WHAT COLUMBIA PICTURES SAYS:
In Columbia Pictures' The Karate Kid, 12-year-old Dre Parker could've benn the most popular kid in Detroit, but his mother's latest career move has landed him in China. Dre immediately falls for his classmate Mei Ying - and the feeling is mutual - but cultural differences make such a friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre's feelings make an enemy of the class bully, Cheng. In the land of kung fu, Dre knows only a little karate, and Cheng puts "the karate kid" on the floor with ease. With no friends in a strange land, Dre has nowhere to turn but maintenance man Mr. Han, who is secretly a master of kung fu. As Han teaches Dre that kung fu is not about punches and parries, but maturity and calm, Dre realizes that facing down the bullies will be the fight of his life.
OUR REVIEW:
The 2010 version of The Karate Kid follows closely the spirit of the original with "wax-on, wax-off" being "jacket-on, jacket-off" and the kung fu being less about fighting and more about self control. The Karate Kid does however push the PG rating with curse words like @ss and a cruel storyline of bullying. The violence is not "cartoon" in nature, it is kids beating up other kids. Although the bulliesare beaten in the competition in the end, there is not really a lesson learned that being a jerk does not pay off. They win most of the movie. We recommend this movie for older kids as younger kids might be a little too impressionable.
