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:

Jackie Chan, Jaden Smith, Taraji P. Henson

5 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 has moved to China, and finds himself like a fish out of water. He befriends a fellow classmate, Mei Ying, only to make a rival, Cheng, who starts to bully and attack Dre. Soon, Mr Han, the maintenance man of Dre's apartment, fends off Cheng and his friends when they are attacking Dre and signs Dre up to fight in the Kung Fu tournament in return for the bullies laying off of Dre. Dre realizes Mr. Han is much more than a maintenance man, when he's revealed as a master of Kung Fu and Dre soon learns that Kung Fu is about self defense and peace, instead of violence and bloodshed.

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Plot Keywords:

kung fu | bully | china | 2010s | detroit | 

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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 Mandarin

Release Date:

11 June 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Untitled Karate Kid Remake

Filming Locations:

Beijing, China

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$55,665,805, 13 June 2010

Gross USA:

$176,591,618

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$359,126,022

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Overbrook Entertainment, Sony Pictures Releasing

Technical Specs

Runtime:

140 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

As noted on a featurette, Jackie Chan was the one who came up with the "jacket" routine as a means of teaching Dre Kung Fu moves.

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Goofs

After Dre gets beaten up at the playground, you see him in the bathroom putting on his mom's foundation over his black eye. He puts the foundation on almost an inch under his eye, only covering about an inch in height on his cheek. Yet if you look closely in the next scene when he is walking to school with his mom, the foundation is now directly under his eye and covers most of his cheek.

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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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Alternate Versions

Chinese version was re-edited to make Dre seem like the bad guy, and makes it seem like he started all the fights.

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Connections

Referenced in Hollywood's Top Ten: Alive and Kicking (2011)

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Soundtracks

Flight of the Bumblebee
Written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Arranged by Sergei Rachmaninoff
Performed by Balazs Szokolay
Courtesy of Naxos of America, Inc.

User Reviews

Like it - or - Hate it

Before watching this movie, I read the reviews online and there has been a harsh division between 1 and 10 rating.

Honestly, this movie does not deserve a 1 or a 10, whether it is: Acting, Cinematography, Music, or Story.

Objectively, I think this movie is worth watching. Definitely not the worst, but not the best. Its content is interesting and is a visible step above the original Karate Kid, even though this movie does not feel like a remake (so stop comparing >0).

The movie entertained and left me with a satisfied reminiscence of the experience.