A fan of the 1984 movie with the cute Ralph Macchio, I didn’t know that it was revived by Jackie Chan until a friend of mine suggested that I watched it.  My friend and I went to The Village and checked the schedule.  Luckily there was one starting in 30 minutes so we had time to walk around the mall then come back for the start of the show.  Ticket costs RMB 80 per head and it wasn’t packed.  The movie theatre itself has nice comfy seats and pretty good sound system.

Sherry Parker (Taraji Henson) is a single mom whose work caused her to move with his son, Dre (Jaden Smith) to China.   While playing basketball, Dre noticed a young lady, Mei Ying, who was listening to music while reading her sheet music.  Dre approached Mei Ying but was later prevented by Mei Ying’s family friend who’s well versed in Kung Fu.  A short fight ensured with Dre in the ground agonizing in pain.  Dre later found out, that they all went to the same school and Mei Ying is applying for a slot with the Beijing Academy of Arts.  As a young man in China, Dre dreams of learning kung fu.  He found a school with her mom one day to only find out that the guy who beat

him up was studying there.  Tired of being bullied, he pranked the kid but was later caught and got beaten up again.  He was saved by the maintenance man, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who was taught by his father kung fu.  Dre asked Mr. Han to teach him but he refused.  However, this all changed when Mr. Han and Dre went to the school where the bullies are studying to talk to the teacher.  Instead of a friendly conversation, it became a challenge to compete in a kung fu tournament. 

Dre was initially scared but later ecstatic as he will be able to learn kung fu.  His enthusiasm waned as Mr. Han only asked him to “take off the jacket, hang the jacket, remove the jacket, drop the jacket, pick up the jacket” over and over again.  When he got fed up, he threw a tantrum which started his “real” kung fu training.  His training brought him to Wudang Mountain where he saw a lady following the movement of the snake.  Mr. Han explained that the lady wasn’t following the snake but the snake was following the lady.  He tried this technique to his mom but wasn’t able to do it.  More practice and some light drama.. Fast forward competition, he won!  hahahaha!  of course he won! The original karate kid won so Dre should also win.  

Changes:

• Location :  the setting for the old one is in sunny California, while this one is in Beijing, China
• Fight Scene : no more looking like a praying mantis.
• Sights:  you’ll see the Great Wall which was pretty cool as it was void of people just like when Obama visited it.  Forbidden City with the red doors. 
• School:  it’s a typical Chinese school.  I should visit it and take a photo outside the school.  My colleague said she saw it already. 
• Wudang Mountain:  I don’t know how they used a train to go to this place but it’s quite far from Beijing.  The stop that they got off from is actually just outside Beijing but the temple is in Hubei province.  Maybe they have the same stop in Hubei.  I’ve never been to Wudang Mountain so I can’t relate.

Favorite scene:  When Dre and Mei Ying went to the arcade and competed in a dance game.  Dre was confident and Mei Ying was initially shy.  However, she showed her moves and man! she’s good!  My friend and I were laughing hard as she’s even better than I am.

Verdict:  4 out of 5.  Somehow the pattern is still there but the way they changed the theme made it much better than the first one.  Maybe I’m just biased as I’m here in Beijing.  However, I would recommend for you guys to watch it.