The Karate Kid (2010)

Item: The Karate Kid
Rating: 3.5
Author: Dwight C

3.5 out of 5

Action, Family

The Verdict

Thumbs Up: Worth a Watch

Families and fans of the original who want a fresh take on the story. Great for kids getting into martial arts movies.

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Synopsis

After moving from Detroit to China with his mom, 12-year-old Dre becomes the target of a bully and finds an unlikely teacher in the maintenance man, Mr. Han.

Spoiler Warning!!! Full Review Below

Full Review (Spoilers)

This is a re-release review of the 2010 version of The Karate Kid.

The Good

This movie had a good cast. They all played well off of each other. You can find yourself connecting to this story and their world. They even had a few moments that made you think of the original Karate Kid.

Jaden Smith gave a good performance as the Karate “Kung-Fu” kid. His growth within the movie made you believe he could be a future action star. One of the best messages of this movie came when he gave the lines “Because I’m still scared. And no matter what happens, tonight, when I leave, I don’t want to be scared anymore.”(Quote off of IMDB.com)
Taraji P. Henson played a concerned mother. Each time she told Smith’s character to pick up his jacket I could understand her frustration. Everything about her portrayal as a single mother was top notch. You could see her concern when she found out Smith’s character had a black eye.
Jackie Chan did an amazing job. He played as a great mentor and delivered perfectly with his comic relief.

The Bad

Given that they landed the extremely talented Jackie Chan in this movie they didn’t use him enough. His character, Mr. Han, received 5 minutes of actual background story. They should have worked out a way to include more of his story in the mix.

The fighting scenes in the tournament gave off a shaky camera action feel to it. It looked weird each time it happened.

The Karate Kid (2010) Cast and Details

The Karate Kid (2010) is directed by Harald Zwart and stars Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan and Taraji P. Henson. It runs 140 minutes and is rated PG. You can look up the full cast and crew on IMDb. You might also like my Inside Out review.

DC's Hypothetical Corner

Let’s say I change one thing. Maybe that one thing will make this movie better or more watchable.

It would have been awesome if Dre did a spinning roundhouse kick at the end instead of the flip kick. They also could have joked about him learning Kung Fu instead of Karate, with Mr. Han agreeing to teach him one Karate move.

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