Movie Rant 8: Karate Kid

Karate Kid (2010)

Plot:
„12-year-old Dre Parker could've been the most popular kid in Detroit, but his mother's latest career move has landed him in China. Dre immediately falls for his classmate Mei Ying - and the feeling is mutual - but cultural differences make such a friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre's feelings make an enemy of the class bully, Cheng. In the land of kung fu, Dre knows only a little karate, and Cheng puts "the karate kid" on the floor with ease. With no friends in a strange land, Dre has nowhere to turn but maintenance man Mr. Han, who is secretly a master of kung fu. As Han teaches Dre that kung fu is not about punches and parries, but maturity and calm, Dre realizes that facing down the bullies will be the fight of his life"

Karate Kid. I barely remember the classic original movie, it must be decades ago that I last saw it, but I saw it, and I remember a few scenes. It's not enough to really compare this new movie to the classic, though, so sorry in advance for my lack of such comparisons. I read some other reviews, though, and it seems like most of the original plot remained intact or got only slightly changed. The reviews, by the way, go from full ten star rating down to a 1 star rating, all of them being more than true in their own way.

The first thing that made me want to watch the movie was the cast. Jackie Chan and little Smith Jr. in one movie? The legend and the boy that will most probably be the prettiest and hottest actor in Hollywood in ten years? Yes, I was curious. Second thing that made me want to watch it is the fact that it's about Kung Fu and located in China.
And I don't regret that I watched it at all!
The movie is not flawless, of course. Finding young actors who can already act well despite their age are very hard to find. Just look at the first Harry Potter movie, compare it to the newest one, and you know what I mean. Little Smith did a really good job, although he's quite annoying at some points in the movie. I don't know if he's already such a good actor that he's only acting that because his role is, in fact, a young egocentric American boy who always thinks he's the best because he was quite the famous guy at his school in Detroit. I don't think Smith had to do a lot to get a feeling for his role. On the other hand this makes his acting feel natural, just a little exaggerated sometimes.
The way the movie shows what Kung Fu is is maybe not exceptional, but very well done. The soundtrack is helping a lot here, too! Great choreography and camera angles! It never gets explained why the movie is called Karate Kid, though, since Dre goes from Zero to Hero of Kung Fu in no time, never really showing that he has some Karate skills.
What bugged me about Karate Kid was that it is so damn long. I love long movies, but only if they have something to tell during their screen time. Dre starts learning Kung Fu after one hour into the movie!!! It's kind of amazing how many side stories the writers came up with to fill the hours. Did it really require a love story? Between 12-year-olds? Wouldn't a normal friendship have been totally enough? And although it was a nice try to give Mr. Han more depth, the tragic family story only got about seven minutes of the movie and was barely mentioned before- or afterwards. (I know that both things most probably were in the original story, too, but in this one it was so much it seemed already bizarre.) On the other hand, the "enemies" didn't get any background story, you just get to know they're evil and brutal, that's all. But maybe I watch a little too much Naruto when it comes to villains with backgrounds that explain their evilness.
And, to go back to the fact that we are watching 12-year-olds fighting and other 12-year-olds kissing: 12-year-olds are too young to make all of this really believable. As far as I know the characters were older in the original movie, and watching the remake made it clear, why. Fights between 12-year-olds don't look anywhere near as brutal as fights between young adults. The fact that no blood is allowed to keep the movie-rating down just adds to that problem. Romance between 12-year-olds, that ends even with kissing and asking approval of the father of the girl, but leaving out everything that could suggest sexual tension because they're still kids, is really strange to watch, too. Sigh.
I have to admit that, despite the cheesiness of some of those side stories, I had to cry three times during the movie. OK, I had a very emotional day back then, but seeing people crying on the screen always makes my heart bleed. The movie does a lot to get you beyond the surface of what's going on, and that's something I admire. Maybe I don't always like how they do it, but they do it, and that's more than lots of directors and producers do.

Overall, it was a really nice movie and definitely worth a watch. Just wait for the TV version.

Rating:
3/5 Full Moons