The Karate Kid (2010)

Work causes a single mother to move to China with her young son; in his new home, the boy embraces kung fu, taught to him by a master.

Director:

Harald Zwart

Writers:

Christopher Murphey (screenplay), Robert Mark Kamen (story)

Stars:

Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Taraji P. Henson

4 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jaden Smith	...	Dre Parker
Jackie Chan	...	Mr. Han
Taraji P. Henson	...	Sherry Parker
Wenwen Han	...	Meiying
Rongguang Yu	...	Master Li
Zhensu Wu	...	Meiying's Dad
Zhiheng Wang	...	Meiying's Mom
Zhenwei Wang	...	Cheng
Jared Minns	...	Dre's Detroit Friend
Shijia Lü	...	Liang
Yi Zhao	...	Zhuang
Bo Zhang	...	Song
Luke Carberry	...	Harry
Cameron Hillman	...	Mark
Ghye Samuel Brown	...	Oz

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

kung fu | kid | karate | china | bully | 

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Taglines:

A Challenge He Never Imagined. A Teacher He Never Expected.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Family | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for bullying, martial arts action violence and some mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA China

Language:

English Chinese

Release Date:

11 June 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kung Fu Kid

Filming Locations:

Beijing, China

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£4,882,306 (UK) (30 July 2010)

Gross:

$176,591,618 (USA) (17 September 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, China Film Group, Jerry Weintraub Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

140 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sony considered changing the film's title to "The Kung Fu Kid" but this idea was nixed by producer Jerry Weintraub.

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Goofs

In the backstreet fight scene, Mr. Han bonks two of the kids' heads together. You can clearly see that one is behind the other.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Sherry Parker: Dre, you ready?

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Crazy Credits

Stills from the production of the film are shown alongside the credits.

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Connections

Featured in Breakfast: Episode dated 23 July 2010 (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Poker Face"
Written by RedOne (as Nadir Khayat) and Lady Gaga (as Stefani Germanotta)
Performed by Lady Gaga
Courtesy of Interscope Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

You gotta be kidding me

What a waste of 36 bucks. And that doesn't count the popcorn and drinks. Somehow I got dragged into this movie by my kid and was prepared to see a Will Smith horror of a remake but figured I take one for the team.

It was worse.

Not only was the charm and creativity of the original completely absent from this gratuitous Smith family showcase, but the whole premise was preposterous. Although they claim he is 12, the actual actor is 10 going on 11 and so frail that you fear his limbs are actually going to snap should he land a blow in real life. Totally miscast project with such a offensive plot to actual Chinese culture that I have to believe it will be changed dramatically for Asian release or simply only available on bootleg in China.

Even if there was no original charismatic "Karate Kid" to compare this to, it was way too full of Will Smith ego and nepotism to be seriously considered as a piece of legitimate, quality film.

Simply put...awful.