The Karate Kid
The Karate Kid is a distant knock off of the 1984 film of the same name with Jackie Chan taking on Pat Morita’s mentoring role and Ralph Macchio’s tormented fish out of water Daniel Larusso is now Dre Parker played by Jaden Smith. There are a lot of departures in this film not the least of which is that kung fu and not karate is the martial art of choice and the action is nowhere near the USA but rather in China. The location is probably by the design of money people since the production company is China Film Group - the largest and most influential state-run film enterprise in China - so Beijing becomes one of the stars. Dre comes from Detroit in tow with Sherry (Taraji P. Henson) his single mother who is ecstatic to be a Motown black woman still working no matter where the job is. The story gets familiar as Dre runs afoul of local bully Cheng (talented newcomer Zhenwei Wang) who not only makes Dre’s life miserable but cock blocks his progress with a classically trained China doll names Meiying (Wenwen Han another newcomer who manages to totally personify sweetness). Dre’s misery abates when he undertakes the tutelage of Mr Han (Chan) a reclusive maintenance man who turns out to be good with his hands with more than just tools. But can this tortured handyman get his protégé ready in time to face the Cheng nemesis in a looming kung fu mash up? This is an excellent role for the aging Chan who may not be believable as a one man wrecking crew so much anymore but still has some cool choreography to display – that is when he’s not hobbling around like a bow-legged rickets survivor. At 11 years old (going on 30) playing a 13 year old, Smith in only his third picture basically carries the film with an infinite amount of charm. He comes by his talent honestly being the son of Hollywood power couple Jada and Will Smith (Will is also one of the films producers). This kid has some chops.