Reel Review : The Karate Kid

PLOT: When his mothers career gets her transfered to Beijing, twelve-year old Dre (Jaden Smith) is forced to leave his friends in Detroit behind for a new life in China. Once there, he becomes the target of a group of bullies, each of whom are experts in Kung Fu. After being rescued by a local handyman, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), Dre manages to convince the reluctant kung-fu master to take him on as a pupil, so he can compete in a local tournament, which he hopes will get the bullies off his back once and for all.



*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I have always been neutral of the idea of movie remakes. While an interesting concept may deserve a reuse at a different era and produced with higher quality, we all know too well that it is the producers hoping to capture a bigger audience by remaking a movie many people have become familiar with. And too often, the values of good film making gets thrown out the window because marketing is all that matters for them.

Such was almost the case for The Karate Kid, a remake of the 80s hit movie but has close to nothing about karate. Instead, our hero picks up kung fu in the land of China, making the title quite a shameless and blatant attempt to draw audiences who remember the original. In The "Karate" Kid, 12-year-old American boy Dre Parker is forced to move to China with his mother due to her career. As he tries to adapt to his new home, he falls for the local girl Mei Ying, which brings him to the wrath of the martial arts savvy bully Cheng, and his gang. Constantly harassed and with nowhere to turn to in the foreign land, rescue comes in the form of the cranky maintenance man, Mr Han, who turns out to be a master of kung fu. With Han as his master, Dre must now stand up to his bullies in the upcoming kung fu tournament to end their feud and earn their respect.

Jaden Smith impresses here as the film's star, handling the action and emotional scenes in a performance his famous father would well approve of. As Dre, he delivers competently a youngster's transformation from the rash rebel to the calm and mature martial artist. And Jackie Chan shows that he could well survive on his acting chops alone in his brilliant delivery of Mr Han, the wise yet disturbed kung fu master.

Being a remake, there was very little work needed for the plot, which brings us to the attention of the smaller details. And this is where the movie shines. Director Harald Zwart has managed to utilize the charisma and chemistry of Chan and Smith to great effect; from Dre's little gestures to comforting his heartbroken master, there is so much this movie can claim is uniquely it's own.

And although the film does get unnecessarily draggy at times, with quite a number of subplots that are slightly unevenly played out, the training scenes and final battle accomplishes its job in engaging the viewer. As the audience cheered and clapped at the triumphant scenes, it became apparent to me that this remake had managed to capture much of the essence and spirit of the original. Overall, The Karate Kid is a highly enjoyable family film and a fine example of a remake capable of standing on it's own.

B+