The Karate Kid remake

I actually tried seeing this one the previous night, but missed it twice - the first time because the tickets sold out early, and the second at another theater because all that were left were some crappy front-row seats which would've cricked my neck beyond reason.

Finally got to see it today and the crowd situation was still huge, despite it being a Sunday night showing at 10 pm, and now I know why; the movie is good. Very good.

Yeah, it's basically a re-make except this time in China with Jackie Chan taking place of Mr. Miyagi, and the ruthless Dragon-style school taking place of the one from the first, but it makes it feel refreshing and new, somehow or another.

Only thing that I found odd was that some people were actually annoyed by the ending, stating that it's just another case of Mightey Whitey. Kinda makes me wonder wonder why some people have become so jaded that they actually want to see the protagonists lose?

There's a white person in this movie?

Yeah, what?

Me, I'm wondering why they bothered keeping the name if the martial art actually taught is supposed to be kung fu?

(I've not seen the movie, nor have interest in seeing it, so I'm just going by the trailer snippets I've seen and hearsay.)

edited 13th Jun '10 2:16:07 PM by Nohbody

I found the trailer hilarious. Asian kids beating up on a black kid. Hilarious.

My comments elsewhere.

Also, the reason why it's called "The Karate Kid" is because of negative reactions to "The Kung-Fu Kid". Everywhere else, the non-English title is known as "The Kung-Fu Kid" (except in China, where even the English title is that).

In the trailer, there's this point when the kid bully jeers; "Hey look, it's the Karate Kid!" in an American accent. That never happens in-movie, and none of the Chinese characters have anything even close to an American accent.

Also, Mighty Whitey? But he's not white...

...Mighty Blacky?

• crickets chirp*

...Okay, I'll just be leaving now...

I laughed.

I'm impressed that it kicked the shit out of the A-Team. I saw the A-Team, and yes, the lines for Karate Kid were ridiculous.

Of course, the A-Team was a very weak movie.

Karate Kid also has the benefit of being more family-friendly than A-Team, so I'm not surprised. Still not interested in the movie, though.

Toy Story 3, on the other hand...

—R.J.

I'm just surprised how capitalist Communist China is.I mean Lady Gaga on DDR? And speaking of that scene...

Communists in China hardly have any power at all anymore. They're a dying thing, not respected by their younger peers.

They still can block Youtube though.

I saw this with my little sister last night (I narrowly avoided having to see the new Shrek rehash because of this), and I must say that the remake is one of the few situations where the new version is actually better than the original.

My little sister has been to Bejing, though, and she says that the skies were never that clear.

Was that Michelle Yeoh with the snake at the temple? There was no reference in the credits, but it looked a lot like her.

I saw it last night. I and I really enjoyed it despite not really being much of a fan of the original.

Easily on par with the original, or at the very least a hell of a lot better than II (let alone the other ones). The new version of the crane kick might not be as memetic as the last one because its nearly impossible to reproduce but it looked insanely badassed. Loved Jackie, loved Jaden, loved that one kid with the mohawk, loved the entire movie.

Ha, I'm finally old enough to enjoy a martial arts movie at the cinema and not feel silly. Or rather, to enjoy the sillyness!

That's the first time I've actually cared about fictional characters in what seems like forever. Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith definitely kept the side up.

My Thoughts: http://blog.sparkycomics.com/2010/06/20/the-karate-kid-review.aspx

Aaaah I loved it.

Yeah, a 12 year old doing Lady Gaga is kind of disturbing. The whole love story is a bit distracting and unnecessary. It would have been far easier if they were 15 or 16 - but then Jaden Smith wouldn't have been able to do it now. So, perhaps it was Will's birthday present to his son?

Oh, and the Chekhov's Skill of mirroring the snake - that wasn't established quite well, and rather ridiculous. And Han's magical healing skills... *cough* I don't know about that...

I found it nice to see Jackie Chan deliver his pop-zen lines with a hint of irony. I always liked Jackie Chan - martial arts movies don't need to take themselves too seriously, and Chan can be deliciously goofy if he wants to.

I wonder how real the fight moves are. Jaden Smith didn't look as if he knew that much kung fu in the training sessions - but then, he's only 12 years old, and as far as that was actually him in the tournament (and as far as it wasn't cgi'd in some way), it's fairly impressive.

I also thought the fights to look rather realistic. No gravity-defying jumps. Which is nice, I think, because it helps me connect with the characters. And the stuff looks as if it really hurts.

Han's fight was soo cathartic. I also loved that the whole thing is so predictable - I didn't have to focus on the plot, so I just laid back and enjoyed it.

Jaden Smith looks a lot like his father - he even has a few of Will's gestures and mimics. Which is quite cute.

There were amazingly many girls in the audience, and I think quite a lot of very young turks. (They're the ones who are most into martial arts, in my town.) I heard a few of them talk on the way home - "that wasn't kung fu, that was just martial arts" - I kept hiding my grin.

One flaw of the whole thing: If you don't know the karate rules, you can't appreciate what the villain is doing, and why it's evil. It looks like Dre is just weak.

As for the fact that it's actually "Kung Fu Kid", well Karate is a type of Kung Fu, so it's somewhat justified. And the alternative title just sounds too much like Kung Fu Panda.

edited 25th Jul '10 2:26:52 AM by vijeno

I repeat, why were actual karate moves unacceptable?

No gravity-defying jumps.

'Cept for the last one.

Nate: I wouldn't say that they're inacceptable. But it's a nice change to see movements that are humanly possible (even if the actors didn't really perform them, which I honestly cannot judge).

^ It was? I guess I was too invested in the movie by that time to see the difference.

It just seems profoundly weird to go to the trouble of getting Jackie Chan onto your set, arguably one of the greatest on-screen martial artists of our generation, and not consult him on the best way to make karate look good on-screen.

It's not like we're shoehorning in an actor who knows kung-fu and only kung-fu here.

I repeat, why were actual karate moves unacceptable?

And you can tell Jaden Smith didn't really know martial arts from the ridiculous overuse of quick cuts during the fight scenes.

Not a bad movie, but IMO the original was better.

—R.J.

Actually, Kung-Fu refers to all the Chinese martial arts styles, such as wushu or taichi.

Karate is just one Japanese martial arts style.