Visitors Review

kosmasp (2012-05-25 19:07)

It's Kung Fu

And I had to put it in the summary just to make sure, you are notappalled by the movie after the first "contact" with the martial artsat hand. Why they named it Karate Kid? Obviously because it is aRemake. But why not use Karate then? I guess Kung Fu is more aggressivewhereas Karate is more a form of defending yourself. Both have aphilosophy you can wrap your head around though.And just to say that too;' I'm not an expert in Martial Arts (anythingbut), just did a bit of Karate training as a teenager. But pullingJackie Chan into the movie, who revealed in interviews, that when hefirst got offered the movie, thought he'd play the Karate Kid, was amajor stunt. Though Jackie was kidding of course, I do believe him thathe still feels much like a child. He has the passion and everythingthat moves him into making movies.And I have to admit that I thought Jayden actually did a pretty decentjob here. I smashed his "performance" in the "Day the Earth stoodstill" Remake, but here he is very naturally. Maybe that is because itis closer to his real persona or maybe he does have a future in frontof him, who knows. On the other hand, I'm aware that quite a few peoplehate him in this one too. It will be pretty clear from the first fewminutes in what direction your feelings go.I haven't seen the Original Karate Kid in quite a few years, so I can'tcompare and/or say how much better or worse either movie is. Nostalgiawould make me say, that the Original is better, but everyone has theirown memories of the movie (if they've seen it), so it's up to you todecide, if you want to jeopardize that memory (if there is one tojeopardize ... if not, read a few more reviews to decide which movie,you wanna watch first).

(2012-05-25 08:34)

The Kung Fu/Tai Kwon Do Kid

I loved this movie but to be fair none of the Karate Kids were ever Karate Kids save the evil blond boy from the first movie. The first Karate Kid was doing more Kung Fu than any thing and in this movie and and story involving being trained by Jacky Chan is a story of learning from a master at Tai Kwon Do / Kung Fu and mixed martial arts with crazy acrobatics thrown in for good measure. Also the pose on the front of the box is as classic Tai Kwon Do as you can get. Jacky Chan offhandedly explained the meaning of Kung Fu which is "Hard Work". This is a great story and pays tribute to the original. Five stars.

(2012-05-25 03:59)

Really happy with this one

I put off watching this for a long time because re-makes are often not as enjoyable as the original, and can interfere with happy memories. In this case, I regret my loss: this movie is fully as heart-warming as the original - even more poignant, in my opinon. The martial arts displayed are of a much higher difficulty (amazing that kids can do those things) than the old movie, and the characters are different enough to be fresh. The ending was perfect. The Smith kid is amazing: he is NOT just a pretty face. And Jackie Chan delivers his excellence, as always. We're in luck: now we have two versions of a great story to enjoy. Double the fun!

Minhal Hussain (2012-05-24 18:30)

What an ANNOYING kid!

This has to be the worst martial art movie I've ever seen, appallingacting from all the cast, awful direction and worst kid. The movie wasbeyond stupid, things were drawn from the stupidest stuff to make themovie different from others. Another thing that was annoying was theover use of the word 'dude' didn't know you could use it 5 times in thesame sentence when you are sober.. well. I did learn one thing fromthis movie though, the Chinese are extremely violent and acceptviolence and vandalism as a daily part of life are are cool with it. Myadvice, don't watch it, its AWFUL. The only reason I watched this movieas far as I did was because I was stuck between my friends in a cinemaand couldn't get out, it was hell.

Mike Fennemore (2012-05-23 02:37)

A nod to the original, but a stand alone title.

"The Karate Kid" was surprisingly original. 2010's Karate Kid, or "KungFu Kid" (as it should have been called), is a charming story of a youngboys journey half-way across the world and his struggles to acclimatehimself to a new start in a world he does not know. Although the titlerefers to Karate (a style of martial arts that traces its roots toJapan), Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) actually learns a variant of Kung Fu.In fact, there is no reference to karate at all in the movie, exceptfor a brief line by Dre's mother (who is corrected by Dre) and bytelevision show the Dre watches (showing martial artist with whilekimono style gees and black belts similar to those worn by Daniel inthe original Karate Kid movie).Aside from the obvious ( the title), which was used to connect thefranchise, this film tells a similar, but completely different story.The characters are recreated with different back stories, differentchallenges, and different motivations. The story itself, althoughhinting in subtle nods to the original, presents itself as a standalone story. In fact, unless you consciously choose to link it to thepast films, the film could be seen as completely different franchise.The acting in the film is very good. It is difficult to judge childactors, because most of them haven't developed a true understanding ofwhat they are actually doing (with the exception of those who have anunnatural talent for this art). With that said, the acting is verystrong. The children (most of the main cast, at least)show enoughemotion and connection to the characters that allows the audience toempathize and relate to them. They show much promise for the future,and quite frankly can out act many adult actors around today - have aseat Mr. Tatum, the kids will take it from here.All in all, it is a very entertaining film, fun for young and old.Despite the misnomer, it is worthy of baring the franchise's cherishedtitle.

Roland E. Zwick (2012-05-22 11:15)

turgid remake of a once modest film

Two questions arise while watching the 2010 version of "The KarateKid": #1) Why is anyone remaking a film that is only twenty-six yearsold, that has been readily available on video for decades, and that hasno special effects that might be improved by contemporary CGItechnology? And #2) Why is any version of "The Karate Kid" allowed torun for 140 minutes?! I've seen toga-wrapped historical epics thatdidn't take this long to tell their stories.Though the setting has been moved from the San Fernando Valley toBeijing, it's still the same old hooey about the puny, put-uponnewcomer who receives lessons in self-defense, discipline and life froman inscrutable maintenance man who just happens to be a kung fu master.I guess the Chinese setting is supposed to work to legitimize thetwo-bit philosophizing that pours forth in endless fashion from thisunpolished Henry Higgins, but it also makes this simple tale much morepretentious in the long run - Dre's photogenically performing hismartial arts moves on the top of the Great Wall of China being theprime example of that.Jaden Smith, son of Will Smith and co-star of "The Pursuit ofHappiness," plays the twelve-year-old who moves from Detroit to Chinawith his mother shortly after the death of his father. Indeed, theyoung Smith is probably the only decent thing in the movie. He managesto be both lively and likable without coming across as cutesy andcloying. After Dre immediately falls victim to the local bullies, heseeks help from Mr. Han, the handyman in the apartment where he lives.There's really no point in reiterating any more of the plot, sinceeveryone knows it already, because, even if you haven't seen the actualoriginal, you surely know it by instinct.As the wise but taciturn Mr. Han, Jackie Chan brings nowhere near thehumor or charm to the role that the scene-stealing Pat Morita did whenit was known as Mr. Miyagi.It's true that the scenery here is a little more impressive than whatone finds in Reseda, but that's not enough to justify the time andmoney spent on this musty, overlong and wholly unnecessary remake.

waldwuffel-1 (2012-05-21 16:43)

Acceptable movie that does not hold up to its original

First things first: I have to admit that I am a huge fan of theoriginal Karate Kid, but I'll try and not be biased by that.Short review: The movie is acceptable, with some nice scenes andlocations, but the acting is poor and the characters are both full ofclichés and underdeveloped.Long review: After seeing this movie in cinema, my first impression wasthis: Spoiled kid talked his father to get him trained in Kung Fu byJackie Chan, then made a movie out of it. Jaden Smith just didn't do itfor me. His character is just a compilation of afro-American cliché(come on, cornrows? really?), and the movie just failed to develop hischaracter like the original did with Ralph Macchio's. Histransformation just didn't seem to be too big, as he never seemed tolack confidence to begin with, and always had that distinct taint of"gangsta"-attitude (for chrisakes, open your frigging eyes. Lookinglike you were staring into the sun all the time does NOT make you lookcool, just ridiculous). As for Jackie Chan, he was just this: JackieChan. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Jackie Chan, his actionscenes are always superb, and he has got the most contagious smileever, but there is a reason to it why you don't see him in many seriousroles: He is not a good actor when it comes to that. "Mr. Han" is justflat, and there are light years between his performance and that ofNoriyuki Morita in the original, as the latter actually had more thantwo facial expressions. Now, which style of mentor you prefer ispersonal taste, and whether you like your fighting sequences flashy ormore down to earth, but in a movie where the lead supposedly learns"real kung fu", fighting scenes like those performed by Chan or thefinal tournament just feel like what they are: staged, choreographedmovie scenes. Especially the final bout between Dre and the "bad guy"(who is, again, as subtle as a jackhammer, and has "villain" writtenall over him the moment you see him), where you can plainly see thatDre is not performing his finishing move without mechanical help, itboils down to what I mentioned before: Jaden wants to look like a coolKung Fu fighter, and daddy helps him.As a last note, I really like to point out that I don't wanna see a"love story" between two characters who are supposed to be 12 years ofage (and as an interesting side-note: I was perfectly aware that WenwenHan, the female lead, was much older than Jaden Smith when I saw themovie, and I find that not only offensive but truly disgusting to havea 14 to 15 year old girl perform "love scenes" with a 12 year old kid).The movie gets 4 out of 10 from me, with a -1 star penalty for beingcalled "The Karate Kid". I am aware that Jaden is mockingly called"Karate Kid", but essentially, this boils down to: You learned Karate,which sucks, now you have to learn a "real" martial art. And as apractitioner of both Karate and Chinese martial arts (Wing Tsun), Ifind this whole "my martial art is better than yours" attitude ingeneral both absurd and ridiculous.

Jim Burnetti (2012-05-21 07:10)

Do yourself a favor - go back and watch the original

This movie is 40 minutes too long. Lots of scenes of China that seem tohave been required by the Chinese authorities in order to allow thecrew to shoot the movie on location. It has nearly exactly the samestory as the the original - but it is not told anywhere near as well.Jackie Chan has done much better movies. Any Rush Hour Movie is 100times better,. The theme of this movie seemed to be, "look at WilSmith's kid, isn't he cute". The best part of the movie was Lady Gaga'sparody of Weird Al Yankovic's song "Polka Face". Do yourself a favor -go back and watch the original. When I see a bad movie, I don't havethat much to write about, and it is extremely annoying that I need tocome up with ten lines in order to explain to people exactly how AWFULthis movie is. You really ought to change the rules. I would comparethis movie to Rhinestone - a movie in which Sylvester Stallone does thesinging, and Dolly Parton does the fighting. If you must see it, waitfor the DVD or on demand.

Marlon (2012-05-20 03:54)

Brilliantly done Jaden!

This may be exaggerating a bit but, Jaden Smith gave an Oscar-winningperformance in this movie. I was expecting a comical family movie, butI was wrong. Instead I got an action filled drama! I was indeedsurprised and happy. It was the first time that I saw Jackie Chan in areal dramatic role. He gave an award-winning performance as well. Ithoroughly enjoyed watching both of them work together as student andteacher. The stunts were well carried out, one thing I admired is thatthey didn't look choreographed, they looked real. The so called child'villain' did a brilliant job portraying his character. In a seriousand comical way, I think that Jaden Smith will become a better Actorthan his father Will! It was a well-done movie, and Jaden Smith is tobe commended for his work.

Joe Highpear (2012-05-20 01:27)

deserves more than 5.1

This film deserves much more than 5.1. It is not just a goodentertaining movie but also it makes you think about kung fu disciplineand philosophy of peace. I found interesting also how the story issituated in a real life situation of the global economy. Without beingthe focus of the film, it tells you something about the global economiccrisis and jobs outsourced to China. It is not casual that the maincharacters have to move from Detroit to Beijing. I think it is greatthe director was able to tell us about Dre Parker's struggles to adaptto that new culture without changing much of the original karate kidversion. Of course they don't do karate but I didn't really care aboutit. Kung fu is more fun and gives room for a more interesting story. Iwon't tell you more, go see it by yourself.

Mandy Cowan (2012-05-19 10:18)

Absolutely loved it!

I totally loved this film. It was well acted by both Jaden Smith andJacki Chan and the Kung Fu was very good. My husband tells me that theKung Fu and training was really very accurate apart from a fewshowboating bits! The acting by young Smith belied his tender age andlets face it, Jacki Chan is a legend in Kung Fu and has to berespected. Some of the scenery showing China at its absolute best wasbreathtaking and as always makes me want to visit this beautifulcountry. It was a great feel good story illustrating the age oldmessage that you can stand up to a bully and you need to believe inyourself. I'd watch it again and again and even kids would be fine withit. It was a thoroughly enjoyable watch and I would recommend it toanyone who wanted to leave a movie feeling great.

j-delcolle (2012-05-18 22:33)

Not quite the original...

I kind of liked the original, though not as much as everyone else seemsto. And this is very different from it in many ways, though the same inthe one way that matters.As any hard core Jackie Chan fan will tell you, his American filmsdon't hold a candle to his Chinese ones. Knowing that going in, I can'tsay I was disappointed. It was a pretty decent film, though definitely not a "must see". Someparts, such as Jackie Chan's performance, and action scenes at the end,were great. Some parts, such as a few painful jokes, and Taraji P.Henson's entire character, just made me cringe. Overall, I'd say it's an alright way to kill some time. Unless there'ssomething else you really want to see, there's no reason no to see thismovie.

(2012-05-18 03:11)

Better than the original

This review is from: The Karate Kid (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (Blu-ray) I grew up on the original Karate Kid movie and I consider that to be one of the iconic movies of the 80's. Anyway, I purchased this remake based on recommendations and to my surprise it was quite entertaining. After watching the remake, I watched the original again just to see how similar or different the acting, action, and storyline were. Wow, the original was "SLOW!" I couldn't believe they took a classic and made it more entertaining. I still love the original version because of its sentimental value, but I definitely like the new one better.

(2012-05-17 20:49)

The Karate Kid

This review is from: The Karate Kid (DVD) The movie arrived in satisfactory packaging and was in new condition. My son loved this movie and he is 7 and a half years old!

annoyingthing321 (2012-05-16 21:04)

Live's up to it's reputation

The Karate Kid is a charmer, one of those films that leaves you with ahappy feeling after seeing it. It is quite different to the original,the main point being that Dre Parker actually learns KUNG FU instead ofkarate, which, let's be honest, is a little misleading. I think most ofthe differences work well, so the film doesn't kill off the originallike so many other remakes have. In fact, there are some bits I prefer,especially the smashed up car scene. Jackie Chan conveys so muchemotion and atmosphere that you find yourself choking back tears everytime you see it. There are also some pretty funny bits when Dreattempts Chinese. The acting is great to watch. Jaden Smith is like amini replica of his father. It seems Jaden has picked up many of Will'smannerisms, and it's kind of cute. Jackie Chan surprised me. I'm usedto seeing him in films like Rush Hour and Tuxedo where his character iscomical and silly, so I was skeptical that he would be able to pull offa very serious performance that is Mr Miyagi (or in this case, Mr Han).Yet, as usual, I was proved wrong, and I think he has proved himself tobe a great actor as well as a great stuntman. My complaints are pretty small. Some moments concerning Dre'srelationship with Meiying are quite cringe-worthy, and possiblyunnecessary, but you expect these things in a film. I also think thatthe bullies could've been better and more threatening.So Karate Kid has definitely lived up to it's predecessor's reputation.A very enjoyable family film.

Yusuf_Saggyass (2012-05-16 13:22)

Nepotism at its best

Everybody Is Karate Fighting! It's Kill Bill meets The Terminator inthis rousing martial arts horror auctioneer starring the one and only"Master Killer" himself, Jinkins Smith! By the time the end arrives,you've been sat waiting for a massive kung fu fight for so long youfeel like beating up a pensioner if the last ten minutes don't deliver.They don't.Throw a low-budget movie together with some Chinese toughs, likablekung-fu master, psychedelic special-effects, a good-looking babe andsome funny sidekicks and what do you get? If you're lucky, you end upwith a classic like The Karate Kid. If you're not lucky, you end upwith The Karate Kid remake.This film should be avoided, by kung fu fans, by Jackie Chan fans, byWill Smith fans, even The Karate Kid fans, which seemed to be the typeof style it was aiming for. It's all downhill from there, wastingtwenty minutes on an ill handled romance, and all the fight scenes seemto steer clear of actual karate. Oh, and a note to American dubbers;Feug Shui is NOT pronounced "Fung Shooey" and Buddhist monks don't notsay "Jesus!" when they get angry! Comparison with Jackie Chun, BusterKeaton or Quentin Tarantino give this movie way too much credit. Itdoes not even qualify as slapstick. It's a "Dumb and Dumberer"-typecomedy.

l-e-mcintyre (2012-05-15 22:28)

Slow, boring, obvious about every step of the plot

Really awful. I enjoyed the first movie, but this sequel was a realsnore. Everything was super obvious; it's like they made the movie fora moron to watch. They really underestimated their audience. JadenSmith is terrible! I was really hoping for so much more. I didn'trealize that Ralph Macchio was as good as he was until I saw Jaden tryto force his way through this script. Even Chan looked like he wassleeping through the film. I guess we can't blame him. They must havepaid him handsomely to put his name on this dog. The mother characteris just odd. I really encourage you to spend your money on somethingelse! I was so eager to leave the theater, I nearly trampled the peoplein front of me.

(2012-05-15 14:12)

please pick up your jacket and hang it properly on the hook

I actually prefer this updated version of the Karate Kid over the original one by far. Perhaps my reasoning is because the movie was due for an update to break away from the typical 80's cheese and outdatedness. It's about a boy and his mother who travel to China to start a new life, and the litle boy soon realizes that, in addition to not liking his stay in China very much, he doesn't like the fact his classmates are constantly picking on him. In fact, "picking on him" is sort of a compliment compared to all that outside physical abuse on the playground he had to endure just by simply walking over to an attractive girl and talking with her about music. Wow was THAT ever a rough day!Anyway, as you can probably guess (even if you've never seen the original version, you can guess what happens) the little boy eventually meets Jackie Chan, a martial arts master. He of course, teaches the young boy discipline and victory by way of his own techniques. Now what I really like about this particular version of the movie is how a proper amount of time was devoted to every little area that makes these kind of films so much fun to watch in the first place.You had quite a bit of emotional drama in the beginning while the boy was walking around the streets of China getting to know people, you had humor in some of the pranks the little boy would pull on his classmates (along with those lengthy and overdone jacket scenes. Yeah, THESE segments certainly weren't necessary because they received too much attention- minor complaint here folks) and you even felt anger whenever the little boy was being ganged up on. The feeling of hopelessness you had when the boy was outnumbered during that one back alley scene for example, made you angry I bet. It should have, at least- that's a sign of good writing and storytelling.I guess the only thing that was rushed were the actual segments where Jackie Chan's hard work and constant training *finally* kicked in and made sense to the boy. These segments were surprisingly short and didn't occur until a good hour and 40 minutes went by, though I believe I know why- the film writers probably thought we've seen enough training segments over the years (especially back in the 70's and 80's- remember all those Rocky films?) so they probably felt it was better to not really touch upon them very often. Good move.The boy who portrayed the bully was really mean and did a great job in his performance.Overall, I'm really happy with the Karate Kid. It does everything right. A rare thing to see these days.

(2012-05-14 04:02)

Great Action - Beaten up story-line

This is a nice action film. It is well choreographed so as to make the fight scenes believable. However, the story line is one that has permeated kung fu films for decades. And that is, the star starts out at the bottom rung and gets beaten up over and over until one day, he is taken under the wing of an obscure but fantastic trainer.Over a period of time, in this case 'the kid' develops into the best fighter around and eventually has his day at revenge.With that being said, enjoy the scenery of China, and enjoy the action, but the plot is razor thin and has been used more than a dozen times already.

(2012-05-13 21:35)

THERE IS ONLY ONE TRUE KARATE KID!!!

YET ANOTHER PRIME EXAMPLE OF A HOLLYWOOD POWER TRIP. BIG MOVIE EXECS AND PRODUCERS WITH MONEY STRIKE AGAIN AT ANOTHER CLASSIC THAT COULD NEVER BE TOPPED. THIS ATTEMPT IS JUST SAD IN MY OPINION FROM EVERY ASPECT, I HAVE NEVER EVEN SEEN THIS GARBAGE AND WON'T WASTE MY TIME EITHER (UNFORTUNATELY I DID SEE THE PREVIEW WICH TOLD ME MORE THAN I WANTED TO KNOW)! THERE IS ONLY ONE KARATE KID THAT WILL BE SEEN IN MY HOUSE AND THAT MOVE WAS MADE IN 1984 AND SHOWCASED A REAL CHILD STAR BY THE NAME OF RALPH MACCHIO, NOT A SHOE-IN TO THE MOVIE INDUSTRY BECAUSE OF DADDY'S STATUS. HOLLYWOOD WILL NEVER STOP AT THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A QUICK BUCK, AS WE HAVE ALL SEEN RECENTLY AND YEARS PAST. ALL WE CAN DO IS REFUSE TO SUPPORT THE EFFORT TO TARNISH GREAT CLASSICS AND MAKE THE RICH EVEN MORE WEALTHY THAN ALREADY ARE. GREED, EXCESS, AND ABUSE SEEMS TO BE THE TREND IN HOLLYWOOD THESE DAYS ALONG WITH A SEVERE LACK OF CREATIVE KNOWLEDGE, AND I FOR ONE WILL NEVER SUCCUMB TO THIS NEW WAY OF ENTERTAINMENT. TONIGHT THE FANS REVOLT!!!