Movie Review: The Karate Kid

I've never been good with change. For example, I went to a bizarro elementary school that spanned nursery school through 9th grade. I was with the same kids for over a decade, and even though I didn't exactly love my classmates, starting my sophomore year at a new school was the emotional equivalent of a nuclear strike plus an apocalypse times toilet paper stuck to the back of both shoes. To sum up, it sucked. Big time.

Were I put in the same position as 12-year-old Dre (Jaden Smith), a character who's forced to leave his beloved Detroit home behind when he and his mother relocate to China, I think my junior high face would have promptly exploded and fallen out of my butt.

Unlike my surly pre-teen self, Dre's pretty affable, but no matter how easygoing you are, any across-the-world transition is bound to be hard. Unfortunately, Dre's well-meaning mother (Taraji P. Henson) is too overprotective to confide in, and too excited about their new digs to help him fit in. While Mom's off reveling in her new life, Dre's busy chatting up Meiying, his violin-prodigy love interest, and subsequently taking the first of many butt-whompings from the 7th grade ninja brigade. (The film addresses this later, but to answer your question: yes. Everyone in Beijing is a fifteenth-degree black belt.) When one particular whomping goes a bit too far, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), comes to the rescue. Of course, Dre's completely smitten with Mr. Han's tiger style, and begs to be his first student. Even though Han initially refuses, he soon finds himself saddled with a protege, and the two begin to prepare for Dre's face-off at the upcoming Open Kung Fu Competition. (The film does not address this later, but to answer your question: yes. Beijing has an open, city-wide Kung Fu competition roughly six weeks after every American ex-pat comes to town.) A montage (and some Eastern philosophy) later, and Dre's ready to square off against his bully—and his own fear.

It's always hard to watch an update without comparing it to the original, but the changes largely work. Overall, Jaden Smith makes a much more endearing (and exponentially less whiny) protagonist than Ralph Macchio ever did; evidently, Smith's inherited his parents' acting chops. (He also inherited their low-carb, abs-defining regimen. Holy cats, that guy is ripped.)  Jackie Chan makes a nice analog to Mr. Miyagi as the austere, subtly funny Mr. Han, and Chan and Smith have great onscreen chemistry. It also feels like the director and writer took pains to pay respect to the first film. The classic "wax on, wax off" bit gets a new coat of paint, as does the catching-the-fly-with-the-chopsticks vignette. (Which? Still "ha" and "ew.")

Even so, there are some issues. The movie clocks in at just over two hours, and you really feel the length. Uneven pacing is further bogged down by unnecessary sequences; as a result, we don't see as much of Dre's improvement as we could, and his transformation into a martial arts pro feels a little rushed and somewhat unearned. Also, some of Mr. Han's aphorisms are more ethereal than they need to be, and since they're played for sincerity, they come off as being kind of silly. And to be a total nit-picking niggler? The title of the movie is The Karate Kid, but Dre and Mr. Han practice...kung fu.

Happily, none of these negatives detract from the heart of the movie. You'll still come out smiling—which is also something that 10th grade, new-school Rachel eventually learned how to do.

The Karate Kid gets 3.5 out of a possible 5 BAM!s

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