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[huma]

Cast: Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith, Taraji P Henson, Wenwen Han
Direction: Harold Zwart
Genre: Action
Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes

Story: Twelve-year-old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) moves from Detroit to Beijing with his mother (Taraji P Henson) and hates the relocation. He has reason to do so, because the school bullies insist on bashing him up whenever they see him talking to the pretty Ms Mei Ying, in and outside class. Dre realises its time to hit back and finds his personal karate teacher in Mr Han (Jackie Chan), the mysterious maintenance, who becomes a surrogate father to the lonely tween. Mr Han tutors him both in the martial arts and the art of living and helps him regain his lost confidence.

Movie Review: The film is a re-boot of the 1980's classic which had become a cult film for the '80s teens. It essentially tries to posit Jaden Smith as a chip off the old block (Will Smith) and showcase the talents of the young boy who had already won hearts in his touching performance as Will Smith's son in The Pursuit of Happyness.

Does Jaden deliver? Indeed, he does, with his dread locks and loads of attitude which makes Dre Parker one of the smartest imports from America in this bustling Beijing neighbourhood. Not only does he manage to catch the attention of all the bullies in school, he also manages to charm his way into pretty Ms Mei Ying's life, that usually revolves around the high arts, leaving little room for tween fun and games. And if that's not enough attention already, our young hero also succeeds in convincing the unfriendly handyman, Mr Han (Jackie Chan) to create a karate champion out of him: one who can not only learn to conquer all his weaknesses but can also out-chop all the bullies in a martial arts marathon match. All this, with just a few hiccups and a whole lot of tutor-taught bonding between Jackie and Jaden.

The film does have a lot to offer to young adults, but fails to rise to cult status. And that's only because the martial arts display (the stuff our boisterous teens holler for) is somewhat marginalised by the drama and relationship building which takes up a lot of screen time. The semi romance between Mei Ying and Dre and the prolonged training sequences involving Mr Han and Dre do seem to test the patience of our adrenalin-driven young viewers. Give us the Chopsucky, and give it fast: you can almost hear them screaming!

Jackie Chan sheds his comic sheen for a more serious visage; Jaden is fluid motion and poetry and the locales (the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China) are stunning. Celebrate the dragon....

[regueradela]

if u watch the movie that actually feels good. not because his father found out he got the role. its because he probably done good at the audition..Karate Kid has brought something new to the table and was very intelligent and at reaching its adolescent audience.