Major plot lines of the originalare kept intact, some almost verbatim;the boy is set upon by severalyoung hooligans and saved by the mysterious older master, themalevolent opposing martial arts instructor attempts to win thetournament by foul play ("Sweep the leg" in the original and "Break hisleg" in this remake). One part that does not work as well in thisremake is Mr Han's drunken episode compared to the same sequence in theoriginal that almost won Pat Morita an Oscar. One reason I think thatthis film works better than the original is that it is set IN theOrient,emphasizing the "stranger in a strange land" emotions of theyoung boy. Jada Smith plays the part of the young boy on a consistentlycooler level than Ralph Macchio did - and he's prettier too. But "TheKarate Kid" was a good story to begin with, and greater talent and agreater budget (beautiful cinematography of Chinese landmarks anddisplays of Asian culture and people) make this a much better film.

(2012-04-17 17:21:04)

Outstanding movie.

This review is from: The Karate Kid (DVD) This is one of my top favorite movies. Jaden Smith is a gifted actor and all the characters are well cast. Jackie Chan makes a superb "Mr. Myagi" as Mr. Han, but also gives a lot of validity to the film as a martial arts movie. Great story, realistic characters, amazing fighting choreography. Very high re-watch value as well.

(2012-04-17 03:54:34)

Jam packed full of heart, Jackie Chan gets to do serious acting, and Jaden Smith is going to be a powerhouse!

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lillyduncanr

(2012-04-16 09:14:16)

The Karate Kid

I really think they should have called this The Kung Fu Kid. It hasnothing to do with karate! I was disappointed with the film because itcopied so many scenes exactly from the original classic The Karate Kid.You can't rewrite a classic like the original Karate Kid. If they hadnot copied scenes from the original movie the movie would have beenbetter. Secondly all though Jaden Smith is a fine actor I think forthis type of fighting the main actor should have been 17 or 18. Thefilm has some good points like the scenery in China and is worth awatch at least once. But if you were a fan of the first movie in 1984you might be disappointed with this remake. I give it 2 stars.

(2012-04-15 15:02:42)

Nice remake of the original

This review is from: The Karate Kid (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (Blu-ray) I've always been a fan of the original Karate Kid series, even the Next Karate Kid despite folks being critical of it. In this remake, the settings have changed and all cultural and marshal art techniques were adjusted appropriate from Japanese to Chinese, and Karate to Kung Fu. Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith both were surprising good acting in their respective roles, which are new to both of them. Generally the blueprint is the same, especially with the way the tournament progressed.The blue ray has slightly clearer picture than DVD version on 1080p. I love the featurettes, which introduce three key areas of China involved in the film: Beijing, the Great Wall, and the Wu Dang mountains (founding place of Kung Fu). The Chinese lessons are cute for viewers just wanna have fun with few phrases.The blu-ray, DVD, and the featurettes together are definitely worth the price.

henry_intheuk

(2012-04-14 20:57:24)

Good, solid entertainment

If you have seen the original then the plot wont be a massive surprise.When I sat down to watch this film I was expecting very little however,I am pleased so say that I found the film very entertaining and the 2hr20min flashed passed. Young Smith is not bad at all. Mr Chan is gettingbetter with age. When it comes to the fight scenes I have to say theyoung lad is amazing, fit flexible and knows the moves. Veryconvincing. The cinematography is awesome, even managed to get somemajor landmarks in there. It also have some good cultural references.My only word of warning is do not expect a master piece. If you areafter a nice evening in and don't mind the cheesy plot, you will enjoythis piece of light entertainment.

(2012-04-14 10:05:44)

Fun, exciting, and beautiful to watch

vaguely remember the first Karate Kid movie, so I did not go into this remake with comparisons to the original film. I was just hoping for an enjoyable movie experience - and that is what I got.The Karate kid in this movie is Jaden Smith, the son of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith. Jaden plays the character Dre, a kid who is enjoying his life in Detroit until his widowed mother Sherry (played by Taraji P. Henson) moves the family to China due to a job transfer. Scenes of Detroit only make cameo appearances at the beginning of the movie as Dre and Sherry leave all their family and friends at their old Detroit apartment and drive to Detroit Metro Airport.Sherry dreams of a grand, new life in China for herself and Dre. But day one, Dre makes some very violent enemies from a group of boys that are masters at Kung Fu. In short, these boys beat the snot out of Dre and take away all his self-confidence and Detroit swagger. Enter Mr. Hun (played by Jackie Chan), the apartment building handy man, who turns out to be a Kung Fu master himself. Mr. Hun agrees to train Dre for a Kung Fu tournament where Dre will have to face his fears and fight these bullies to regain his life.I really loved a lot of the aspects of this movie. The story borrows enough from the first movie to be familiar, but updates it to be more current. Dre is a typical kid with a little too much attitude and swagger for his own good. He learns from his journey that respect, honor, hard work, and discipline are very important. He also learns that facing his fear is the only way he is going to be able to gain control of his life.Besides the good storyline, the visual beauty in this film is stunning. The movie is filmed in some of the most beautiful places in China including the Birds Nest, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall. Even simple scenes in the movie are visually eye-catching.I love Jackie Chan and he was very convincing as a troubled man who finds redemption by helping Dre learn Kung Fu. Also Jackie gets to do some of his trick fighting in this movie which was funny and very enjoyable to watch. Jaden Smith is a fine actor and overall he shows acting skills way beyond his years. But at times I think his over the top comical jestering was too much an imitation of his father Will Smith's Fresh Prince antics.Some of my pains with the movie are some of the most exciting parts - the fight scenes. As a mother, it was hard at times to watch a 12 year old child get beat up by bullies, but the kids in the theater (including my son) had no issues with it. The movie is also long - almost 2 1/2 hours, but it did not feel long to me and my son said it could have been longer as long as there were more fight scenes.My son declared the movie was "awesome" and he will be going back to see it with his Karate school. I totally agree that this movie was fun, exciting, and beautiful to watch - definitely worth the money.

alschu234

(2012-04-11 18:13:16)

Let's settle the doubts on the Karate Kid

Let me just say that the title Kung Fu Kid doesn't flow like the KarateKid does in no way. Even if he is learning Kung Fu, it doesn't matter.Another topic about the bullies(Cheng and friends) don't even taunt himabout being a karate kid. If you see the international trailer onYouTube then you will hear them say exactly that(the taunt) in thefirst fighting scene. It sounds weird and out of place, so thedirectors and producers must have cut the sound and clip out of thefilm because it didn't fit. Dre over reacting is another thing. I don't see any problem with hisacting skill all around.In the scene where Dre is trying to learnKarate, he seems not in to it, not over reacting. He over reacts whenhis mom tells him to pick up his jacket if that's what people arementioning.Overall this movie was a creative, non stop action film. It is myfavorite movie and I love it! Jaden was a perfect kid for the job, andI'm sure this will score him some more major motion picture movies.Thank you Will and all the cast and directors for a more interestingbetter version of the Karate Kid."Remember...always strong".Jackie Chan was the perfect man for the role as Mr Han.

Josiah Astle

(2012-04-11 04:04:49)

"bad word" Rad

I love the Original, this one is great but for different reasons. I'djust see it and make up my own mind about this movie. -Better then theShrek "bad word" or the jonah hill "bad word", im not saying this movieis the next Rush hour or whatever stupid movie with kung fu, im justsaying i went on saw this movie and i didn't want to leave after thefirst 20 minutes like every movie that has come out this decade. Ithink if you take your kid to this you wont be bored and neither willyour child. The only thing you will worry about is how much of themovie will you miss going to the bathroom because it was like 2 and ahalf hours long. See it, you wont regret it. if your broke, sneak in

david-2829

(2012-04-08 15:14:19)

Sticks close to the original storyline with new characters and a gorgeous setting

A decent re-imagining of the classic "Karate Kid" (1984), that followsthe basic storyline closely but changes the characters and locations.As a big fan of the original, it was fun to see so many plot elementsintact (the big bully, the romance between two mismatched individuals,the calm and good-natured mentor, etc.) In fact, the closeness of thestory allows for the funniest moment in the film - having to do withthe chopsticks & catching a fly!I really enjoyed seeing China on film: from the Forbidden City to theBird's Nest, the Great Wall to the mountain-top temple... it's gorgeousand still feels fresh. Jackie Chan did a very good job as the "Mr.Miyagi", although it's hard not to wish for Pat Morita's warm smile andunique voice. "Aii, Danielson"What really spoils this movie from being great is that it tries to makeeverything bigger and better than the original. The fighting isrougher, the "bad" instructor is over-the-top (way out of character),the romance is an even bigger stretch, etc. Even the running time isexpanded at well over 2 hours! Another problem is that instead of ateenage boy finding his way in a new location, you have what appears tobe an 11-year old boy in a role that is 6 years too early! Original: Sweep the leg New: Break the leg... Original: Wins with"Crane Technique" New: Wins with some one-legged back-flipimpossibility Original: Learns special moves by doing hard labor New:Learns special moves by repeating jacket on, jacket offAre we really supposed to believe that picking up a jacket teaches youhow to duck a kick to the head? It's a fine line to make something alittle fantastical without exceeding the audience's ability to suspendbelief... and this Karate Kid snaps the line early on. Enough nit-picking though. It was an enjoyable film - especially forfans of the original. While not destined for the category of classiclike the original - at least they made a respectable, spirited film.

teddyunderhill

(2012-04-08 02:48:14)

Very Very Poor Execution of the Exact Script of the Original

This film is a perfect example of how difficult it is to actually makea good film. Even using a proved script and story that led to amonumental film in 1984 couldn't save this reboot. It is simply awfulin every way. Poor acting, poor cinematography, poor directing, poorediting, poor poor poor. The best scenes from the original areinexplicably absent. In the original, Daniel spends half the filmworking on Mr. Miyagi's house. He is forced to do the work because hemade the promise of "i karate teach and you karate learn". In thisfilm, Dre hangs up a jacket "a thousand times" and then knows kung fu.They had the opportunity to really cross the generational gap by comingup with some original takes on "paint the fence", "wax the car", "sandthe floor". I remember as a kid spending hours joking around withfriends mimicking these motions. Now kids just get to hang up theirjacket? I'm sure their parents love that their kids hang up jackets nowbut they are just missing out. I'm surprised they didn't do "make yourbed", "brush your teeth", "clean the dishes". If they are going tofollow the original script then either fully commit or don't commit atall. This movie couldn't figure out if it was making fun of theoriginal, redoing the original, or just going through some motions.What's shocking is how successful this movie was. It is obviouslybecause of the terrific story and a whole new generation of kidswatching this tale unfold for the first time. And i'm sure parentsloved taking their kids to go see it because they can share somethingthat meant so much to them 25 years ago. Let me save everyone fromsitting through this mess and suggest that you can experience thisstory with your kids by watching the original. Even today, the originalstands up much better than this disaster. this is easily my worstattempt at a review on IMDb and that's exactly what this film deserved.Long Live Daniel San.

lilmissthangof09

(2012-04-07 12:47:02)

The Whole Package

If I could comment on the likeness of Jaden Smith to his father, WillSmith, in any way, I would note how incredibly talented and versatilehe was in this film!! He's a very talented, believable child actor- amale Dakota Fanning, and Jackie Chan, of course was perfect. This moviewas fun and exciting, and I enjoyed every part of it! It was niceseeing Jackie Chan in a more dramatic role. I really didn't notice howlong the movie was. Aside from the stereotypical angry black mother, Icouldn't find any clichГѓВ©s. Harold Zwart did a great job in creating hisown spin on the Karate Kid moves of the 1980's, while still playinghomage. A truly enjoyable movie experience for the whole family.

collipal-1

(2012-04-07 03:36:52)

A horrible and terribly boring experience

I do not wanna make unfair comparisons between this new version of TheKarate Kid and the famous original film, because even though that oneis undoubtedly one of the most iconic films from the 80's, I havepersonally never found it to be exceptional or very memorable.So, I wasnot upset by the various changes screenwriter Christopher Murphey madeto this modern interpretation, starting by the new setting of thestory, its melodrama and the change from "karate" to "kung fu".Theproblems I had with this horrible new version mainly were its poorscreenplay, its lazy rhythm and the lack of enthusiasm and credibilityfrom almost all the actors.But, most of all, I was bothered by the"americanism" from the story, which irritated me a lot during theexcessive running time (140 minutes) from this film.In summary, I couldnever get interested in what was happening during this predictable andtedious movie.The first hour from The Karate Kid bored me to tears because itconstantly shows us the discontent from the kid, his difficulties toadapt himself to the new setting and his antipathetic attempts to being"cool".Fortunately, after all that, Jackie Chan appears, and hiscredible performance is one of the few positive elements from themovie.However, the whole screenplay is so bad that his presence doesnot improve the movie too much...instead of being atrocious like in thefirst hour, the film is "only" horrible in the remaining time.So, allin all, the final experience of The Karate Kid (2010) is truly hateful.But, I guess nobody is going to watch The Karate Kid (2010) toappreciate the subtleness from the drama, but to watch an inspiringstory about overcoming and martial arts.And the movie also fails onthat aspect, because we have already seen TOO MANY movies about brave"losers" who overcome to themselves with effort and dedication with thehelp of friendly mentors.In summary, The Karate Kid (2010) is a piece of crap which is tedious,bland and even antipathetic.In other words, my best suggestion is foryou not to watch this movie.