A FILM REVIEW: Karate Kid

The Karate Kid (2010 film) 

The Karate Kid (known as The Kung Fu Dream in China and sometimes Karate Kid 5^[4] and Best Kid in Japan and South Korea) is a 2010 American martial arts film and remake of the 1984 film of the same name. Directed by Harald Zwart, produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, the film stars Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. Principal photography for the film took place in Beijing, China; filming began around July 2009 and ended on October 16, 2009. The Karate Kid was released theatrically in the United States on June 11, 2010. The plot concerns a 12-year-old boy from Detroit who moves to Beijing, China with his mother and runs afoul of the neighborhood bully. He makes an unlikely ally in the form of his aging maintenance man, Mr. Han, a kung fu master who teaches him the secrets to self-defense.

Plot

12-year-old Dre Parker and his mother Sherry move to Beijing from West Detroit after she gets a job transfer. Dre develops a crush on a young violinist, Mei Ying, who reciprocates his attention, but Cheng, a kung fu prodigy whose family is close to Mei Ying's, attempts to keep them apart by beating Dre, and later bullies him at school. After a field trip to the Forbidden City, Dre encounters Cheng and his friends hanging out close to his apartment. Dre tries to pass by without them seeing him. When he finds a bucket of oil, Dre gets revenge by splashing oil around Cheng and his friends. Cheng and the others catch Dre and beat him. During the attack, the enigmatic maintenance man of Dre's building, Mr. Han, comes to Dre's aid, revealing himself as a kung fu master who dispatches Dre's tormentors.