The Karate Kid (2010)

I can sum up the pseudo-remake of 1984's The Karate Kid with eight little words: it kicks the crap out of the original.

I'm a big fan of the Karate Kid series but the 2010 version, while having essentially the same story, is well-served by its cast. Jackie Chan is, of course, amazing and Jaden Smith has significantly more acting talent than his father and I see a bright future ahead for him. For the most part the script held no surprises but that didn't keep it from being moving.

I also appreciated the direct references to the original film as well as to the late great Pat Morita (especially the much-spoilered “catch a fly with chopsticks” scene).

My only real complaints about the movie are the shaky camera work and the longest two minutes since the death of Namek*. I assume the camera work was supposed to serve some artistic purpose but all it did was make the action difficult to follow while making me queasy.  But needing 5-10 minutes of film to supposedly take up two minutes of story is unforgivable.

Thus I only give it 4 out of 5 Meekays.


* For those of you not in the know: in the anime series Dragonball Z, one of the villains destroys the core of the planet Namek and says that it will explode in five minutes. FOUR half-hour episodes later it finally does. FOUR!