The Karate Kid

Plot Summary:

Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) was moving out of the States following his mother to China. He had difficulty to get used of the environment. As a thirteen-year-old boy, he faced all a normal boy would face in his journey towards adolescence.
In China, he met face to face with his arch rival, Zheng who happened to be a martial artist. Since then, Dre’s life was not a pleasant one. He’d been bullied time after time by Zheng.

One day he retaliated only to beaten again by Zheng and his gang. Fortunately enough, an old grumpy plumber (Jackie Chan) came to the rescue. Eventually, Dre was taken as his student to learn kung-fu.

Dre and Zheng met again in an open kung-fu tournament where finally Dre was able to defeat his nemesis. His determination and the spirit of never say never subsequently owned Dre his nemesis’s respect.

Comment:

A typical Disney’s movie. The movie starts off with a scene whereby Dre is moving out from his home in the State. There was a wall height scale at the edge of a door whereby Dre scribbled what happened when he reached certain height. I could hear someone sobbing when the height reached “Daddy passed away”.

I didn’t understand why the movie was called The Karate Kid when in fact it was not karate that was shown in the movie. The Kung Fu Kid should sound more accurate. Perhaps, it was for commercial reason.

However, with title issue put aside, I had something to say about the movie.

First, Jaden Smith needs some polishing in his acting. He kept moving his eyes away every time he needs to stare at something are someone. His eyes were just not in place. But, since this is his debut, I thought that his groovy dancing and martial arts moves overshadowed that discrepancy.

Second, the girl was just so cute.

Third, I loved the kung fu lesson thought to Dre. Kung fu is not about fighting. It is about a way of life. You could even learn kung fu just by putting on and off your jacket. How cool is that? Fourth, the finishing move was outrageous. It started with the crane stance, be calm, empty our mind, become a mirror to your opponent. The opponent will start to follow our movement without realizing it. Wait until the opponent charged forward and then when he is in a perfect distance, push yourself to the air and while in the air, make a summersault to gain some momentum. Before reaching the ground, hit the opponent hard using the same leg that push your body up. Nice move huh? But was it a realistic move? Who cares as long as it looks cool inside the movie!