The Karate Kid

If you’re looking for a re-make that finally lives up to the original, then I think you will be pleasantly surprised with The Karate Kid.  Starring Jaden Smith (Dre Parker, our hero karate kid) and Jackie Chan (Mr. Han/Mr. Myagi), we steadily finding ourself remembering what it was like to move to a new place around new people, new cultures, and new adventures.  For those of you who have had to make a move, you can probably relate to what Dre goes through during the course of the movie, however, maybe not on the scale of having to move from a whole different continent and country.

After his mother is seemingly transferred to Beijing, China for her work at a car dealership, young Dre is thrown into the mix from being a young pup in Detroit to an outcast in a uniform clad school in Beijing. We see some of Smith’s father in Jaden from the outset, whether it be from the plane ride to his new home where he is forced to try and speak Chinese to a passenger, only to find out that the passenger is from Detroit causing Jaden to say, “Oh, well, sup?”, or when he is showing off his cornrowed hair to his prospective lady friend.  After causing a rift with the boys at school over his crush, he is basically ambushed by a young man named Cheng, who would rather see Jaden’s love practice her violin rather than play with cornrows.

Following the onslaught, Jaden continues to be tormented at school.  In one scene Dre throws a pail of water/oil onto the group of boys picking on him, and while Dre runs for his life, you keep rooting for him to get away with the act, knowing that he wont.  Once he is caught, he is pummeled and before anymore violence can be done, Mr. Han (Chan) steps in to save the boy from further harm.  This is the set-up for Dre’s transformation from tiny weakling to Kung Fu extraordinare.

After a peace seeking Han tries to squash the issue with the group of boys’ martial arts instructor fails, he throws young Dre into the fire, or in this case, a Kung Fu tournament that could help him gain respect from his peers.  When the training begins Dre, who is chomping at the bit to learn how to defend himself, Han has other things in mind.  Han starts out with the discipline and respect mode, in this case, hanging up your jacket…over and over and over.  This is a tribute to the all famous “wax on, wax off” scene in the original movie.  After coming home after the first day of the jacket toss, his mother asks him what he’s learned.  He is seen hanging his jacket up while telling his mother he has learned nothing.  It is here that we see Han’s methods having an effect on Dre.

After much frustration with the jacket method, Dre is ready to quit.  He questions Han’s knowledge of martial arts, prompting Han to show him what he really knows.  It is here that we see that the jacket method was not only a test of respect, but a conditioning of the hands and body movements that stylize the actual moves of Kung-Fu.  This is where the fun begins.  After rigorous training, and beautifully placed scenes in China, the relationship of Han and Dre begins to become adhesive to the point that Dre becomes solely focused on developing his new skills.

It is here where we get the most powerful scene of the movie.  In a wonderfully displayed acting job by Chan, we learn about his troubled past.  He had lost his wife and child in a tragic car accident, and on the anniversary of that day, we find Dre ready for training, only to see that Han is drinking and demolishing the car that he had once restored.  In an emotional scene, the bond of these two characters comes full force when Dre helps Han out of the car and gets his mind on other things, helping Han escape his troubled past.  The scene thereafter where the viewer can see the two training in the shadows is the most emotional, heartfelt, and beautifully mastered scene in the entire movie.

One must respect and be amazed in the beautiful scenery in which the movie displays throughout the course of the film, whether it be from the mountain climb, the landscaping of the temples in which they walk through, the city scape as Dre runs away from his attackers or even the big videoboard showing the scores of the competitors at the tournament.  The director has truly given us a beautiful, culturally different scope of the world around us.

The music is placed in the perfect spots, especially the gorgeous violin music from Dre’s young crush.  Not enough can be said about how masterful and powerful the music in the spots of this movie help keep the viewer tuned in.

I don’t want to spoil the tournament for anyone, so you should go see it yourself.  However, if you want two wonderful acting performances, one by a young star in the making, and one by an older, more serious Jackie Chan, and you need some good action sequences that don’t have to resort to shoot em’ up tactics or bloody gore fodder, then this is a movie you can’t miss. Take your kids, take your significant other, or even just take yourself, because you will not be disappointed.  I’ll give this movie 4 out of 5 stars. Don’t listen to the ones who say remakes can’t be done, because this one fires on all cylinders.