The Karate Kid centers around Dre Parker (Jaden Smith), a tiny 12-year old from Detroit. His mom's job takes the two of them to Beijing, China. Dre isn't too happy about the move and he doesn't put much effort into learning Chinese. Once there, he meets the pretty Meiying (Wenwen Han), a classical violinist with aspirations to enter the Beijing Academy of Music. Dre also meets the school bullies, led by the formidable Chen (Zhenwei Wan). Unfortunately for Dre, Chen and his friends are Kung-Fu masters taught by the ruthless and off-balance Master Li. Sure, there are no bad students, only bad teachers and Karate Kid movies know how to churn out some evil teachers. Luckily, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), the maintenance man at Dre's apartment, comes to the little guy's rescue. Mr. Han then agrees to teach Dre Kung-Fu so that he can participate in a tournament and earn the bullies' respect. The Karate Kid is faithful remake, following the original storyline scene by scene, sometimes line by line and I have mixed feelings about the results.
The movie itself is just okay. Using China as a background works well. I appreciated that there was a fair amount of Chinese spoken in the film. I realize that the average young movie-goer doesn't have the patience to read subtitles. So, the main characters speak English, but the Chinese language and culture are not ignored. The cinematography over the Chinese landscape is gorgeous and while it probably wasn't necessary for Dre to train on the Great Wall of China, it was a beautiful scene all the same.
Jaden Smith is pretty entertaining as Dre. He's a funny kid who's sure of himself and doesn't mind attention. It's interesting watching as a kid who would normally be pretty popular in school finds himself an outcast. He and Mr. Han really do help each other become better people. It's an old story, but it will always be a good story. The kids in the audience I watched the movie with (who probably had never seen the original) loved it. The packed theater cheered Dre on throughout his tournament. It was kind of adorable.
Still, something was missing. When Daniel was forced to fix up Mr. Miyagi's house for four days instead of going straight into Karate lessons, I felt the frustration, yet I understood why Daniel kept doing as he was told. He had already developed a trusting friendship with Mr. Miyagi by this point. So, when Daniel's frustration finally came to a head and he started shouting at the old man, there was real power in that scene. The even-tempered Mr. Miyagi almost angrily proved to Daniel what he had actually learned by waxing a car. It was as if Mr. Miyagi was offended that Daniel's trust in him only lasted four days. Everything in the movie made sense in the context of the story and the dynamics between the characters. That same scene didn't make sense with Mr. Han and Dre. Dre is already a more rebellious and less mature character and Mr. Han had given him no real reason to be trusted.
Jackie Chan is no Mr. Miyagi. He is Mr. Han. Mr. Han's life and character are very different from Mr. Miyagi's. Mr. Han is much sadder and unsure of himself. He doesn't have the same understanding of life or sense of humor and yet he is still spouting the same philosophies and proverbs as Mr. Miyagi would. Jaden Smith is entertaining enough, but Dre is not the same person as Ralph Macchio's more humble and almost self-deprecating Daniel. All of the players are different and yet the actions and results are the same. These different personalities are shoved into someone else's story. The result is scenes that are forced and sometimes don't make sense at all. Dre and Mr. Han are interesting people in interesting situations. It's just a shame they didn't get to tell their own story.