Jimmy P's House of Movies

I have not seen the original Karate Kid in years, but I know all the beats. This remake of the 1984 classic follows all of these beats to the letter. The fact that the movie is really long winded at 140 minutes shouldn't stop you from enjoying the movie.



The movie stars Jaden Smith as Dre, a twelve year old whose mother is transferred to Beijing. Dre has a hard time fitting in. He is picked on by some bullies who are really good at martial arts.

One day, while he is being beat up, the maintience man, Mr. Han (played with a subduded but focused presense by Jackie Chan) saves Dre and decides to teach him kung fu. What follows is pretty much the same story line from the original but the movie's center is a little different.

In the original, the relationship between the teacher and the student was just that. Here, we get a sense that Mr. Han is disconnected from the world and it is Dre that brings him out of shell. The relationship between the two is beautifully realized here. Chan always plays the nice guy, but here there are layers to his character that we haven't seen in a Jackie Chan role.

People will argue that the stand out actor is Jaden Smith and I am not arguing that he isn't good here. He is very good. He brings a natural vibe to the role as the student. But, for my money, the stand out actor is Chan. He shows us that he can do dramatic work and hopefully he will get more of it here.

The Karate Kid is not as good as the original, but does contain the same heart. People are going to walk away from this movie with a new found respect for Jackie Chan and, hopefully, for martial arts movies too.