The Karate Kid [Blu-ray]

Director: Harald Zwart, John G. Avildsen Harald Zwart

Overview

The Karate Kid franchise is resurrected with this Columbia Pictures production starring Will Smith's son, Jaden, as the youngster who learns more than simple karate lessons from a whimsical martial arts master (Jackie Chan).

Product Details

Release Date:	10/05/2010
UPC:	0043396364448
Original Release:	2010
Rating:	PG
Source:	SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMT
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:20:00
Sales rank:	26,803

Special Features

Chinese lessons; Justin Bieber music video featuring Jaden Smith; The making of the Karate Kid; Go on set with Jackie Chan; Train with Jaden Smith; Explore China with an interactive map

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jaden Smith	Dre Parker
Jackie Chan	Mr. Han
Taraji P. Henson	Sherry Parker
Zhenwei Wang	Cheng,Meiying's Mom,Mrs. Po
Wenwen Han	Meiying
Rongguang Yu	Master Li
Zhensu Wu	Meiying's Dad,Mrs. Xie
Shijia Lü	Liang
Yi Zhao	Zhuang
Jared Minns	Dre's Detroit Friend
Bo Zhang	Song
Luke Carberry	Harry
Cameron Hillman	Mark
Ghye Samuel Brown	Oz
Rocky Shi	Ur Dang
Harry Van Gorkum	Music Instructor
Tess Liu	History Teacher,Dude From Detroit
Xinha Guo	Tournament Doctor
Jijun Zhai	Mat 4 Referee
Shun Li	Mat 5 Referee
Tao Ji	Announcer
Chen Jing	Man on Plane Speaking Chinese
Geliang Liang	Ping Pong Man
Xu Ming	Bao
James Horner	Composer
Ralph Macchio	Actor
Elisabeth Shue	Actor
Pat Morita	Actor
Martin Kove	Actor
Larry B. Scott	Actor
Chad McQueen	Actor
William Zabka	Actor
Dana Andersen	Actor
Randee Heller	Actor
Israel Juarbe	Actor
William Bassett	Actor
Juli Fields	Actor
Harald Zwart	Actor

Technical Credits

Christopher Murphey

Robert Mark Kamen

Harald Zwart	Director
Christopher Murphey	Screenwriter
Will Smith	Producer
Jada Pinkett Smith	Producer
James Lassiter	Producer
Ken Stovitz	Producer
Jerry Weintraub	Producer
Dany Wolf	Executive Producer,Producer
Susan Ekins	Executive Producer,Producer
Han San Ping	Executive Producer
Gang Wu	Stunts
PoPing Au Yeung	Casting
Zoe Thompson	Casting
Wai-Kit Lau	Special Effects
John G. Avildsen	Director
Robert Mark Kamen	Screenwriter
Jada Pinkett-Smith	Producer

Editorial Reviews

The original Karate Kid was an audience-pleasing sleeper that built on word of mouth to become, surprisingly, the fifth biggest hit of 1984. The 2010 remake might become an even bigger smash, but it has just a fraction of the smarts and subtlety that made the original a generational classic. Preteen Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) moves from to Detroit to China with his mother (Taraji P. Henson) after she scores a new job. He feels out of place in his new surroundings, a situation that spirals downward when bully Cheng beats him up for talking to a girl. Dre lives under constant threat of attack until one day when, just before yet another beating, the apartment complex's handyman, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), appears and rescues him. Turns out Han is a martial-arts expert, and he agrees to train Dre for a kung fu tournament where he can face off against Cheng, as well as against all the other members of the evil school where Cheng studies martial arts. One of the best features about the movie is the setting. With the help of talented cinematographer Roger Pratt (who regularly collaborates with Terry Gilliam), director Harald Zwart makes day-to-day life in China both exotic and commonplace -- a trick very few American films have ever pulled off. The filmmakers don't treat China like a museum, but a fully functional community where real people live, play, eat, work, and go to school every day. This sense of place helps keep the film from falling apart during a nearly hour-long setup that elongates Dre's suffering to a point where we almost lose patience with him. Will Smith became a worldwide superstar for a reason -- very few performers can win over audiences with such seeming effortlessness as the artist formally known as The Fresh Prince. And while his son Jaden gives a fine performance here -- it's obvious he's absorbed tons from watching his dad -- he doesn't yet possess the intangible quality that makes an actor larger than life. He's got attitude where his dad has charisma. His lack of star power is compounded by the presence of Jackie Chan, a genuine movie star. When Han finally reveals his kung-fu knowledge, dispatching the gang of bullies with such grace and skill that he never actually punches any of them, it's the highlight of the film -- a mix of action, dance, and physical comedy that hammers home why Chan deserves comparisons to Bruce Lee, Gene Kelly, and Buster Keaton. It's Chan that captures our heart, instilling banal lines about controlling the life force in order to properly understand kung fu with fresh authority. Best of all, he's generous -- his young co-star comes off better playing scenes with him than he does with anyone else in the cast. As good as Chan is, the movie can't overcome the fact that the emotional stakes in the film seem low because the main character is so young. The puppy love between Dre and the young girl -- a story element the movie spends a great deal of time on -- has far less weight than a relationship between teens that have driver's licenses. On top of that, while the bad kid's kung-fu skills would be intimidating to someone his age, it's nearly comical to any adult; at some point you do ask yourself why the principal, who seems to understand Cheng is a little snot, isn't willing to step in and stop the little brat. The movie will work for patient kids, who might enjoy seeing so much of a foreign country, but tykes who are in it for the action have to wait an awful long time to get to the slam-bang finale where a giant video monitor offers up instant replays of all the big kicks, flips, and punches for anyone too young or dumb to understand what's going on in the ring the first time they see it. The original Karate Kid still has a following because it works no matter how old you are; that's part of the reason Hollywood would try to remake it in the first place. And while little ones may love this version, they're going to outgrow it.