30 June 2010

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!

17 June 2010

Bribery

This is inspired by a scene in The Princess Diaries (the book not the film).

SPOILER ALERT

Mia's grandmother is a drastically different character from her portrayal in the movie. She's so mean that Mia's dad offers to pay her to continue her “Princess Lessons”. When that doesn't work he offers to donate $100 a day to Greenpeace if she'll continue her lessons. As she is quite the eco-freak, that's an offer she couldn't refuse.

END SPOILER

Think of the one person in the world who aggravates you more than anyone else. (This part's easy.)

Would you be willing to spend one hour a day five days a week for a year locked in a room with that person if either you were paid $100 a session or $100 a day was donated to your favorite charity (that amounts to $26,000 for those of you bad at math)?