Review: The Karate Kid

Were the 1980s that long ago that all the T.V. and films from that era have to be re-made? It seems so with a Footloose remake on the way and the A-Team movie already out another popular franchise has been re-made or 're-imagined' and that being the Karate Kid. The plots of the 2010 Karate Kid and the 1984 original are very similar: a boy moves out of his home with his mother to a new home, there he meets a girl he likes but angers a local gang who beat him up, he is saved by the quiet janitor who knows martial arts, they are challenged by the trainer of the bullies to a fight at the tournament so the janitor trains the young boy up so he can compete. However the similarties end there because the film feels a lot lighter and more innocent than the original thanks to the difference in age between Ralph Maccio and new Karate Kid Jaden (son of Will) Smith. Because Jaden is only 12 in the film, the romantic aspect is taken out and replaced by a cutsie friendship between Smith's Dre and young violinist Mei Ying. Usually a friendship like this would make me physically sick but Smith's charm means that it is lightly done and is never rammed down the audience's throats. However the main difference is that instead of the move across America, Dre and his mother have moved to China and also that the original film's karate has actually been changed to Kung Fu but again this doesn't really matter as the film's basic structure remains the same. Finally the janitor Mr Miagyi has been replaced by Jackie Chan's Mr. Han, again an old man who is skilled in the martial arts and at the same time has some secrets in his past.

I have to say I enjoyed The Karate Kid a lot more than I thought I would. A lot of that is down to Jaden Smith who is on screen throughout, he shares his dad's skill of being quitely cool and charming at the same time and if he picks the right roles should make the transformation from child to adult actor with ease. But it is Jackie Chan that is the revelation, it is the first time that I have seen Chan portray a mostly dramatic role in a Western film. He gives almost a subtle performance to begin with and I barely recognised him in his opening scenes. Both Smith and Chan are able to give a lot of warmth to the relationship between Han and Dre which is at the film's heart and possibly the film's best scene is where Han breaks down and tells Dre what happened to his kids. The film's not perfect, at over two hours long it could do with trimming about 15 minutes off its runtime. For me there were far too many sweeping shots of Chinese landscape and I also found the character of Dre's Mother, played by Taraji P Henson, to be underwritten basically becoming a one-note character whose job it was to yell at Dre at regular intervals thorughout the film. We also never found out what happened to Dre's father who died before the film began, I felt this revelation would have added to the narrative and given more depth to Dre's character.

Overall though this film reminded me of the films I watched when I was growing up. Unlike most other films aimed at teen males, this one doesn't seem to exist purely to sell merchandise instead telling a story with themes of family, friendship and belonging and almost teaching its audience certain values. As this did so well at the Box Office in America a sequel is still being touted with rumors of Will starring alongside his son. Here's hoping that that does happen and that Smith sr. performs a cover of the Peter Cetera classic The Glory of Love.