When his mothers job forces him to move to China, Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) immediately faces problems from bullies in his school. But help is at hand when the janitor Mr Han (Jackie Chan) decides to teach him Kung fu in order to help defend himself from the bullies and make a stand in the upcoming martial arts tournament.
To be fair, this films isn't all bad. It is good for the reasons the original wasn't and Vice versa (I know that sounds insane, but hear me out). The original Karate Kid (1984) had a great story and was thoroughly entertaining, but the martial arts in it was almost too real: it was interesting yet not as good as it could have been. The martial arts in this remake had that wow factor, even if it is portrayed by children. And this film had a good bit of culture thrown in that wasn't seen in the original trilogy until The Karate Kid Part 2 (1986) which does a good job of adding depth to the story. But apart from that, there is not a lot about this film that can measure up to the original. Jackie Chan is no Pat Morita (but it is nice to be reminded that he can be more than just a Kung-Fu comedian) and as far as Jaden Smith goes, lets just say it is easy to see who his father is. The story is the same as before and, although the culture is interesting, it often feels like there is more emphasis on the culture than on the story. The cinematography is decent, but just doesn't have anything unexpected, the same can be said of the editing. To make matters worse there was none of the clever training methods we loved seeing before, not even the Crane Stance.
So if you are looking for a good Martial Arts film, go for the original and not The Karate Kid (2010). No Miyagi, No Wax-on-Wax-off, no sale.
