The Karate Kid

Plot synopsis:
High school senior Daniel LaRusso and his mother, Lucille, move from Newark, New Jersey to Reseda, Los Angeles, California. When they arrive, Daniel meets a neighbor, Freddy Fernandez, who invites him to a beach party taking place the next day. Their maintenance man is an eccentric but kind and humble Okinawan immigrant, Kesuke Miyagi.
At the beach party, Daniel meets Ali Mills, a high school cheerleader from Encino. The two fall for each other, which draws the attention of Johnny Lawrence, Ali's ex-boyfriend. Johnny is the top student of a karate dojo called "Cobra Kai," who attacks Daniel when he intervenes after Johnny breaks Ali's radio. Johnny and his gang continue to bully, bother, and harass him. At a Halloween party, Daniel douses Johnny with water, leading to a chase. Daniel is eventually caught and beaten savagely, but Mr. Miyagi arrives and rescues him and beats up the five attackers with ease. Amazed, Daniel asks Miyagi to teach him to fight. Miyagi refuses, but agrees to accompany Daniel to the Cobra Kai dojo to resolve the conflict. They meet with the sensei, John Kreese, an ex-Special Forces Vietnam veteran, who dismisses the peace offering and demands to set up a match between Daniel and the other Cobra Kai students. Miyagi proposes that Daniel will enter the Under-18 All-Valley Karate Tournament, where he can compete with all the Cobra Kai students, and he requests that the bullying cease while Daniel trains. Kreese agrees to the terms, but warns that if Daniel doesn't show up at the tournament, the harassment will continue on Daniel and Miyagi.
Daniel's training starts with menial chores he believes only makes him Miyagi's slave. When he becomes frustrated, it is explained that these actions have helped him learn defensive blocks through muscle memory. Their bond develops and Daniel learns about Miyagi's dual loss of his wife and newborn son due to complications arising from childbirth at Manzanar internment camp while he was serving with the 442nd Infantry Regiment during World War II in Europe, where he received the Medal of Honor, the Army's highest award for valor. Through Miyagi's teaching, Daniel learns not only karate but also important life lessons such as the importance of personal balance, reflected in the principle that martial arts training is as much about training the spirit as the body. Daniel applies the life lessons that Miyagi taught him to strengthen his relationship with Ali.
At the tournament, Daniel unexpectedly reaches the semi-finals. After Johnny defeats a highly skilled opponent, Kreese instructs Bobby Brown, one of his more compassionate students and the least vicious of Daniel's tormentors, to disable Daniel with an illegal attack to the knee. Bobby reluctantly does so, getting disqualified in the process. Daniel is taken to the locker room, where the physician determines that he can't continue, but Daniel believes that if he doesn't continue, his tormentors would have gotten the best of him. So he convinces Miyagi to use a pain suppression technique so that he can continue. As Johnny is about to be declared the winner by default, Ali tells the master of ceremonies that Daniel will fight. Daniel then hobbles into the ring and faces Johnny.
The match is halted when Daniel uses a scissor leg technique to trip Johnny and deliver a blow to the back of the head, giving him a nose bleed. Kreese orders Johnny to sweep Daniel's injured leg, an unethical move. Johnny, horrified at the order, insists he can beat Daniel legitimately, but obeys under Kreese's intimidation. As the match continues, Johnny seizes Daniel's leg and delivers a vicious blow, doing further damage. Daniel, standing with difficulty, assumes the "Crane" stance, a technique he observed Miyagi performing on the beach. Johnny lunges toward Daniel, who jumps and delivers a kick to Johnny's chin, winning the tournament. Having gained respect towards his nemesis, Johnny takes Daniel's trophy from the master of ceremonies and presents it to Daniel himself as Daniel is carried off by the enthusiastic crowd.

Tags: dramatic, revenge, action, inspiring, violence

Review:
Of course, one of the biggest fouls is they're labeling it the "Karate" Kid, the Japanese martial art, when in the movie Jaden Smith's character learns Kung Fu, the Chinese martial art.
Totally miscast project with such a offensive plot to actual Chinese culture that I have to believe it will be changed dramatically for Asian release or simply only available on bootleg in China.Even if there was no original charismatic "Karate Kid" to compare this to, it was way too full of Will Smith ego and nepotism to be seriously considered as a piece of legitimate, quality film.Simply put...awful..
I don't believe that if it were not for his father he wouldn't be trying to acting.The only saving grace I found in this film was Jackie Chan who did a fair job, but very possibly could have added much more to the film had he been allowed to be funny.The stunts were very good as they appeared to be done by very competent stunt people.The story line didn't seem to hold the same charm of the original such as the wax on and wax off.
The entire emotional premise of the film doesn't work at all.Everything that is any good in this disgusting Jaden Smith/Jackie Chan remake is lifted out of the original film.
Like the remake of Willy Wonka, The new Karate Kid movie is an instance of Hollywood cannibalizing its own best work for short term profit.
The film, now set in China (yes, the original was set in America but the premise was an elderly Japanese man teaching a youth about his culture, martial art and becoming the father figure he needed), and focusing on the martial art of Kung Fu, is so far removed from the original they may have well just given it a new name and made it into a new film, although i suppose "The Kung Fu Kid" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.The film is 2 hours and 20 minutes of feeling a little ashamed at yourself for wishing harm to children, which is pretty much all it is for that ridiculously long run time, kids beating up kids.
They didn't even attempt to make this its own movie other than changing the scenery and lowering the age limit for getting a whoopin', it even starts the same, Mom gets a transfer so our young protagonist must uproot himself and move to a new city and make new friends and find his new love interest, even though the kids are far too young for love interests we are given the sickeningly sweet moment where young Jaden Smith gets his first kiss, aww...
Really there is no need to use the Karate Kid title!Lastly, the shift to Chan teaching Smith Kung Fu is just annoyingly inconsistent with the movie title, although that will likely be lost on the masses.
I don't understand why Jaden Smith is getting so much hate, whether it is because he was "pushed in" to the movie business or if it's because he's playing a black person who moves to China, where in the original, the main character is white.
This film contains beautiful cinematography, great fighting scenes, and fun music for the audience to listen to.Let's forget that the main character is black, and is moving to China, for a second.
Its content is interesting and is a visible step above the original Karate Kid, even though this movie does not feel like a remake (so stop comparing >0).The movie entertained and left me with a satisfied reminiscence of the experience..
Smith fails to garner a moment's sympathy for his character's plight throughout the production, appearing to be a typical spoilt rich kid instead.Now, the real reason I watched this film was for Jackie Chan, and needless he doesn't disappoint with his mentor role here.
Everything is Kung Fu. In "The Karate Kid" Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) tells his student Dre (Jaden Smith), "Everything is kung fu The way you put on a jacket.
Jaden Smith is on screen far too much and is almost as wooden as the peg he repeatedly hangs his coat on.In the original Karate Kid film the tasks given to Daniel Larusso are more believable in Karate instruction, rather than simply hanging a coat on a wooden peg.
This movie first shows that Jackie Chan can act, and second that Jaden Smith has star potential.While, I love the original movie, this new movie is better.
by absolutely no means am I a fan of the first Karate Kid movie and before people attack me for seeing a remake for a film I hated I will tell you I was dragged to watch this and being told it was a good movie....
if anyone thought Jaden Smith was unbearable to watch in The Day The Earth Stood Still should watch this.First off when you hear the words THE KARATE KID you'd expect Karate to be involved but all the time I heard the words "KUNG FU" by halfway during this movie I left.
The bad guys in this movie are written to try to act absolutely evil in this when all I saw was a villain so weak I could call the villains out of superhero cartoons better.(you have to watch original to get this paragraph) For the tasks in the first one that made Daniel know Karate at least that had variety but in this it's all this crap about picking up a jacket and dropping it then wearing it just that This may make me sound like a fan of the original but I will tell you now I also gave that a 1 but I will choose that over this piece of ####.Now I may think this may get a lot of people clicking "yes" to my review even though I only watched half of it I will tell anyone who clicks "no" to my review because I didn't watch all of it "I will not watch all of it what I saw was enough and I won't watch more"Edit: Why did 2 people click "No" to my review...
And of course the reason why the old film worked was because of it being believable in terms of Daniel and the rest of the fighters.So, the new film...Jaden Smith is a great little actor, and he gives a good performance in this film.
Silly plot, sad story...the only bright spot is Chan...He is as always, Jackie Chan..I hope he continues with the genre, but the kid needs to let others with real talent and no famous parents to get the chance they work for..Nuff said.OK, maybe not, they want more line so..This famous parent thing is just sad..almost every kid with a famous parent or parents, thinks he/she is famous just for being born, you know..like Paris Hilton..
Daniel and Mr. Miyagi are legendary and the film is far superior to the 2010 remake which was just a star vehicle for Jaden Smith.Who cares if a little kid gets beat up anyway?
Harald Zwart's direction is perfect, he makes a good remake, though one expected it to be a poor cousin.'The Karate Kid' has smart-ass Jaden Smith at his best.
He goes to China with his mom, gets beaten up by bad Chinese kids, prepares to revenge in a tournament, and falls in love.Meanwhile, the underused Jacky Chan plays a maintenance man teaching Jaden to fight.
I do not wanna make unfair comparisons between this new version of The Karate Kid and the famous original film, because even though that one is undoubtedly one of the most iconic films from the 80's, I have personally never found it to be exceptional or very memorable.So, I was not upset by the various changes screenwriter Christopher Murphey made to this modern interpretation, starting by the new setting of the story, its melodrama and the change from "karate" to "kung fu".The problems I had with this horrible new version mainly were its poor screenplay, its lazy rhythm and the lack of enthusiasm and credibility from almost all the actors.But, most of all, I was bothered by the "americanism" from the story, which irritated me a lot during the excessive running time (140 minutes) from this film.In summary, I could never get interested in what was happening during this predictable and tedious movie.The first hour from The Karate Kid bored me to tears because it constantly shows us the discontent from the kid, his difficulties to adapt himself to the new setting and his antipathetic attempts to being "cool".Fortunately, after all that, Jackie Chan appears, and his credible performance is one of the few positive elements from the movie.However, the whole screenplay is so bad that his presence does not improve the movie too much...instead of being atrocious like in the first hour, the film is "only" horrible in the remaining time.So, all in all, the final experience of The Karate Kid (2010) is truly hateful.But, I guess nobody is going to watch The Karate Kid (2010) to appreciate the subtleness from the drama, but to watch an inspiring story about overcoming and martial arts.And the movie also fails on that aspect, because we have already seen TOO MANY movies about brave "losers" who overcome to themselves with effort and dedication with the help of friendly mentors.In summary, The Karate Kid (2010) is a piece of crap which is tedious, bland and even antipathetic.In other words, my best suggestion is for you not to watch this movie..
Let's make it clear from the beginning, The Karate Kid is a blatant vehicle for Jaden Smith, with his all too famous father Will producing the movie in an attempt to bolster his son's acting career.
That being said, it's a fairly well polished advert with Jaden putting in a solid performance, the only criticism that can be levelled at Smith is his age; the original Karate Kid was much older, broadening the films appeal to a wider audience, but as I watched pre-teens fighting I couldn't help feeling that this would alienate the teen audience as they will struggle to relate to the main character.Don't get me wrong, the original is hardly a masterpiece, as is clear from its recent relegation to the library of channel five Sunday afternoon family films that are usually only worth watching for the memories they rekindle, but in 1984 the influence it had over popular culture was widespread, with teens everywhere desperate to take up martial arts.
There is no doubt that the new version will inspire a similar wave of interest and while this may indicate a certain amount of popularity, it is no indication of the film's quality, which doesn't come close to the sheer entertainment of the original.Without comparing the two versions, The Karate Kid is a fairly entertaining movie, it has its flaws - most notably its length, but children oblivious to the original will love watching Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) start a new life in China while finding his feet with the local gang.
Jackie Chan puts in a stirling performance as Mr Han, the caretaker and karate master who dedicates his time to training Dre and teaching him the true art of karate, that shows he can actually act.The story arc remains very similar to the original with the main alteration being the setting, which provides some fantastic backdrops for the street battles and a striking training scene on the great wall of China.
Visually the film is impressive and the acting is okay, but remakes are never going to compare favourably to their predecessors and a change to one of the most memorable scenes in the film ("wax on, wax off") will be seen as blasphemous by fans of the original.This is definitely a film for the younger generation, people familiar with the 1984 version should stay well away but those heading into the film without preconceptions formed from viewing the original will find a fairly enjoyable story that is very easy to watch.
The story deals with a troublesome 12-year-old young boy named Dre Parker (Jaden Smith), thanks to Mr. Ham (Jackie Chan) he aware that Kung Fu is his salvation, as he fights an evil nemesis , facing down a violent young group trained by an expert and violent trainer .
The US title for this movie was kept as "The Karate Kid" , to maintain the connection to the earlier films it is loosely based on , even though this story takes place in China and the martial arts used are forms of Kung Fu .
While its clear this film is not a b-flick, it had Jackie Chan good filming etc, in all the places it counts it may as well have been.The Story: The story is RIDICULOUSLY simple with only one subplot from the kid moves to china - gets picked on-learns to fight * - enters martial arts tournament-won't tell you the outcome but I really don't have to -, main-plot.
I'm a Jackie Chan fan but it's clear this was not a role he was cut out for and he was the standout performance for an otherwise quite poor cast.Martial arts This was perhaps the one redeeming feature of this film and certainly for child actors the action scenes weren't bad but for my money, fights between 13 year-olds are difficult to really get behind (its hard to see an audience really cheering for one kid to beat another up it just doesn't seem right).
I am also a fan of Jackie Chan but he also just doesn't look interested in this film.Everyone knows the basic story; kid is bullied taken under the wing of strange old man taught how to fight enters tournament to face down bully.
Hand on heart, then I watched this movie solely for the fact that Jackie Chan was in it.You might like this 2010 version of "The Karate Kid" if you haven't seen the original movie.
One could be forgiven for thinking the  producers have misspelt the title of the film, but seeing this is just  another B-movie from Chan, one wonders why it's called "The Karate Kid"  in the first place?!
The older movies were pg 13 as it is and that was fine but this is like a watered down version of the old films which has a lot less fighting scenes (hardly any at all) and thats very disappointing for The Karate Kid. Jackie Chan did a great job his character was some what fun to watch but I feel like if it wasn't for Jackie Chan staring in the movie and being a fan of his work I would have honestly walked out of the theatre.
What I cannot understand, however, is how this movie gets rated based on superficial things such as "jaden can't act", "black kid in china", "smith's son got the role", etc, etc.
With Han as his master, Dre must now stand up to his bullies in the upcoming kung fu tournament to end their feud and earn their respect.Jaden Smith impresses here as the film's star, handling the action and emotional scenes in a performance his famous father would well approve of.
I feel Pat Morita was much better as the tutor to young Danielsan, than Jackie Chan is to Jada.The life lessons were not as thoughtful and well done as in the first.Martin Kove as the teacher of the Dojo that Danielsan had to go up against was also a more interesting and threatening character than the leader in this latest version of Karate Kid. I did think the bully in the new version was the equal or better than the bully in the first version of this movie.To me, the only thing that was more appealing in this movie than the original was the young girl who played the love interest of Jada Pinkett Smith.
I had very high expectations for the latest Karate Kid film, not because i've seen the originals, because I've never seen the original movies.What attracted me to this film was mostly the cast.Jaden Smith delivered an absolutely fantastic performance in "Pursuit of Happiness" and I wanted to see what new surprises he would bring to the table in terms of kung fu.Jackie Chan was also a good reason to see it.The concept of kung-fu shown in the trailer also made me interested.So the big question for everyone is: Is it necessary to make a Karate Kid remake?
i enjoyed this remake of the 1984 original.it's a bit more fleshed out than the original,although it may be a bit too long.this one's actually about Kungfu,not Karate,and it shows the definite differences between the two disciplines.Jackie Chan plays the handy man role made famous by Pat Morita in the original.Jaden Smith(Son of Will and Jada Pinket Smith)plays the role made famous by Ralph Machio.i'd say this movie compares favourably to the original in all aspects except one:it doesn't quite have the same crowd pleasing intensity.at least i didn't feel it.still,it's well acted and well directed and looks good.for me,The Karate Kid is a 7/10.
Considering their kid is in the lead role, they probably are going to treat the film with a little more care.The story begins with the main character, Dre Parker (Jaden Smith, son of the aforementioned producers) leaving Detroit with his mom to relocate to China.
The original story was durable enough to inspire three sequels, and now we have an entertaining version filmed mostly on location in China, with 56-year-old Jackie Chan in the role of Mr. Miyagi.The original was one of its year's best movies.
This film is an adaption of the original story called The karate Kid, but is a good remake also called " The Karate Kid " despite the fact that it touts the martial art of Kung Fu. In this story, our hero Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) son of Will Smith, is a small American boy who because of his mother travels to China.
Witness the rise of a new star: Jaden Smith, the son of Will Smith in his new movie and also remake of the 1984 film The Karate Kid.Honestly, I haven't seen the 1984 original film yet.