Karate Kid 2010

Karate Kid 2010

Where to begin with a movie that hands you buckets full of complaints before the exposition is even over? First of all this is not the Karate Kid (1984) of my childhood.  Without the happy tint of nostalgia the 1984 Karate Kid isn't exactly a cinema masterpiece, but compared to the new version the original looks better than Raging Bull (1980) mixed with Chunky Monkey ice cream.  I guess the place to begin is with the basics then move on to its few positive features before jumping into some serious ripping.

Karate Kid (2010) is basically a retelling of the original.  The plot goes something like this - a boy gets butt kicked on the street until the boy meets a quirky old martial arts master, then boy gets great at Karate (Kung Fu in this version) and comes back to do the kicking in a big public tournament for the climax.  This plot line worked great in the original, worked OK in a number of sequels and infinite copy cats movies, and plays well in this version.  The 2010 version was directed by Harald Zwart, who's only other movie of note was Agent Code Banks in 2003 and that isn't a good thing.  He creates a fundamentally sound movie, but fails miserably to bring it above the basic shot-by-numbers movie that could have been done by any Nickelodeon channel director.  The Cinematographer was Roger Pratt who has been Director of Photography on various Harry Potters and, a personal favorite, 12 Monkeys (1995).  Pratt is a very talented DP and does the best work on the technical side of this film.  The locations are shot beautifully and there are some great scenes that play with lights and silhouettes.  Another technical note is the talented James Horner, Avatar (2009) and Braveheart (1995), who did much of the music and arrangements using music by pop singers like Justin Beiber as well as original compositions.  Horner doesn't quite inspire me like Bill Conti's music from the 1984 version, but it is solid work that shouldn't bring many complaints.  Major producers on this movie include both Jada Pinkett Smith and the Fresh Prince himself, Will Smith.  Since the star of the movie is their son, Jaden Smith, many have leveled the complaint that they arranged and help bankroll the movie to give their son something to keep him occupied.  After seeing the movie, Will Smith had to have bankrolled this movie to explain the casting of Jaden Smith.  This child actor is no Dakota Fanning and cannot carry a movie.

Before I dive deeply into the shallow end of the bathtub that this movie is, let me go over the good aspects of the movie.  First of all, they moved the location of the Karate Kid from sunny California to gorgeous China.  The locations throughout this film are amazing and frequently breathtaking.  By shooting on location, the backgrounds are lively and filled with extras that look the part better than any Hollywood casting agent could ever dream up.  While the movie is forced to do an obligatory montage of Dre, Smith, training on the Great Wall of China, the majority of the locations make sense for the characters while also furthering the story and background.  Shots of traditional Beijing locations are mixed with scenes filmed with the Beijing National Stadium in the background.  The best use of locations was the section where Han, Jackie Chan's character, and Dre travel to the the breathtaking Wudang Mountains.  This short part of the movie ties in heavily as background for Mr. Han and as an introduction for this movie's version of the 'Crane Stance' which is now a form of hypnotizing a snake... yeah this plays out about is well as you think, crazy eyes Jaden plays this up horribly multiple times throughout the movie. 

Now a smooth transition from praise to complaints.  For this segue I will use the actors.  Throughout this movie a lot of the local talent from China and antagonist children keep almost pulling this movie into the realm of respectability.  To help them on the brutal journey of dragging a bad film uphill in the snow with no shoes is Jackie Chan.  Of the main cast Chan's Mr. Han is the only character worth remembering.  Mr. Han is a complex and quirky character who shows more emotion in little gestures, like grabbing Dre's arm in the Dojo and walking with an awkward gait, than Smith shows throughout the entirety of the film.  He has an intriguing back story that plucked a bit at my heart strings when he was discussing the death of his family and breaks into a sad melody, despite much of that scene being a bit heavy handed.  Chan has a few bad moments, but does great fight scenes and delivers the best performance of the movie.

Now the other side of the coin.  To say Henson, who plays Dre's mother, is a one dimensional stereotype would be giving her too much credit and the other American child, a white neighbor in Beijing, is so bad I choose to forget the character entirely.  This all barely stacks up to the mediocrity that is Jaden Smith.  Smith does not deliver a horrible performance but much of the writing for the character and his character choices make for a snotty, unlikeable, and poorly acted character.  Dre comes across as desperate attempt at Casanova  in a child's body.  Multiple references to intestinal distress help push his awkward flirtations straight into the creepy zone and not in a charming way.  The whole love interest is pushed to the point where it is more than uncomfortable to watch and Smith's 'I'm so smooth' character ruins the great performance of Wenwen Han who plays his love interest.  Lastly on the topic of Smith is the list of little things... he is an adequate athlete, but fails to pull off the martial arts with any grace or believability, his dancing choreography showed prowess that his skateboarding and stunts almost disprove, and his performance was so bad I actually wished they cast Miley Cyrus or Ozzy Osbourne as the Karate Kid.  

As for other horrible parts of this movie, lets talk about the montage again for a second.  Why does the film need a training montage when the entire movie is about Dre's training and the lead up the tournament?  Did the writers and directors not realize the decade of montages ended January 1 of 1990?  And how exactly are these characters supposed to get permission to train on top of one of the towers on the Great Wall of China alone on a beautiful day?  Next would be more complaints about the love story.  A basic story of friendship with hints at the romantic would have been better, and more appropriate considering the age of the characters, but instead they include kissing scenes and overt sexuality when the children dance at the arcade.  If  you drop out the kissing scene and the dance scene, you have a great story of juvenile budding relationships.  Did they have to take it one step too far?  Combined with the bad acting this made any 'love' scene nearly unwatchable for me.  Also this movie makes some pretty good stabs at being an action flick, but only the fights with Jackie Chan have any real dynamic action.  The stunt work and acting of the child antagonists is significantly above par when compared to Smith.  The parkour-like chase scene had a few exciting moments but all the good stunts were pulled off by the antagonists, in particular one 'child' who looked like he was pushing 40 years old.  The action at the climax of the movie was really forgettable and the tournament had all the excitement of a Mat Rat's competition for a tennis fan with the most interesting fights not involving the protagonist. 

Well the complains keep coming to mind, but I am running short on digital paper so I will wrap this up.  This movie was a big blockbuster production and brought in blockbuster money so we will probably be seeing sequels, but was basically a career launching pad for Jaden Smith engineered by his rich and famous father.  Will Smith needs quit buying roles for his wife and kids, but first he needs to stop his daughters music career before she ends the world. Karate Kid fails so hard that it fails to even be properly bad.  It lacks any charm, but could possibly be a good movie to sit down and watch with kids in the 10-15 range.  I would recommend this movie to adolescents who are grounded and people interested in the intricate ways a crappy child star can ruin a movie.