‘Karate kid’ remake plot details

  • Print this article!
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • MySpace
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter
News | Film News | by Mark Pollard

Jaden Smith

Clint Morris at Moviehole.net has been in contact with a couple insiders working on producer Will Smith’s new KARATE KID remake starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. According to these sources, the title of the movie is still THE KARATE KID for now and the plot hasn’t changed much from the original 1984 film despite the Chinese setting and Chan’s role. Here’s what was revealed.

In a nutshell, Sherry, a U.S. worker faced with a layoff accepts a transfer to her company’s Chinese office and takes her son Dre (Jaden Smith) with her. Dre has a rough time fitting in and soon finds himself the target of local bullies.

“Mr. Miyagi” is now “Mr. Han” (Chan), a maintenance man working at the apartment Sherry and her son live at. He spies Dre doing some lousy kicking while playing video games and eventually agrees to take him on as a student to learn Chinese martial arts and the Chinese language.

Dre still gets a sweetheart and has to contend with a vicious owner of a kung fu school named “Li Quan-ha.”

What isn’t mentioned is if Li’s students give Dre trouble and are associated with the bullies like in the original. Also, there is no mention of a competition.

Morris says he was told that Jackie delivers a lot of comedic lines and says that the script is very good and “different enough to be considered its own beast.”

What I want to know at this point is what kind of martial arts, specifically will Mr. Han be teaching Dre? Will a distinction be made, be it contemporary wushu, southern Shaolin, drunken boxing (without the booze), or will it just be some generic Jackie Chan-style screen fighting?

I’m going to assume that the film title will be changed eventually. I would hope so. It would be an insult to Chan, China, Japan, and audiences not to.

Tags: , , ,

  • Print this article!
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • MySpace
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter

  • Darrin Kemp
    Here is a fact that makes the plot appear somewhat implausable. The Chinese government is very protective of foreigners in China. Any sifu who allowed his students to bully of assault foreigners would have his kwoon shut down and he and all his students would end up in a reeducation camp if not just shot dead.
  • leeroygreene85
    Most people agree this shouldn't be remade...

    This is clearly a potential project for Jayden and nothing more. Will Smith took the opportunity to get his son a vehicle to star in. As far as the details are concerned....this is going to miss the mark of the original film.

    Karate kid was the 'Rocky' of the 80s. It was the surprise hit of 1984, and with it's success came out 3 sequels, and countless imitations including last year's 'Never back down.'

    Hey I love Jackie Chan....his HK films are great....and he hasn't hit a home run in the states yet. He's had some decent attempts and that's mostly the director/producers fault for not letting Jackie do his thing.

    Forbidden Kingdom was ok...it was a wet dream by a fan and it gave Jackie a little freedom to do some of his work....but as I told a friend why didn't just let Yuen Woo Ping just direct the film???????? I t hink that would've better it's his territory he could've make the best out of it.

    What's the insult to call it the Karate kid when it's set in China...this isn't the 80s anymore where Hollywood thought we were ignorant and said Chinese/Japanese culture..same thing. The fans here are smart and know the difference don't insult our intelligence or the Chinese culture. Jackie should just say 'hey let's name it something else....or better yet let's just scratch the whole 'karate kid' idea and lets make something else more modern take advantage of the scenery and fight choreography of hong kong and use it to our advantage for once. When the matrix came out it gave us the fans here hope that Hollywood is finally catching on that hong kong style action is the way to go.

    Let's just hope they don't step on the original and atleast ask Macchio and others especially Robert M. Kamen for their advice and consent...
  • Yeah, this is going to suck.

    The original Karate Kid has been so imitated (and milked to death by its mediocre sequels) that a remake doesn't make sense. Moving it to a new setting is not likely to add anything new to the story or its themes, and given Hollywood's misunderstanding of martial arts films, and especially Chinese style martial arts films (Forbidden Kingdom, for example, misses the point completely), it will probably draw the ire of identity politics pushers and fans alike.

    That, and it will probably suck.
  • STDthaGreat
    Will Smith's son looks to young to me. This movie already sounds like a disaster. The original trilogy is such a classic that it shouldn't be hampered with.
  • dollarwhore
    i hope they laugh all the way to the bank.....only to find themselves trapped in BMOVIE GROUNDHOG DAY that never ends. thatll teach them ALL to whore for dollar.
  • GrandMaster T
    When the remake inevitably ends up embodying the cinematic equivalent of gay badger anal sex I'm not likely to shed many tears. After my horrifying encounter with Dragon Ball Z I have almost nothing left. My hatred for that film cannot be articulated withing the limits of the enlish language. And if they can morph something as out of control kick arse as the DragonBall Z anime into something as just plain wrong as that c*nt-f**k homesick abortion of a film, then just imagine what they can achieve with a film of lesser pedigree. Raaaaaaa!
  • kev
    First of all will smith cannot act so what makes you think his son could do any better but anyway i am a die hard martial artist and as well as a film collector and this remake is a bad idea us martial artist know what we want to see in a film. Jaden Smith doesn't know martial arts,I think the original karate kid was okay but not that good danielson was not that great. I have deep respect for Pat Morita and Jackie Chan but remakes remakes remakes is all the US talks about like "enter the dragon" remaking to be "awaken the dragon" HOW in the world can anyone top Bruce Lee's performance somehow they are replacing him with Tony Jaa who i also have deep respect for but he does great at HIS OWN MOVIES. Come on can the US not think for themselves or maybe not look at
    "never back down" and "fighting" what a JOKE MMA doesn't work well in movies.I conclude saying the ORIGINALS should be left alone.
  • Anonymous
    Sounds sort of like a "trash China" movie in the same way studios went after Japan when they also had us by the economic nuts.
  • remo
    "Sequels are always worse than the original"

    Like Drunken Master 2?
  • arqua
    Jacky Chan as Mr. Miyagi? wash on wash off, drunken style? oh please Jacky. dont do it... just make films in Asia, Hollywood is not good for you...
  • Man... the elements that made Karate Kid special aren't here. Chan isn't recognizable outside of martial arts cinema. Pat Morita was visible and adored by the American audience because he had been seen on Happy Days.

    This just seems like a bad idea that Will Smith only will can afford.

    In addition, if any of you have studied script writing, you know that the original Karate Kid script is almost flawless. It is one that screen writers are taught to study. In turn, it made a good movie on morality.

    And... let me be really Black for a second. What the hell is going on these days? There is this formula in Hollywood where you take some really cheesy or half decent 80s movie and then remake it now with Black people in it.

    I'm not buying this... not drinking the Kool Aid, no... not happening.
  • DamnIt
    "so we're to believe that a chinese maintenance man in china speaks english well enough to teach an american student chinese?? "

    That says it all. Unbelievable.
  • Butt_plugs_During_Sex
    This is going straight to the fireplace along with the new Dragonballz movie...
  • This is a failure waiting to happen. My goodness... why can't people make something new?

    This is so predictable and so wrong. This movie is nothing more than a page in his portfolio, that his daddy can afford because of his dollars.

    Damn... is there no respect for the old school?

    "What more can I say, I wouldn't be here today if the old school didn't pave the way"
  • John Kreese
    This is going to be such garbage. How is the daniel, Allie, John Lawrence love triangle going to work here. Is Jaden going to be teaching a girl to juggle a soccer ball in a sandbox and that's when the cobra kai villain rides up with his friends on their big wheels? Part of what made the original such a classic was the element of daniel being in his teens at high school. This movie is going to be awful. I mean Chan is so perfect to play Mr. Miyagi but the plot and the casting of this movie are just wrong.
  • Remakes are almost always sub par. Sequels are always worse than the original. Isn't it a shame that Hollywood can't pull their heads out of their arses and come up with something original for a change? Of course, remakes and sequels are easier to make because they can cut the character development out altogether. What American movie goer want to endure any character development or talking on the screen for more than 10 seconds? Silly me. One look at the box office receipts answers that question.
  • Anonymous
    so we're to believe that a chinese maintenance man in china speaks english well enough to teach an american student chinese??
blog comments powered by Disqus