Karate Kid--rebooted

Some might argue that the Karate Kid is not SciFi/Fantasy.
Well, the new one is.

#1: Jackie Chan as Mr Miyagi. Only in fantasy
#2: All the martial arts in the preview/trailer are kung-fu/wu-shu. Only in fantasy/bad action movies(like "No Surrender/No Retreat" where karate students study/worship Bruce Lee) is that level of error tollerable. Actually, no, not even then. It just shows that the movie is set in some mystical fantasy world

Seriously. Miyagi Chogun (real person, even if I've misspelled his name) was a master of GoJuRyu Karate. That art has at most a tangential relationship to Kung-fu if you work backwards about 4 generations to an era with poor records and little attempt to formalize/organize martial arts in Japan--each school was pretty much its own sovereign entity. WuShu and KungFu look absolutely nothing like GoJu.

Jackie Chan??? As Miyagi? where to begin. Actually, I don't think I need to go any further. Appearance isn't even close.

I guess this is going to be some cheezy comedy???

 

It looks horrible. In the original film it was Karate, not KungFu or any other style other than Karate. This film will truly lack the character-driven spirit of the original.

 

I would have liked it if Daniel was the master and he was training a student instead of starting over. At least that would have made sense.

 

That would ahve been a cool homage to the first. As it is, this movie will be a Netflix at best.

 

Yeah, but Ralph Macchio isn't exactly one of the biggest movie stars in the world, and thus the blatant nepotism wouldn't have been nearly as grating.

Somebody on wikipedia is playing a sick joke - they edited to say Jaden's next movie will be Back to the Future 4.

 

Hmmmm... According to IMDB, the movie is called "Best Kid" in Japan.
Jackie Chan is playing a character called "Mr Han".

Sounds like they're making a movie that has absolutely nothing to do with the original, but reusing the name as some marketing gimmick. Kinda like the new DeathRace2000, the new BattleStar Galactica, and a few other movies & series where they completely re-image something, realize that it's a dog, so they latch onto an older name with some marketing recognition in hopes of actually getting even a miniscule audience for a POS that shouldn't be allowed out of the editing room.

 

I'd say the general plot structure is the same as the original thus qualifying it as a remake/reboot, or whatever else you want to call it.

 

I wasn't aware of that.

True, but people do know who he is what role he is famous for, even though he faded away.

I'll still see the film though because Taraji Henson is hot.

 

I think this looks better than the original... and you know, the martial arts are actually good in this one.

 

The martial arts were good and acurate in the original. Either you're yanking the chain trolling, or you don't know what you're talking about.

The wrong martial art if being taught, and the kid is doing it badly. The way he's punching would break his wrists. If you're going to make a movie called "karate kid" then make the martial art some version of karate. What's in the trailer isn't Shotokan, certainly isn't GoJuRyu (like the original one was), and isn't WaduRyu. It looks like Wushu kung fu. Kung Fu is NOT the same thing as Karate. That's like saying Japanese is the same as Chinese, or Belgium is the same as French, or Georgians are Russians. At the very least, you would have just insulted someone, and quite possiblly made an enemy for life.

 

I'm not that interested in this, honestly. I really didn't like the original at all and, despite the remake being a completely different route, it still doesn't look worth seeing. I love Jackie and all, I'm just not the type that will see anything he's in for that reason alone. I'm sure it'll be well made and a lot of people will dig it, though.

 

You, sir, are clearly not a martial arts enthusiast. The martial arts in Karate Kid are extremely weak. Neither Ralph Macchio nor Pat Morita had any experience with karate, nor did they look like they did in that film.

You also don't have a clue what you're talking about, as was pointed out earlier in the thread the use of "karate kid" is explained within the movie. Secondly, while The Karate Kid was a great for strip mall dojos, it's martial arts choreography and actors were pretty terrible. As was typical of American movies featuring martials of the time.

No, kung fu and karate are not the same, and no the Japanese are not the same as the Chinese. That is absolutely NOT what's going on in this movie, in fact... it seems to me that karate is clowned by the Chinese in this movie as an inferior martial art.

I'll say again, as a student of 3 martial arts... one Indonesian and 2 Chinese, and as a martial arts movie fanatic... I think this movie looks like it could be better than the orignal. Especially as regards the quality of time put into training the principle actor for his role as a student of martial arts. And with the casting of an actor who has not only trained in Chinese wushu his entire life, but also made a movie career of it for most of his life, as the kung fu teacher of the main character.

Also, "kung fu" isn't even really a term for martial arts in Chinese. It literally can be applied ot anything you put hard work into. Wushu is actually the proper Chinese term for "martial art." Much of what we are seeing ther does look, predictably, like modern performance wushu and not traditional wushu though. I agree with you there. It still looks better choreographed and the principles better trained before shooting than Ralph Macchio or Pat Morita did in the orignal movie.

 

I'm not interested in turning this into a flame war. I suggest we simply agree to disagree. Could nitpick. Could counter argue. Doesn't seem like either of us would have a good time.

 

The movie looks terribad but at least they game me a really nice track jacket at Show West.

 

Duwad786 writes:

I think this looks better than the original... and you know, the martial arts are actually good in this one.

As one who is currently studying martial arts and sometimes with Fumio Demurra (who did Karate stunt work for the original Karate Kid movie), I would have to say that I agree with Duwad786. He's not trolling at all. He's right. The martial arts will surely be more sophisitcated in this film. The first Karate Kid movie was about the "story". But the question is, will better martial arts make this movie better? NO. It's like jam-packing a film with special effects and weakening the story for the sake of better special effects. No, better martial arts will not make the movie better. It only means the martial arts is better. And so what? When it comes right down to it, it's the spirit of Karate, the character-driven story and the Japanese culture in the originals that really made it great. I think the first two films were great, the second Karate Kid probably even better.

 

I'm watching the first movie right now. While the actors may not have studied karate before, all the fighting 'Pat' Morita does is GoJyRyu Karate. It may not be flashy, but it is correct. Calling a movie "Karate Kid" while using WuShu is wrong, and disrespectful to both arts.

 

I agree..

 

Having gone and seen the new movie, I would have to say that it pays a great deal of respect to martial arts.

 

That is good to hear, because I haven't seen it yet.

 

I am honestly surprised at the low reception this movie is getting. When I went and saw it, I was not expecting them to try and replace Pat Morita or the original movie. I thought they might be trying to go at the idea from a different angle.

I think they succeeded.

The new Karate Kid does not even try to connect with the old series. Instead, they created an epic movie that explores cultural, personal, relational, and other dynamics, allowing for a very interesting movie.

Has anyone else seen it?

 

Well, I tried watching the remake.

can't comment on the martial arts displays, because I couldn't sit through more than 15 minutes.
In the original movie, Daniel is an obnoxious bundle of attitude, but at least he has a spunky charm, and he tries to make his situation work. He is nice to total strangers, even if they seem a little loopy. In this one, the kid is determined from the get-go to be upset and miserable, and has no charm whatsoever. Reading other reviews, some say it takes over an hour to get to the fights. After 15 minutes, I wanted to see this little punk slapped around. Maybe it would wake him up and improve his attitude. All he does is mope and pout. And pout and mope.

The original is a classic. The second one manages to surpass it. The third one is OK. The Next is there too.
This one is weak. If not for the Karate Kid name, I doubt it would have had 1/2 the attention. Pure marketting to replace substance.