I loved the good old days when a movie can offend the core discipline of martial arts and make it look like a week or two of carefully crafted yardwork and chores can make you the equivilent of a black belt in Karate.
But it was just a fluffy film that spawned 2 light entertaining sequels with Ralph Macchio, and one failed restart with Hillary Swank.
It was nearly a year ago when we heard Will Smith in talks to direct the Karate Kid, then rumoured to be remodeled to be the Kung Fu Kid.
Columbia Pictures has refashioned its new version of the 1984 hit The Karate Kid as a star vehicle for Jaden Smith, reports Variety.
The film will be produced by Jerry Weintraub (who launched the original franchise) and Overbrook Entertainment’s James Lassiter, Jaden’s father Will Smith and Ken Stovitz.
Remakes are inevitable in Hollywood, and this one might offer up some feel good fluff that we just love to see in family films. Kids will love it, and most of the target demographic will have never even heard of the Karate Kid or even be able to quote Mr Miagi’s forced Asian lines. No word yet as to Steven Chow playing Miagi, as originally hoped.
So the movie will cling to the core premise that a bullied kid learns Karate to stand up for himself. I would have perferred this be more of a highschool story, but with 10 year old Jaden Smith at the top of billing, this just got downgraded to family fluff. At least Jaden is somewhat of a martial arts enthusiast, so at least the moves might look convincing.
I don’t think Karate Kid is “sacred” so it could benefit from a remake to find its place in this generation. Could be the stepping stone for Smith’s son to get into big pictures. So without going into some weak “no ideas left in Hollywood” rant, is this something you would at least rent?
