The remake of The Karate Kid starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith, does not live up to the original, but it does effectively adapt the story to a new setting. Its plot actually involves Kung Fu rather than Karate, making the Karate Kid moniker silly, however the overarching theme is ultimately the same: a new kid in town gets picked on by bullies until a wise martial arts master teaches him confidence and the skills to defend himself.
Instead of taking a New Jersey teen and plopping him in California, this film takes a kid from the United States places him in the unfamiliar setting of China. After his mother accepts a new job in Beijing, Dre (Jaden Smith) is forced to learn a completely new culture and language. Right away the headstrong foreigner clashes with the local bullies, who train under a ruthless Kung Fu master. These boys are taught to use their martial arts skills to intimidate and disable their enemies, lessons that they apply to dealing with Dre.
One day when he is hopelessly outnumbered in a fight, the maintenance man in Dre’s apartment building Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) steps in to save the boy from his attackers. Dre begs Mr. Han to teach him martial arts, and Han reluctantly agrees. Even though Mr. Han has never trained a student, he seems like a natural, instructing Dre in the philosophy behind martial arts in addition to showing him all the right moves.
Their experience together is a positive one for both parties. Through his training, Dre becomes closer to his mother and he gains the confidence to befriend a Chinese girl at his school that he likes. Mr. Han’s friendship with Dre, helps him combat the demons from his past and his own feelings of inadequacy as a father.
As a character, Dre, is a bit more obnoxious and impatient than Ralph Macchio’s Daniel from the original, mainly because he is younger though. Dre’s immaturity makes the process of training much longer, since lessons take longer to sink in. Jaden Smith does an excellent job in the role coming off as a spoiled brat, much in need of education and discipline. Jackie Chan channels the lighthearted sense of humor pioneered by Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi, while at the same time, showing us a more serious side of this teacher with a tragic past.
Action sequences in the movie are fast-paced and exciting, however in many ways this version sensationalizes the violence with slow motion shots,that feel inappropriate. Its excessive violence runs completely counterintuitive the message it tries to teach about martial arts as a form of self-defense. The film also falls short because it seems to be scored and cut for an audience with a lesser attention span. Music jumps quickly from track to track, and some sequences feel like jump cuts with few establishing shots.
This remake effectively transplants the archetypes of the original film into a new setting, but it trades a deeper message in the story for more action. In this way, it fails to compare to the original, making it an average movie at best.