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Okay this one was weird. The Karate Kid reboot came out in 2010 and was…something. While the movie itself wasn’t horrible, I struggled to find the rationale behind what the writers of the movies changed. But, I watched it regardless.
So The Karate Kid reboot wasn’t as terrible as everyone wants you to believe. But what it brought new to the table didn’t make any sense whatsoever. The movie followed the plot points of the original Karate Kid almost to a tee. From Miyagi/Han trying to catch a fly with chopsticks to the finale of the film, it was almost identical in a sense to the original movie, which is okay.
Jackie Chan is great as an actor but he played a very unconvincing Miyagi role in the movie. He wasn’t the master of philosophy that Miyagi was, something I find incredibly important for a character in the mentor role. But he and Jaden Smith’s Dre Parker eventually found their groove later in the movie.
The choreography was great as well. You could tell the director and such took time to make sure that aspect was good. It turned out to have several good fight scenes, especially in the tournament at the end of the movie.
Some Really Odd Things In The Karate Kid Reboot
Despite all the good, the decisions in the writing room were very off putting. Mainly the name of the movie and what’s practiced in said movie. For example, the movie is titled “The Karate Kid.” For the life of me, I cannot understand why they would change the movie to be about Kung Fu. It seems as if they were trying to pull the wool over our eyes and ride the coattails of the legendary original movie.
In addition to that, the movie was borderline plagiarizing the original movie as a reboot and didn’t add much of anything new to the idea of the movie. I feel that what they are trying to add to the movie didn’t quite translate well and was part of why the movie didn’t do so well. Overall, the acting wasn’t bad, the cinematography wasn’t bad, the movie as a whole was not bad. The issue that I think plagued The Karate Kid reboot was the unoriginality of the writing.
All in all, The Karate Kid reboot brought nothing new to the franchise. It simply brought Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan into the mix. The movie is a solid 4 due to the unoriginality of the film. Chan wasn’t bad, nor was Smith and any of the other actors. I simply had a hard time being invested in the movie due to just that. Due to that, even the directors of the Cobra Kai series excluded it from the Miyagiverse. While I was happy the Chinese sport of Kung Fu got some screen time, I felt like it was lazily written.
Check out our entire library of reviews of The Karate Kid franchise below.
The Karate Kid Review: Still A Fun Ride
We’ve all seen The Karate Kid. But in the wake of Cobra Kai’s success, we look back at the original movie and see how it stands the tests of time in 2020.
The Karate Kid Part II Review: An Underrated Followup
It’s 2021 and we’re finally getting around to reviewing The Karate Kid Part II.
The Karate Kid Part 3 Review: A Slight Step Back
The Karate Kid Part 3 is a fun ride for parents and fans of the Karate Kid franchise. Here is our review.
The Next Karate Kid Review: Lost Spirit
The Next Karate Kid tried. In this review we look at what went wrong in the franchise’s fourth installment and drop a good review.
Cobra Kai Season 1 Review
Cobra Kai Season 1 came out in 2018 and was fantastic. We play catchup and review the first season! Season 2 will be on the way!
Cobra Kai Season 2 Review
Cobra Kai season 2 marks the return of everyone’s favorite karate dojos. In our season 2 review, we get you ready for season three!
Cobra Kai Season 3 Review: Level Up
Cobra Kai Season 3 dropped earlier in the month and after watching, we have your spoiler free review!
Origins of karate is from China so that’s probably why it was made in China. They probably wanted to go to the roots of karate. I think even in one of the karate kid movie miyagi mentions the origins is from china.