Movie Review: Karate Kid [2010]

My Rating: 6.5/10
IMDB Rating: 6.2/10
Movie: The Karate Kid [2010]
Starring: Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith, Zhenwei Wang, Wenwen Han

The way I'm going to structure this review is as follows: first the problems I have, then what I liked about it.

My first problem is that Jaden Smith is way too young.  Maybe if he had waited six or seven years, maybe even eight for when he was a 18-19 and could pretend to be in high school, then this would have been more appealing to the original Karate Kid generation of the 80's.  His squishy-faced love interest played by Wenwen Han is unbelievable as a viable girlfriend because, well, frankly, they're too damn young.  They're 12!! People who are in relationships at 12-13 are considered sluts by my generation.  That's such an inappropriate age to be kissing and such.

*high-pitched voice* "Hi my name is Dre and I have hormones even though I haven't even gone through puberty yet." Yeah I didn't think that would fly either. 

My second issue with the film is that Wenwen Han is not very goodlooking.  They couldn't find a girl with better hair, a hairline that wasn't receding, and smaller epicanthic folds? Seriously.  I was a little offended that China was represented in this girl.  I didn't even care that China was depicted as domineering in her terrible bully of a family friend Cheng or in her kind of racist parents, she was just not a viable love interest to me.  Not only was she too young, also taller than Jaden Smith and she even has a deeper voice than Jaden Smith, but she was really unrelatable.  NOT TO MENTION they couldn't find a girl who could actually play the violin well?

They couldn't find anyone? ANYONE? Even with how POPULOUS China is, not to mention thousands upon thousands of American counterparts? Puhleez. 

Zhenwei Wang plays Cheng, the antagonist in the film who is basically the kid from Cobra Kai that the main character eventually will have to fight.  He's also too young.  He looks too young and he sounds too young.  He has a higher voice than Wenwen Han! He's not a viable antagonist.  I would have him on his ash crying like the wittle baby he is in a matter of minutes.  If he was a sinewy-muscled teenager who is obviously more than 20 years old then maybe this movie would've been more watchable. 

They should not have named the movie The Karate Kid again.  This made it sound like they were trying to remake the movie.  If they had named it The Kung Fu Kid and waited until Jaden Smith was much older and post pubescent then fans of the original Karate Kid like my friends would not have felt as if The Karate Kid (2010) was trying to usurp the original with its not as goodness and differentness.  Not to mention it's a little offensive that karate is equated to kung fu, when kung fu is Chinese and karate is not.  This implies that there is some over-arching umbrella of "Asian" that equates different nuances in each culture to being exactly the same.  As if to say, "Psh, what's the difference? The people watching won't know the difference...." Ahhhh, but they will, you see.  Because I bet that many of the audience members will see the movie and understand when the antagonist kung fu instructor tells one of his doods to "Sweep the leg."--"But I can beat him."--"Sweep the leg." like...that's a pretty solid reference.  If this movie had been named The Kung Fu Kid or something, then it would've looked more like an homage, not a replacement.  And for people who don't get the reference, others can explain it to them and they can all be like "Oooooooooooooooh oookay." Seriously, these references are so obvious that they're not even included in the imdb trivia for the movie.

[Here thar be spoilers] The whole plotline with Mr. Han's family was completely unnecessary, emotionally taxing, and as a combination of such was a waste of my time.  It seriously serves no purpose! So why is he destroying the car? Is this a reference to something in the original movie, by the way of which I've never actually seen? All of a sudden he's crying in his car because he thinks it's his fault that his wife and son who have never before been mentioned are dead....is this to explain why Mr. Han cares about Dre so much? Or maybe explains his drive to help Dre and to gain some repentance? This movie with its 12 year-old protagonist is geared toward 12 year-olds....it doesn't need depth or gravity.  Well...

On the plus, Jackie Chan's performance as Mr. Han (the equivalent to the wise Mr. Miyagi) is pretty good and redeems the movie.  Jackie Chan has wonderful comedic timing, but also proves that he has some dramatic acting chops as he makes the Mr. Miyagi in his own surly rendition.  I haven't seen all of Chan's movies but I've never seen him in something where he's serious.  I quite enjoyed it because I know of what he's capable.

It's good to know that Jaden Smith is actually pretty durn good at kung fu.  He can only get better, right? He seems pretty dedicated.  So they couldn't wait until he was a full-fledged kung fu master to pretend that he sucked and then could become awesome in the span of a little less than 2 hours? No? That's not logical.  But at least he is good, and he can do what the movie says he can do.

So overall, an enjoyable movie, but not like...mind-blowing.  Maybe a little offensive, but I understand what with the rise of China as a world superpower from out of the shadows, with the Beijing Olympics just happening and all.  It's a little uncomfortable to watch because most of the characters are way too young.  But the kung fu is alright to watch and Jackie Chan's performance is redeeming.  So a 6.5/10, a solid D.  hahahah that sounds terrible.