First off a little background on how I went into this movie. I've seen Jaden in a few things (Suite Life, some apocalyptic movie) and I was so extremely unimpressed with him as an actor. I felt like the only reason he was in anything was because he's Will Smith's son. Second, I have never liked Jackie Chan. My older brother is a crazy good martial artist and know-it-all - and he has just about every Jackie Chan movie ever made, so it's pretty safe to say I've had an overdose of JC. And I've seen the other preceding Karate Kid movies. NEVER liked them, at ALL, so I'm not comparing them to this one at all. I HATE the original Karate Kid movies. And third, my whole family has been in martial arts for over 10 years now.
My brother and dad started first (Tae Kwon Do) and then eventually got my mom to start and then kinda forced my sister and I into it because 1) they liked it and 2) at the time we were living somewhere where you pretty much HAD to know self-defense. The rule was we had to stay in the sport until we reached black belt. So yeah. I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Mad skillz. Lol, anyway I quit almost a year ago now, as I have never enjoyed it except when I'm training for a tournament, which has only been twice. :/ But yeah everyone in my family has a first degree black belt (bb) in TKD, my dad +mom have second degree bb's, and my brother has a third degree. My bro also practices Kung Fu and Karate, in which he has a blue sash (I think?) and a black belt. So there is a lot of martial-arty-ness going on in my family home.
Anyway, I've just spent pretty much half the post on my martial arts past, so I'll get on with it.
Here's the summary from IMDB.com: "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."
So Jackie Chan takes on Jaden Smith as a student because he promises someone that he'll fight the bully in the tournament. *NOTE: NO SERIOUS SPOILERS!!!!! :D* They train, fight, and then the movie ends. *I TOLD YOU!*
Highlights of the movie:
Jaden Smith's acting has mega-improved and now I think he's a pretty darn decent child actor. He reminds me of his dad occasionally - he's not the spitting image, but he has the same walk and some facial expressions are dead-on. The fight scenes are (generally) really realistic, and I especially like the tournament parts. I've been in martial arts tournaments before and I really appreciate how real it felt to watch - like it was live and you were a part of the audience. At the same time, I also understand the nerves, pressure, and other emotions involved in fighting in a tournament so I found myself feeling a little nervous right before he stepped onto the mat every time. Which I just found funny, but you can't really understand it unless you've been in a sparring tournament yourself. The bully kid is my hero LOL. He did a good job of making me hate him. And also, it's a super feel-good movie. It's so much better IMO than the old versions.
Lowlights of the movie:
I just don't like Jackie Chan. Something about him gets on my nerves really bad. I can ignore it, but my mom thought he "made the movie", and I thought Jaden did (that ticked me off). I could have seen anyone else in Chan's role and it wouldn't have made a difference to the movie's rating/quality. Um, there is also one super unrealistic fight sequence (if you wanna know which one, just comment and I'll tell you) that was way too fake for me. I've seen Ong-Bak, okay? And lastly there was one dance scene with a little girl that I felt was waaaaay inappropriate! She dances to Lady Gaga and is super suggestive. Did not like that.
Overall:
See it! Feel good movie, Jaden is really good. The people in the theater clapped during the last scenes/the ending. Unless of course you're a pacifist, in which case this movie probably won't agree with you :P.
Wow, that was a lot of writing. Well, I'm excited! Toy Story 3 comes out tomorrow and ANDY IS GOING TO COLLEGE. SINCE WHEN?!?! Lol I'm like his age. I want to see Molly. She'd be like 11-12ish now I think. This is going to sound random but it ties in, I promise. I had a migraine last night and went to bed early. Whenever I go to bed early, I wake up in the middle of the night. And usually when I wake up, I have a song or two playing in my head. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and had "When She Loved Me" from Toy Story 2 and "Jolly Holiday" from Mary Poppins playing in my head. o.O Yeah very random mix. I unforunately can't go see the movie for a little while bc my schedule is all busy and stuff for most of the summer. But I will be seeing it for sure! I'm also super excited about Barbie and Ken. Lol I'm a dork like that! Barbies were a big part of my childhood so yeah. And Jodi Benson is Barbie, so how can I not be excited?
Isn't it weird though that Barbie in the Disney movies looks more authentic then Barbie in the Barbie movies?
No random pic this time because I ran out of space in this post! :)
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