The Karate Kid

Let’s not spend too much time comparing the new Karate Kid movie to the seminal 1980s film.  We’ll do it quickly. 

WAXON:  It’s the story of an American kid with a crush on a girl who’s tired of getting bullied so he gets help from a reserved Asian kung fu master and enters a tournament where he fights his enemies.  It’s also called “The Karate Kid.”

WAX OFF:  The emphasis in the new Karate Kid is really more on the “kid” and less on the “karate.”   Each Karate Kid’s target audience is about the same age of the kid in the title role.  Ralph Macchio was a teenager dealing with teenage problems, so 80s teens who weren’t seeing John Hughes movies were checking out The Karate Kid.  Don’t go to the new one for nostalgia, you won’t get it.  Maybe instead you’ll find your 80s nostalgia in The A-Team, also opening this weekend (It’s apparently 80s Remake Weekend. Where’s the Pac-Man movie?).

Jaden Smith is a 12 year-old, so any teenager who actually goes to this will soon feel like he’s too cool for the room.  There’s no pot smoking, no pubescent problems and no old man beating up teenagers.  The Karate Kid Version 2010 is a movie starring a kid made for kids.  Smith plays Dre Parker, an American kid transplanted to Chinawhen his mom gets a new job.  He has a tough time fitting in, thanks to a language barrier and worse, a group of bullies out to get him.  He takes some beatings until he meets up with Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who starts teaching him how to defend himself.

This may be the best actual acting Chan has ever done.  By no means is the best Jackie Chan movie, as he doesn’t get to do much of what he does best – fight.  But in recent years, he’s been stereotyped as the lovable outsider and even though he gets to win fights, it comes off as patronizing.  Here he’s the native, and with the roles reversed, Chan is actually pretty decent.

The acting story of the movie though is Jaden Smith.  He is in virtually every scene and is required to pretty much carry this very long movie, and he almost always delivers.  Dre is a charmer, whether he’s talking to the girl he crushes on or trying to get Mr. Han to do what he wants.  You want to judge the kid on his own talent, but it’s inevitable:  you see his Dad (superstar Will Smith) in those scenes.  He’s so charming; you wonder why the bullies want to beat him up (By the way, Zhenwai Weng as the lead bully is a darn good villain.  For his young age, he’s pretty menacing and not someone even a grownup would want to mess with).

But beat him up they do, and the fighting scenes are also decent.  The tournament itself is suspenseful and you feel every blow.  The best scene though is Mr. Han messing with the bullies.  He can’t go beating up kids, but he pits them against each other in a kind of mocking “why are you hitting yourself?” fashion.

The karate scenes are few and far between though, as director Harald Zwart attempts to teach us all patience by being the Mr. Han to our Dre.  It may be ultimately wise for Dre to have to wait for some action, but a paying audience should demand more.  The Karate Kid is way too long.  Kids in the audience may be able to relate to Dre’s relationships with his mom, his crush, his culture shock and his sensei, but a movie starring kids made for kids shouldn’t clock in at two hours and twenty minutes.  They likely won’t be able to sit still unless they’ve had proper training on keeping butts in seats.