Synopsis

Daniel and his mother move from New Jersey to California. She has a wonderful new job, but Daniel quickly discovers that a dark haired Italian boy with a Jersey accent doesn't fit into the blond surfer crowd. Daniel manages to talk his way out of some fights, but he is finally cornered by several who belong to the same karate school. As Daniel is passing out from the beating he sees Miyagi, the elderly gardener leaps into the fray and save him by outfighting half a dozen teenagers. Miyagi and Daniel soon find out the real motivator behind the boys' violent attitude in the form of their karate teacher. Miyagi promises to teach Daniel karate and arranges a fight at the all-valley tournament some months off. When his training begins, Daniel doesn't understand what he is being shown. Miyagi seems more interested in having Daniel paint fences and wax cars than teaching him Karate.

Daniel and his mother move from New Jersey to California. She has a wonderful new job, but Daniel quickly discovers that a dark haired Italian boy with a Jersey accent doesn't fit into the blond surfer crowd. Daniel manages to talk his way out of some fights, but he is finally cornered by several who belong to the same karate school. As Daniel is passing out from the beating he sees Miyagi, the elderly gardener leaps into the fray and save him by outfighting half a dozen teenagers. Miyagi and Daniel soon find out the real motivator behind the boys' violent attitude in the form of their karate teacher. Miyagi promises to teach Daniel karate and arranges a fight at the all-valley tournament some months off. When his training begins, Daniel doesn't understand what he is being shown. Miyagi seems more interested in having Daniel paint fences and wax cars than teaching him Karate.

Parental Guide

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Uploaded By: OTTO
March 5, 2013 at 10:31 am

This movie, more so than any film this year, has had the most 'noise'generated. Mostly from people ignorant of the film and just exactly howgood or bad it is. The discussion has been centered on why call it 'TheKarate Kid' if he is learning Kung Fu. It is easy; the name isrecognition and 'Kung Fu Kid' sounds like a ripoff, not a remake andthis is a remake and they are not hiding the fact. Enough said,explanation done, go back to your bowl of cereal.This film takes what was done in the original film and has nicelyupgraded across the board. First, we have more of a threat from the kiddoing the bullying this time around rather than a caricature. Themother/son dynamic is stronger and given much more screen time. Theromance is more playful and innocent, with the friendship aspectultimately being the plot focus. The student/teacher dynamic has aneven stronger father/son underlying tone and finally, the action ismuch much improved upon.All of the above is due to excellent performances across the board.Jaden Smith shows to be a more than capable actor in the making andwith no doubt observation of Chan, who we FINALLY get to see in adramatic role rather than action/comedy role. Smith and Chan have a funchemistry that helps make the film enjoyable.I was afraid through the ads that Smith's abilities would be over thetop great, but through an excellent training montage and philosophicallessons, we buy that this kid is as good as he is in the tournament.A standout moment for me was the final bonding scene between Chan andSmith. It is during a moment reminiscent of the original film's scenewhere Daniel finds out about Mr. Miagi's family. Here, we have asimilar scene, but it is what happens after it that establishes theirrelationship and seals the audiences relationship to these twocharacters. Excellent excellent scene.One other standout moment is the climax where they do a great job ofending the movie on a pitch perfect note. I had heard of audiencesliterally standing up and cheering, but I figured that was embellished.That is until the very same thing happened at the showing I caught thisafternoon. You literally do want to stand up and cheer. They also takethe moment a step further than the original did and provided an closeto the lesson that Jackie's Mr Han was teaching Smith's Dre. It becamea full circle lesson and really helped the movie have an even moresatisfying end.The extended scenes of life in China really help to ground this film inthe philosophical realm, even more so than the original. There is arichness and texture to everything that takes place against thebackdrop of China. It has an even more 'fish out of water' feel thatlends to the believability and desperation of Smith's character. Wealso have a lot more character building time spent in this film thatgives it about 13 more minutes run time than the original, but thoseextra moments really pay off in a big way. As I mentioned previously,we get more of Dre and his mom. They don't just show up and then shegets thrown into a few scenes like in the original. She is an importantpart of Dre's life and it is shown. The one thing I noticed the most about this film was the amount offamilies that attended it. I think it is the first film of the yearwhere adults and kids can go and enjoy a film together and both comeout with the same emotions and lessons learned. That would be areflection of the film itself as it shows Mr Han learning from hisstudent, something that gives the film a welcome twist when compared tothe original.Those that have pre-judged this film or gotten caught up in the namegame really need to see the film before they make any judgments. Thisfilm is a VERY welcome surprise and more than holds it own against theoriginal. It stays loyal to the lessons and relationships of theoriginal film and brings them forward 25 years later.