A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: The Karate Kid (2010)

Date Viewed: 6/18/10

Details:

Jaden Smith

Jackie Chan

Taraji P. Henson

Wenwen Han

Director: Harald Zwart

Score: 1/4

The Review: A retread from the 80's -- not bad, but much too long & insufficiently edited. Theoriginal film was much better.

In this comic book redux (or is it re-redux?), the original Ralph Macchio role is assumed by Jaden Smith (who is a bit of a ham, but nonetheless a surprising actor at his age), the Pat Morita role is taken over by Jackie Chan (perhaps funnier, but has nowhere near the class or gravitas of Morita), the Elizabeth Shue girlfriend role is transferred to Wenwen Han (who is cuter), and a catalytic "stranger in a strange land" culture clash comes from the relocation of the mother (Henson) from California to a Beijing office. There's still a bully -- an entire troop of them -- and training proceeds in just as unconventional fashion as before.

Excellent scenery -- particularly those few shots in Guangzi Province near Guilin, the distinctive karst topography that features prominently in scroll after ancient scroll. Notable is the climb to the temple and fountain on Dragon Ridge -- although serious suspension of disbelief is required to think of this as a simple weekend train ride from Beijing (a one-way distance of about2135 kilometers,or 22 to 27 hours). Perhaps this fictional temple is actually much closer? Although Smith and Chan wander out to the Great Wall for some of their practice (an inevitable backdrop, considering the movie's second purpose as a China travelogue), that's a mere 60 kilometers.

(18-Jun & 15-Aug-10)

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