The ’84 version of The Karate Kid is a cultural classic, pretty much everyone has seen it which makes a remake all that more difficult. No one thinks Jackie Chan can beat old man Mayagi, but overall the new version manages to keep a good balance between old and new without making sacrifies. That said it does have it’s weaknesses, but overall it’s an enjoyable flick that everyone can watch.

The Karate Kid begins with your typical youngster, packing up his bags and moving to Beijing with his mother. Forget feelings of alienation and cultural differences, it pretty quickly turns into your average American high-school life with a bit of fighting thrown in. The story is well-trodden; boy falls for girl, mean kids don’t like that boy has fallen for girl, mean kids beat up boy. Overall the new film has struck almost exactly to the story of the original, with only the bits in between changed. Whether you feel this is a good or bad move depends on how much you liked the original and remakes in general.

Enter Jackie Chan and his kung-fu ways and you have a good 140 minutes of friendship, training and fighting. The characters are believable and likeable and the ending is soppy as one would expect. My only criticism in terms of cast comes from the introduction of several at the beginning whose storylines are never revisited, most likely due to a lack of time.

In terms of Kung-fu, I’m sure @Rice would have something to say but for me it was more than adequate. Jaden Smith obviously trained hard before filming began and while he can perform a lot of the moves (even going so far as to perform a suspended split) overall he looks a bit… weedy. There really isn’t any other word for it. That’s not to say the fight scenes are well choreographed, but watching Jackie Chan defeat a gang of six is a much more satisfying scene.

The Karate Kid is a worthy remake of the original and one that parents can take their youngsters too knowing they can claim it as their own.

My rating: 7/10