Before people question me, yes I have seen the 1984 film and I like it very much. I was not sure whether I wanted to see this remake. Now I have seen some good remakes like Thief of Baghdad, and some awful ones like Psycho, and I was worried that The Karate Kid would turn out like Psycho or The Wicker Man. Also I saw a lot of hate for The Karate Kid even before it got released, people criticising Jaden Smith and that it would ruin the original.

After seeing it with my family, I actually liked this. It isn't brilliant, but it is much better than people make it out to be on here. The story is very loose and updated with the bully theme still intact along with a love interest, and while it wasn't boring or bad as such it didn't always wow or excite me. I also felt the beginning dragged a bit, but my main flaw is the length, at two-and-a-half hours it was much too long.

However, the pacing overall is snappy and the scripting was credible. The Karate Kid is also assuredly directed, while the score is beautiful, the scenery is absolutely stunning and the kung fu is amazing. And contrary to what others have said the acting wasn't that bad I thought. Jaden Smith surprised me. Admittedly I was worried, I feared he was too small and too young for the role, but he handles the choreography well and actually shows some acting range. Jackie Chan was a surprise too. I do prefer Pat Morita's more wiser and sympathetic Miyagi, but Chan does do some incredible stunts and showed real emotion in the touching scene when he smashes up the car and tells Dre the story of the woman and child. Taraji P.Henson is also credible, Zhenwei Wang is a great Cheng and Wenwen Han was lovely and cute as Meiying.

Overall, for a remake The Karate Kid was not that bad. It isn't brilliant, but it could have been worse. 7/10 Bethany Cox

While it does its best with the source material, and strives to be an engaging, character-focused drama, THE KARATE KID is nothing more than a bland reworking of the original classic that misses the mark on more than one occasion. The first film was all heart; this one's about attitude, and not much else besides.

It's not often I watch a film and cheer on the bad guys, but are the bullies in this film really so bad? In fact, the erstwhile lead, played by the bratty Jaden Smith, seems worse than his adversaries, deliberately provoking them and bringing himself a great deal of pain in the process. Smith fails to garner a moment's sympathy for his character's plight throughout the production, appearing to be a typical spoilt rich kid instead.

Now, the real reason I watched this film was for Jackie Chan, and needless he doesn't disappoint with his mentor role here. Sadly, though, Chan has little to do; his mentor schtick is good, but he's kept in the background for too long and also limited to a single fight scene, where he beats up a gang of children; hardly bathing in glory. I understand that a bout between Chan and screen rival Rongguang Yu was excised from the final print, which is a real shame. Who casts Jackie in a movie and REDUCES his fight scenes? The rest of the film is overlong and overblown, with needless romantic sub-plots that drag the running time down to a snail's pace and all the usual fish-out-of-water nonsense. The fight choreography is poor, too, with the climactic tournament scenes particularly disappointing and dealt with in a perfunctionary way. I'd rather watch the original, or something like Van Damme's BLOODSPORT, again.

Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) is leaving his friends in Detroit behind as he follows his mother Sherry (Taraji P. Henson) to Beijing. Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) is the maintenance man in their building. Dre falls for classmate Mei Ying but it's a problem for the class bully Cheng who starts picking on her. He comes to the rescue only to be beaten down. Then it's non-stop bullying from Cheng and his friends. After Dre plays a prank, the kids chase him down and Mr. Han rescues him. It turns out that Mr. Han is secretly a kung fu master.

Jaden Smith comes off as a bratty kid and Taraji as a nagging mom. Normally I try not to be too hard on child actors, but the movie is putting him out there as the lead. The kid lacks the charisma of his father which is sorely needed because the character is such an annoying brash brat. He's all talk and such a boy stereotype. I like some the sly comedy. It opens up with Jackie Chan and a fun recall to the original. I like him as the new mentor but I really can't stand the kid. A lot of it has to be the character. It really wouldn't hurt the movie if he picked up his jacket from the very start. It serves no purpose for him to be a brat. It would be so much better that if he holds a deeper inner anger than an outwardly brashness. The mother nags too much which gets annoying after awhile. I really like the girl who isn't just a simplistic girlfriend character. The bully is very one dimensional. While I like Jackie Chan's attempt at humor, I didn't like his first fight in the movie to be against a bunch of kids.