Jackie Chan will never take lead in Hollywood – Karate Kid review

It’s an unfortunate fact that Jackie Chan only does the bumbling side kick best in the eyes of the Hollywood casting directors.
This needn’t be the case because we all know he has charisma and talent enough to carry a film but the men in suits in movie land don’t think so. Shame really.

So…..

This leads on to his latest movie. A re-make of a classic…. The Karate Kid. I saw this tonight and enjoyed it but I must stress. I am a big fan of the original and a big fan of JC so was fully prepared for disappointment. I wasn’t disappointed and enjoy the film. There were gripes though. So let’s start with them.

What was wrong with this film?

The acting was pants. Let’s face it, it was. In the ‘i hate it here I want to go home’ scene the Mum character is upstaged by Jaden Smith and that’s not a compliment! Sorry Jaden. I felt sorry for him because he must have found it difficult to make the character his own when the character is already so established so I won’t take anything away from him for been a little wooden……. His cuteness made up for that though (my Queen said)?!
JC was also not so good but again how do you do a Mr Miyagi impersonation without ripping off Mr Miyagi?
Also, I don’t know if this was a conscience disiscion or not, but, Karate Kid or Kung Fu Kid?! Setting the movie in Beijing looked visually impressive and that meant Kung Fu, naturally, but the bullies didn’t sit well with me. Americans learning Karate carries more weight because of the ignorance and arrogance of an American learning a foreign martial art means they would easily take it out of context. AND use it for wrong doing. I’m pretty sure there aren’t too many Kung Fu schools teaching the ‘mercy is for the weak’ mantra.
And finally….
The ‘crane kick’ scene at the end of the movie…… Come on. He may have well as flown over the finish line!!

But that said there were good things about this movie….

When I started watching it I was filled with worry that this was a modern take on an idea and not a tribute to a classic movie but those fears were soon laid to rest…. Much of the dialogue is very similar and although the plot has big obvious differences, like moving to China and not just cross country to California and our main character (named differently) being a lot younger then Daniel San. Everything else is much in the same vein right down to the love interest’s well to do family being close to the ‘Johnny’ character. This film is very much a remake and not a re-working. And that, in my opinion is more suited to this film. Maybe I’m just bias but The Karate Kid deserves the best and it very nearly is treated to such.

So all in all it is good BUT, and this is a big but……
If the original didn’t exist and this was a new film with an original script, would it be so good? Maybe not.
Newbies to the franchise beware…!