THE STORY
Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) was your average 12-year-old boy in Detroit until his dad dies and his mom gets a job transfer to China. Dre’s new life in China and his journey of self discovery are documented in the new film, THE KARATE KID. The movie is actually a remake of the original movie released in 1984.
Dre’s first day in China starts well. He meets a new friend and goes to the park where he meets Mei Ying. She is beautiful, a talented violin player and Dre’s school classmate. Dre develops a crush on Mei Ying, but things quickly go from bad to worse when a crew of kung fu bullies beat up Dre and vow to continue to make Dre’s life miserable.
Over the next few days, the kung fu crew continues to bully and hurt Dre. Then, luck again finds Dre in the form of the apartment maintenance man, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who is a kung fu master in disguise. Dre convinces Mr. Han to help him learn kung fu and the training begins. Mr. Han helps Dre to realize that “everything is kung fu” and that the only way that Dre can stop the kung fu bullies is to face them. Dre learns to focus, stay strong and connect to the energy around him while learning the art of kung fu.
THE VERDICT
There are a lot of things wrong with this movie, but there are also a lot of positive things. The wrong things include the fact that the movie is too long and the emphasis on Dre’s training is overdone. However, the main issue is that the title of the movie is wrong! Dre learns kung fu, not karate; the movie should properly be called THE KUNG FU KID! (While it’s true that all martial arts can be labeled as kung fu, the point is that Dre learns kung fu in the movie and not karate.)
Now, for the positive: Jaden Smith does an amazing job and he clearly trained really hard. His character is also inspiring. The scared, defenseless and bullied boy becomes a strong, confident boy. As well, the Beijing scenes shot at the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China were spectacular and the kung fu tournament scenes were exciting and intriguing.
Although the movie feels a little too long, it is still exciting, interesting and fun to watch.
Rating: 3/5