The Karate Kid (2010)

What a waste of 36 bucks. And that doesn't count the popcorn and drinks. Somehow I got dragged into this movie by my kid and was prepared to see a Will Smith horror of a remake but figured I take one for the team.

It was worse.

Not only was the charm and creativity of the original completely absent from this gratuitous Smith family showcase, but the whole premise was preposterous. Although they claim he is 12, the actual actor is 10 going on 11 and so frail that you fear his limbs are actually going to snap should he land a blow in real life. Totally miscast project with such a offensive plot to actual Chinese culture that I have to believe it will be changed dramatically for Asian release or simply only available on bootleg in China.

Even if there was no original charismatic "Karate Kid" to compare this to, it was way too full of Will Smith ego and nepotism to be seriously considered as a piece of legitimate, quality film.

Simply put...awful.

Fmovies: Clumsy exposition that is trying to be subtle, but ends up being super direct, in that intellectually insulting way. From the beginning to the end, this movie really talks down to its audience, even if the demographic aimed at is children. I found myself laughing at serious scenes which were not only bizarre but ridiculously overreaching. I really hate it when stories explain directly what is painfully obvious, or try to insert it, in unrealistic and absurd ways.

Jacket on and Jacket off is no wax on wax off. At least in the original film, Daniel thought he was being put to work, here it's just outright bizarre. Jaden's character seems to be oblivious of the obvious, and unquestioning of the ridiculous.

Ralph Macchio's performance was far more believable. Jaden Smith goes way to far way too quick, from wimp to kung fu champion. The exaggeration and elaborate fight scenes really removed me from a sense of realism, that its predecessor had.

I found the mother character to be at odds with this move. I would have preferred if her role was downplayed. She was ultimately lacking chemistry with Jaden and not an interesting character, mostly annoying.

Just a quick comparison with Pat Morita and Jacky Chan. Chan is flash with Chinese superstition. Pat was subtle with universal wisdom and was far more endearing.

There is just far too much mundane filler, it really slows the movie down and in conclusion when this movie wasn't extremely bizarre, I found it to be more flash than substance.

After renting the movie, I was definitely not impressed with the script, nor with the acting. Being a fan of the original that came out when i was a kid, I'm a little biased but looking at it apart from the original series, it still REALLY SUCKED. Of course, one of the biggest fouls is they're labeling it the "Karate" Kid, the Japanese martial art, when in the movie Jaden Smith's character learns Kung Fu, the Chinese martial art. Even for franchising purposes, it's still pretty stupid. For me, the movie painted several very unrealistic scenarios. The biggest one was the casting of Taraji P. Henson to play the role of Sherry. The whole movie, she presents her character as a complete idiot who knows almost nothing about the world or her son and has somehow miraculously survived layoffs & firings to be transferred to the same job in Beijing. She portrays her character so poorly it makes the plot extremely unbelievable in that no one would ever move someone this dumb to what would presumably be a somewhat important position, or any position for that matter, half way across the world. Somehow they must be short of workers in China and need ours for some reason or another. Another unrealistic scenario was the portrayal of the Chinese students portraying than a group of Americanized thugs completely removed from their parents & their culture. I've been many places in the world but there's no other place on earth where respect & honor are held in such high regard and the extent of their actions are far beyond what you would even see here in the U.S., . Not only that but the script makes it seem like everyone in Beijing looks the other way when this kid is getting the crap beat out of him. It's really an insult to the Chinese culture on many levels. And are to believe that Jaden Smith's Character learned several months, if not a years, worth of Kung Fu & strength training in the matter of days, only by hanging up a jacket on a mere peg? NO, NO WAY!!! It's about as stupid as thinking you will learn a martial art from Diamond Dave, "The Redneck Ninja". I get they're trying to recycle the "Wax on, Wax off" example from the Karate Kid 1 but this is just ridiculous. As for the acting of Jaden Smith, his interaction with every cast member is flaky at best and so was his acting overall, especially with his Chinese love interest which seemed more like two 10 year olds trying to carry out a teenage relationship. As a whole, the script is downright terrible and the acting was extremely weak if not dreadful. Although it was entertaining enough and it's definitely not the worst movie I've ever seen, you should save you money & look for something else.