The Karate Kid occupies a special place in my heart, the Asian part. Which is to say the whole thing. So when a few stills from the remake (starring Jackie Chan and Will Smith’s son Jaden) leaked online I was both apprehensive and excited.
Basically if you were a child of the 80’s Pat Morita’s sagely Mr. Miyagi and Ralph Macchio’s earnest Daniel-San taught you that bullies never win and through hard work and the tutelage of a kinda creepy Japanese Sensei anything was possible. All you had to do was wash his car and perform menial domestic duties, which though seemingly pointless at the time, actually held the key to cracking skulls and taking names.
Anyway the updated version stars Jackie Chan who is neither sagely nor Japanese and Jaden Smith the benefactor of Hollywood nepotism and son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. You may remember him as Will Smith’s son in The Pursuit of Happyness or Will Smith’s son in the film Real Life.
According to IMDB the revised plot will find “Jaden Smith’s character move to Beijing with his mother, where he encounters a bully situation similar to Macchio’s in his new locale. Smith’s character will be named Dre instead of Daniel, and take lessons from Chinese martial arts master Mr. Han, played by Jackie Chan.”
Unfortunately this in no way sounds or looks promising and that makes me sad. Plus Dre-San sounds like the handle of the World’s worst rapper. We’ll keep you updated as more details arise.
Via Slash Film
