KARATE KID
KARATE KID (Rated PG for mild profanity, plenty of bully & martial-arts fight scenes): Sound familiar? The new kid in town (Jaden Smith), from Detroit to Beijing, always the outsider, is up against a class bully who kung-fu's him at every opportunity; the kid finds a cute little friend (WenWen Han) who sides with him, then he is befriended by a kung fu expert (Jackie Chan) who teaches him the martial art of kung-fu, then pits him against the bully at the BIG tournament. Guess who wins. Moral of story: not only does the right might make right, but man helps boy, then boy helps man, and "A true friend makes your life better."
Sure, it's a rip-off of the 1984 flick of the same name - except that this kid isn't into karate; it's kung fu; how the erroneous name got tagged here is beyond me. Likely to draw on the original title, but it just ain't correct.
Yes, it's as formulaic as the original, but the exotic locations - back streets of Beijing, glorious mountains, even the Great Wall thrown in for good measure (they practice up & down it) - beautifully shot by Roger Pratt and backed by John Horner's appropriate musical scores from hip hop to big screen stuff, along with a talented cast (Chan shows remarkable restraint in this role while Will Smith's son, who has been studying the sport since he was three) is amazingly versatile. It all adds up to a fairly satisfying action flick.
Christopher Murphey's script (also lifted from the original) is unimpressive, but does what it's supposed to do, moving the action without much exposition while giving Chan key informative lines: "You're fast - not fast enough," "Your focus needs more focus," "You hit him, don't let him hit you," "You see only with your eyes, so you are easy to fool."
Sure, it's a rip-off of the 1984 flick of the same name - except that this kid isn't into karate; it's kung fu; how the erroneous name got tagged here is beyond me. Likely to draw on the original title, but it just ain't correct.
Yes, it's as formulaic as the original, but the exotic locations - back streets of Beijing, glorious mountains, even the Great Wall thrown in for good measure (they practice up & down it) - beautifully shot by Roger Pratt and backed by John Horner's appropriate musical scores from hip hop to big screen stuff, along with a talented cast (Chan shows remarkable restraint in this role while Will Smith's son, who has been studying the sport since he was three) is amazingly versatile. It all adds up to a fairly satisfying action flick.
Christopher Murphey's script (also lifted from the original) is unimpressive, but does what it's supposed to do, moving the action without much exposition while giving Chan key informative lines: "You're fast - not fast enough," "Your focus needs more focus," "You hit him, don't let him hit you," "You see only with your eyes, so you are easy to fool."
The David/Goliath underdog theme is hardly original, but is worked out well by director John G. Avildsen (who coincidentally also directed a similar film with the same idea, "Rocky"). Updating the lead to an African-American from Detroit and turning him into a hero is another smart contemporary move. Fun, but overlong at 2 hours 20-minutes. (Grade: B-)
