karate kid review
Jun. 13th, 2010 07:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amredthelectorI saw the Karate Kid remake today, and I really enjoyed it. I admit, when I first heard it was being remade, I had my doubts. The original was a great movie, and I didn't really think it needed to be remade. But as I saw the trailers come out, I became really excited about it. And it really did not disappoint.
I'm kind of annoyed by the title - it really should be 'The Kung Fu Kid' instead of Karate, and that's actually what the international title is. I'm disappointed that someone in production decided Americans are too dumb to realize that this is a Karate Kid remake without the title.
Still, the film was really enjoyable. It follows the plot of the original really closely, though with some differences (waxing the car turns into hanging up a jacket, Mr. Haung's family is lost a different way from Mr. Miyagi's, etc), but that's okay, I think. The movie is energetic and fun. When the kids hit one another, it really looks like it hurts. The audience (at least where I was watching) really go into the action, and cared about the characters. There were some points were Dre got hit really hard, and you could hear a collective gasp from everyone in the theatre. When he scored a good hit, people clapped and cheered. I don't normally like when people do that in theatres, but even I couldn't resist.
The characters were fantastic, and easy to like. Dre was portrayed as a typical American - there was hardly any mention that he was black, other then a few comments about his hair from some of his Chinese school mates. It was nice to see him be just a character, instead of a 'black character'. He was energetic and a little ignorant, but well-meaning and sweet. Mr. Haung was an amazing role for Jackie Chan. He tends to get type-cast into comedic roles, but here he really got to show off his serious acting chops, and he was amazing. He didn't have very many fight scenes, and when he did, they weren't super-fancy. At the end of them, he'd even look really tired, like he was getting too old for martial arts. His fighting didn't overshadow Jaden's, and that was a good thing. And speaking of Jaden's martial arts... holy crap. I hope the kid keeps up with it, because he was amazing. I'd love to see him getting staring roles in American-made wuxia films when he's an adult. How awesome would that be? A black kung fu star. I'd love to see that.
Anyways, it was a great movie. If you've seen the original, you know how it ends, so you may not be inclined to see it. But I think it brings enough originality to it to make it really fun and interesting.
I'm kind of annoyed by the title - it really should be 'The Kung Fu Kid' instead of Karate, and that's actually what the international title is. I'm disappointed that someone in production decided Americans are too dumb to realize that this is a Karate Kid remake without the title.
Still, the film was really enjoyable. It follows the plot of the original really closely, though with some differences (waxing the car turns into hanging up a jacket, Mr. Haung's family is lost a different way from Mr. Miyagi's, etc), but that's okay, I think. The movie is energetic and fun. When the kids hit one another, it really looks like it hurts. The audience (at least where I was watching) really go into the action, and cared about the characters. There were some points were Dre got hit really hard, and you could hear a collective gasp from everyone in the theatre. When he scored a good hit, people clapped and cheered. I don't normally like when people do that in theatres, but even I couldn't resist.
The characters were fantastic, and easy to like. Dre was portrayed as a typical American - there was hardly any mention that he was black, other then a few comments about his hair from some of his Chinese school mates. It was nice to see him be just a character, instead of a 'black character'. He was energetic and a little ignorant, but well-meaning and sweet. Mr. Haung was an amazing role for Jackie Chan. He tends to get type-cast into comedic roles, but here he really got to show off his serious acting chops, and he was amazing. He didn't have very many fight scenes, and when he did, they weren't super-fancy. At the end of them, he'd even look really tired, like he was getting too old for martial arts. His fighting didn't overshadow Jaden's, and that was a good thing. And speaking of Jaden's martial arts... holy crap. I hope the kid keeps up with it, because he was amazing. I'd love to see him getting staring roles in American-made wuxia films when he's an adult. How awesome would that be? A black kung fu star. I'd love to see that.
Anyways, it was a great movie. If you've seen the original, you know how it ends, so you may not be inclined to see it. But I think it brings enough originality to it to make it really fun and interesting.
