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 | Romance | 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, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$176,591,618, 19 September 2010

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$359,126,022, 23 September 2010

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:

2.35 : 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

During the celebration of winning the first rounds of the tournament, a photographer is seen taking pictures from very close range; under one meter. His camera is sporting a telephoto lens, which usually have a minimal macro distance of 1.2 to 1.4 meters. There is no way the photographer could have been taking clear pictures.

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Quotes

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

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Crazy Credits

The opening and closing credits for the movie are shown in both English and Chinese.

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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 RTL Film: Episode #9.12 (2011)

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Soundtracks

Steppin' Up
Written by K.T. Wilder (as kt wilder)

User Reviews

OK Karate Kid

The Karate Kid is a Sino-American Rocky starring the Will Smith family scion, Jaden. He goes to China with his mom, gets beaten up by bad Chinese kids, prepares to revenge in a tournament, and falls in love.

Meanwhile, the underused Jacky Chan plays a maintenance man teaching Jaden to fight. Jaden shows no exceptional talent, and there's little of the philosophy that makes a sentimental piece like this bearable.

Karate Kid is family entertainment trying to show the importance of charity, goals, open-mindedness, and resilience. Unfortunately a slow exposition keeps the film from a fast summer pace.

Those who compare this version to the original may be disappointed, and those who are interested in Chinese American relations may find it problematic.