The Karate Kid

Viewer Rating:patrick has rated The Karate Kid rating: 2 Star

The film begins with a child called Dre. Him and his mother are packing a up to move to China - And we find out in the first scene that Dre's father is dead. It's clearly a sad time for them as they move away from all that they knew... Then the film got boring.

Upon landing in China, the plot immediately took a turn for the worse. A cheesy, predictable script, alongside a cheesy, predictable plot, is never a good mix.

First off, the film took far too long to get into the plot - I found myself waiting for something to happen until the end of the film. The most tedious part was by far the "Jacket" part. I genuinely considered getting up and leaving at that point of the film. The development in the storyline seemed to be so slow and cruel, it was sickening.

Having said that, I felt that there were very good performances all round. Jackie Chan proved that he can, in fact, act in a something that isn't a comedy for young kids. I felt for the first time ever that he had an emotional impact on a movie.

In particular, the performance of Jaden Smith was fantastic, and he showed much emotion for somebody so young, and somebody so new to the business.

There were also many gaping holes in the plot. Why would Dre be going to school the day after he moved to China? Why did his mother decide to pack up and leave when she was transferred? Wasn't there other jobs in Detroit?

Overall, this movie was severely lacking in originality and most of all, a good script. Some lines were so cheesy they made me feel nauseated. I also found that a lot of "touching" moments made me laugh. I wouldn't recommend this film, go to see something that has a plot that wasn't thought up on a whim.

Review published on the 06 August 2010 14:50