The argument over who would win a fight between Pat Morita and Jackie Chan is movie theory fandom, pure and simple. In reality, however, it’s an easy guess. Almost as easy is guessing which Karate Kid is a better film. Seeing the latest, however, makes it that much easier. Two heavyweights from the Lamp weigh in.
MULLIG4N
In 1976, director John G. Avildsen gave us Rocky. The rags to riches sports drama of an underdog boxer in the city of Philadelphia would become a template for another successful film – 1984′s The Karate Kid. To Avildsen’s credit, he parlayed that formula well.
Now, in our gloriously vapid year of film, 2010, Harald Zwart has given us a remake of a derivative. In the new Karate Kid the underdog Jaden Smith plays Dre Parker, a dislocated youth who’s been moved from his hometown of Detroit to Bejing by his mother, Sherry Parker (Taraji P. Henson). Upon arrival, Dre meets Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), a maintenance man with a mastery of Kung Fu and the patience to teach it.
If you’ve seen the original, that is all you need to know. The places, names and actors have all changed for the new rendition, but the formula hasn’t. The only aspects of this remake that Zwart didn’t carry over, unfortunately for us, are the heart of the story. Smith decently conveys the “duck out of water” personality of his predecessor, but hasn’t reached the maturity an actor needs to carry an entire film. Henson’s attempt to update the role of “mom” for a modern audience comes off as audacious in scenes where she dons traditional Chinese dress in public, as if the life-changing culture shift her and her son have just embarked on is nothing more than surface-level fun.
Jackie Chan, however, does a fine job with the script he’s been given. And Smith and Chan do succeed in achieving a close chemistry comparable to that of their 1980′s counterparts. But considering all of the work the cast and crew expend in an attempt to connect with a younger audience, it’s surprising that they’ve obliterated all of the character development relevant to that audience. Gone are the subtle interactions between Chan’s character and Smith’s. And our strongest emotional bond, the scene where Mr. Han reveals the root of his demons to Dre, utilizes body count and circumstance to up the emotional impact.
In short, there is no inherent benefit for you or your child in seeing The Karate Kid (2010). It was done better some twenty years prior. If you can look past the dated soundtrack and film grain, there’s infinitely more to be had from Daniel LaRusso than Dre Parker. Are you listening, Ralph? I hope you feel vindicated.
OSRIC
You cannot talk about The Karate Kid without mentioning the 1984 version. Daniel LaRusso, the awkward teenager with a heart of gold said good bye to Jersey only to be greeted by the shambles of an L.A. apartment complex. Bullied and prodded by his schoolmates, Daniel-son eventually confronts his aggressors in a civilized fashion. Under the tutelage of Pat Morita’s Mr. Miyagi -the Karate tournament against the Cobra Kai is not without cinematic merit and LaRusso comes away with a crane kick victory during a time when kids all over were either honing their crane kick mockery stances or “waxing off”.
16 years later it stands to say that the film’s sequels did little for the original but the redo, however, gave the story its fair share of nods while being original enough to be its own film. That’s hard to do and it makes the film a standout given the climate of remakes tanking. With notables like the A-Team and Robin Hood bombing, the sequel to Iron Man lacking any real iron the summer of 2010 finds Jaden Smith in one of its less awful films.
Sure, there is no Daniel-son. Dre’s mother is a cookie cutter character with poor lines and glib acting, but the chemistry between Dre and Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han did seem to ring quite true at times – if one is to ever believe the mentor relationships in these movies. Even in the first one it seemed all to perfect.
The good kid with no friends gets the girl and wins the fight. How do they win, you ask? I will tell you.
They befriend an old man and the rigor of training they endeavor comes off as something that can’t be attained by good ole’ American know how or without showing compassion. You need to be good enough to catch a fly with a chopstick. You need to control the mind of a snake. You need a sense of mysticism to kick ass. Both movies hang their hat on this idea and the bullied, with their new knowledge of the world, soon learn some serious skills. This all happens in a matter of weeks. Both times the good kid walks away with trophies and the girl and with what would normally take years of training.
If we are to suspend our disbelief enough to focus on how much each movie does kick ass, however, the new installment takes the cake. This is a real martial arts film. Pat Morita could never manhandle a gang of kids the way Jackie Chan’s Han does. Dre’s skills come off much less like a crippled bird than Macchio’s and overall the fighting scenes succeed as a result.
But therein lies my main issue with the new versioning. The Karate Kid was not a fighting movie. It was a film about not having to fight. While the new one made similar claims within its narrative, even whilst Dre is walking across a mythical temple chock full of meditating monks, the films didn’t really care to adhere to this method and its own violent tendencies were the one and only highlight of the film.
I hate a hypocrite and inamsuch as I want to give some credit to this remake – Bananarama teen movie wins.
OVERALL:
Not a fighting movie? I wanted nothing more than to see Johnny get his ass kicked in that movie. Seeing Dre Parker’s inverted roundhouse to Johnny’s face is a sight I would welcome.