The Karate Kid

There’s no ‘You’re the Best’-fuelled montage, no feather-haired Aryan villain, no ‘wax on, wax off’ catchphrase to seep into everyday usage. So how can Sony Pictures’ update possibly hope to capture audiences’ hearts and imaginations as successfully as John G Avildsen‘s winningly clichéd original?

An opening burst of sub-Chris Brown R ‘n’ B in the mawkish opening will see twentysomethings bracing themselves for an exaggerated tarnishing of a childhood favourite, but for the most part, Harold Zwart’s reboot is surprisingly watchable, if entirely pointless all the same.

Jaden Smith plays sullen pre-teen Dre Parker, reluctantly uprooted from his Detroit home after his mother (Taraji P Henson) is transferred to Beijing, where he soon finds himself at the mercy of a gang of local bullies. But just as Pat Morita saved Ralph Macchio’s Daniel-san in the original, Jackie Chan’s sombre handyman Mr Han is on hand to help Dre learn to defend himself.

And from there, it’s largely as you were, with the plot building towards a tournament climax and the young student learning life lessons as well as a martial art from his unorthodox teacher. Like all successful sports films, the formulaic plot is a necessary, enjoyable evil and Smith’s likeability – aided by a swagger clearly inherited from his father Will – means Dre is a winning hero.

Zwart also shoots the action more fluidly than you might expect from the director of The Pink Panther 2, and it wouldn’t be hard to see the film mimicking its source and inspiring a generation – the film’s US success proves audiences can’t get enough of underdog stories.

Somehow Mr Han’s ‘put jacket on, take jacket off’ won’t have the resonance of Mr Miyagi’s sage teachings, however, and many of the new version’s problems stem from its new location. The action has been transported from California to China and the native kung fu is used rather than Japanese karate (causing the film to be titled The Kung Fu Kid in China and the brilliantly literal Best Kid in Japan). The Chinese tourist board must be ecstatic at the clean and modern portrayal of Beijing and the picture-postcard shots of the Forbidden City, Wudang Mountains and Great Wall, but these interludes mean the film’s running time is 20 minutes longer than necessary.

The geographical change also takes the film down a curious route for a ‘fish-out-of-water’ story, with a racial undercurrent bubbling beneath Dre’s struggle to fit into Chinese society. One sequence sees head bully Cheng telling Dre to “stay away from all of us”, after the young American attempts to chat up aspiring violinist Mei Ying (Han Wenwen), and audiences may be taken aback by the apparent xenophobia of the ruffian’s tone, a world away from the well-drawn class divisions of the original.

Central casting means The Karate Kid is a roundhouse kick short of a knockout, with Smith impressive for his age but still too young for the plot. His intended love story with Mei Ying feels creepy and ill-judged while the bullying that felt humiliating and brutal to the teenage Daniel in the original feels more akin to child abuse for a 12-year-old. Chan, in a role calmer than his typically hammy turns, does his best to forge a believable father-son arc with Smith, but their chemistry seems more collegial than familial and never matches the clear affection between Morita and Macchio.

Yet it would be harsh and facile to expect the new version to be as unexpectedly moving or climactically intense as the original. Ignore the location change and the hero’s reduced age and what remains is a solid and slick and entertaining family film.

Lewis Bazley

Anticipation:

Is there a reason for this remake? No, sensei!

Enjoyment:

Packs a stronger punch than expected but still doesn't win the bout.

In Retrospect:

A well-made and serviceable remake that neither surpasses nor tarnishes the original.