The Karate Kid
The second re-boot of sorts this weekend happens to be the beloved tale of the Karate Kid. Staying generally true to the original outline, a young boy, Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) and his mom (Taraji P. Hensen) move to a new town, in this case it’s Beijing, China. Once settled Dre finds a love interest, Meiying (Wenwen Han), but is challenged by the school bully, Cheng (Zhenwei Wang). Before long the building maintenance man, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), takes pity on Dre and volunteers to unconventionally teach him Kung Fu for a pride/grudge match against Cheng.
Now, admittedly I went into this screening with low expectations bracing for cutsie humor and a half baked script. Surprisingly, the film turned out a lot better than that. Well choreographed action and actual Chinese martial arts philosophy and culture is woven into the drama which lends to the credibility of the overall story. Decent acting from all of the children actors also helps considerably. On the down side, the film is long, it’s over two hours long and could have easily been cut back by a third if the first half of the film moved just a little faster and a fist full of beauty shots were cut from the picture. As a family friendly alternative that actually stands to impress, this isn’t a bad option. The Karate Kid is rated PG.