Well, yesterday, my boyfriend and I went to see the 2010 'The Karate Kid' starring Jackie Chan and Jayden Smith. At first, when I heard Mr. Chan would be starring, I was excited, because as most people who know me know, that I am one Jackie Chan's biggest fans. I could sit and watch a whole-day marathon of his films and still watch more. Yet, there was something about 'The Karate Kid' that just didn't suit Jackie Chan's usual persona (he also looks a lot younger in this film... they did a good job). Think, if Disney did 'The Karate Kid'.....
I suppose, it wasn't that a bad a film, but it goes under the genre of 'Martial Arts'... I don't agree. There was no real montage of Dre Parker being taught kung fu by Mr. Han, which was so needed out of the 2 hours and 20 minutes of the film. I was disappointed with Mr. Han, who could have had so much more depth to his character. The fight scenes were rushed which was disheartening, seeing as it's credited as a Martial Arts film!!
There were too many storylines rolled into one, such as the mini love story, Mr. Han's secretive persona and Dre's need to prove himself. It was funny that there was even a love story, considering these kids are, what... 12? The bully has practically no reason to start his vendetta against Dre, yet the writers tried to create one, then never developed upon the idea. The 'Jacket On, Jacket Off' thing went on for waaay too long, and was a nod towards the original 'Karate Kid'.
Despite these critcisms, there is a strange chemistry between the two main characters played by Jayden Smith and Jackie Chan, that although the film has little in the background of things, Jayden Smith has clearly done the work, although it'd have been great to have seen Jackie Chan fight at least more than once. And did anybody else notice Michelle Yeoh as the cobra lady? Because I certainly did. Despite my fear of snakes, I noticed her, saw the snake and hid my face until it had gone.
Another thing I noticed in the film, was the disapperance of subtitles when some Chinese was spoken. As I speak Chinese to some degree, I overheard some of the omitted subtitled speeches. I overhead the chanting of the Cantonese phrase (in a mainly Mandarin Chinese film) "Guai Lou" which basically means 'Foreigner', I also heard the Mandarin Chant of "Jia You" alongside this, which means "Do your best/Fight on"; I also noticed that Mr. Han calls Dre "Xiao Dre" meaning Little Dre.... cute. I also found the other hidden Chinese funny, especially Meiying's incredibly short but informative phone call.. but hey, it's Hollywood right?
The scenery for the most part of the film was beautiful, and very typically Chinese, so the location finder of the film's crew did an impressive job. Although the airports were both wrong. The American one was JFK Airport, not Detroit, and the Chinese one was in fact Hong Kong International, not Beijing.
My rating of the film is still high, despite all my whining about it, the film was a family friendly, morally filled film that I did enjoy watching, even with the massive amounts of hole-picking my boyfriend did. I advise you to go and watch 'The Karate Kid', as it is a good film, and there are a few emotional moments tied to Dre Parker and Mr. Han, especially at the end when little Dre has his little triumph.
Mr. Han: What happened to eye?
Dre Parker: I ran into a pole.
Mr. Han: Interesting pole.
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The views in this article are in no way meant to offend or upset any of the intended audience
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