THE KARATE KID (2010) - Can a Kid "Get" any Respect?

All photographs and clip in this blog are Copyrighted by Columbia/Sony. They are used in this blog under the educational use provision. 

Directed by: Harald Zwart
Written by: Christopher Murphey (screenplay), Robert Mark Kamen (story)
Revisions (uncredited: Mike Rich, Mike Soccio, Will Smith)

CAST

DRE PARKER (Jaden Smith)
MR. HAN (Jackie Chan)
SHERRY PARKER (Taraji P. Henson)
MEI YING (Wenwen Han)
MASTER LI (Rongguang Yu)
CHENG (Zhenwei Wang)

Training a top the Great Wall of China.

STORY LINE (Columbia Pictures)

12-year-old Dre Parker could've been the most popular kid in Detroit, but his mother's latest career move has landed him in China. Dre immediately falls for his classmate Mei Ying - and the feeling is mutual - but cultural differences make such a friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre's feelings make an enemy of the class bully, Cheng. In the land of kung fu, Dre knows only a little karate, and Cheng puts "the karate kid" on the floor with ease. With no friends in a strange land, Dre has nowhere to turn but maintenance man Mr. Han, who is secretly a master of kung fu. As Han teaches Dre that kung fu is not about punches and parries, but maturity and calm, Dre realizes that facing down the bullies will be the fight of his life.

BOX OFFICE

As the subtitle of The Moral Premise expresses, (Harnessing Virtue and Vice for Box Office Success) a movie's financial success is tied directly to a consistent application of a true moral premise, which gives the character's purposeful motivation in all the

The Karate (Kung Fu) Kid

In August of 2008 I was asked to review the then current screenplay for the KARATE KID V, in which Jaden Smith would star. At the time I didn't understand how an a boy Jaden's age and size could pull off a movie with so many physical demands. But based on the TRAILERS on the movie's YouTube page, there is no doubt that Jaden Smith is not your typical 11-year old. On both an emotional and physical level he appears to carry the role with a weight that redefines his otherwise small stature. He is, after all, the off spring of Will and Jada Smith and the star quality DNA is clearly present. I will write more about the film's moral premise after I see it a few times.  Check it out this weekend and let me know what you think.

UPDATE: Just got back from a sold out screening in Novi, MI. This movie is better than the original. It's 140 minutes (with credits) and it has you for the whole ride. Jaden's performance is remarkable. The moral premise is about "respect"... more later. Highly recommended. Loved it.

My moral premise analysis of Karate Kid (2010) is HERE.