I have a confession to make. I've never actually seen the original Karate Kid. It's been in my instant Netflix queue for months now, if not years, but I just haven't gotten around to it. So I figured it wouldn't do me any harm to watch this remake with very limited knowledge of the original movie.
But what seems to be most interesting about this remake is how little in common it appears to have with the original. First of all, there isn't any karate in it. It's all kung fu. Sure, Dre (Jaden Smith) watches a karate video for about 45 seconds, but beyond that it has nothing to do with karate at all.
The movie begins as Dre and his mother (Taraji P. Henson) move from Detroit to Beijing as a result of his mom getting a new job. Immediately he hates it but does become taken with a cute Chinese girl Meiying (Wenwen Han). Of course, family friend Cheng (Zhenwei Wang) doesn't take kindly to this American guy chatting up his crush, so Cheng and his friends proceed to be the crap out of Dre. Personally, I think Dre's first mistake was wearing a Detroit Lions shirt in public. That had to have been a huge sign of weakness, as the Lions' lack of gridiron prowess is probably known throughout the world.
The kids continue to torment Dre until maintenance man Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) steps in and essentially beats the crap out of a group of 12-year-olds. These kids can't have grown up in China, because everybody knows that Jackie Chan can destroy everyone. Haven't they ever seen "Rush Hour"? After Mr. Han helps Dre, they go to the kung fu studio where the tormentors are being taught how to torment. Through an unfortunate series of events, the tormentors back off while Dre trains for the kung fu tournament that Mr. Han just entered him in. Meaning Mr. Han now has to train Dre in the art of kung fu.
The biggest problem, especially at the beginning of the movie, is that Jaden Smith tries way too hard to be cool and essentially be Will Smith. The issue with that is he's not Will Smith. Being Will Smith's kid doesn't mean you have the same presence as your father has. Certain mannerisms are lifted right from his father, and while you can tell that he's his father's son, he certainly doesn't have the same amount of gravitas. Yet, when he tones that down and is just being a cute little kid trying to make his way in this new country, he's surprisingly charming and likable. And it's clear that he put a lot of effort into his training, as in sparring scenes he is rather serviceable against Jackie Chan.
Jackie Chan meanwhile has some rather touching moments himself that add a gravity to the story that I wasn't really expecting. Despite being a film about a kid, the movie does play with some heavier themes, but never gets too bogged down with them. And Taraji P. Henson almost seems to be giving too much in her performance as Ms. Parker. At times it feels as if she's in a different movie than everyone else.
The movie takes its time to get a solid footing, which leads me to believe that much of the beginning could have been cut out of an already long running time of two hours and twenty minutes. But once it does start to grip you, there's almost this Rocky-like quality the movie takes on, especially during the inevitable training montage. A montage elevated by James Horner's score, even though at times it oddly did sound a little too much like Titanic.
The movie succeeds for essentially being a fish out of water coming of age tale by some solid direction by Harald Zwart, a charismatic cast, and the beautiful Chinese backdrop. Despite its status as a remake, The Karate Kid does a solid job as its own movie under circumstances rather removed from the original.
GRADE: B
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