THE KARATE KID (1984) - john avildsen - 7.1/10 THE KARATE KID (2010) - harald zwart - 4.5/10

That The Karate Kid (1984) is even a halfway successful film owes almost nothing to the craft (or lack thereof) employed in creating it. In fact, the movie succeeds very much in spite of itself. The terrible (and terribly dated) music undercuts the action and emotion of the film at every turn, directly commenting on the onscreen action in the most ludicrous and annoying manner possible (with the worst example being, of course, the montage at the All Valley Karate Championship scored with ‘You’re the Best Around’). Then there’s the horrible sounding ADR that persists from the opening shot through to almost the very last one that makes the whole thing seem incredibly cheap. And the constant use of single takes for the duration of a scene (usually a hallmark of a good film and a strong director) somehow manages to make many scenes that should be resonant feel flat (the confrontation between Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita, the best thing in the movie) and the Cobra Kais’ sensei, for example, or the long scene of Miyagi and Daniel (Ralph Macchio) celebrating Daniel’s birthday).

Even the editing seems to misunderstand the story the film is telling. The final fight, for instance, ends when Daniel uses the ‘crane kick’ to take out Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka, playing the quintessential ’80s teen bad guy). It’s shown in such a simple, direct manner that it almost seems that this can’t possibly be the ending. Then they cut to Miyagi, freeze frame and the film is over. It’s laughable and, strangely, corrected in the opening of The Karate Kid Part II in which the same scene is replayed but extended and slowed down the way it probably should've been in the first film.

And yet, despite all that, the film somehow manages to remain charming and entertaining. It has the same sort of shaggy dog appeal as the low budget indie films of the nineties. It’s meandering and a little unfocused but clearly believes very strongly in the story it’s telling. The Karate Kid is mostly a failure on a lot of technical levels but it’s so damned earnest that it’s impossible to hate.

The shaggy dog aesthetic is also reflected in the structure of the film. If analyzed at all, it falls apart pretty quickly. How, for instance, can Daniel possibly learn enough karate to win that tournament in only two months? How does the tournament have the logo of ‘Miyagi Do Karate’ to put up on the board when they’ve never heard of the ‘school’ before? And what about the fact that Lucille moved to California for some kind of computer job only to end up working in a restaurant a month later? (Sure, that’s addressed in one bit of ADR, but how is that not a bigger deal? I mean, they moved across the country for a job that she quits in a month? I would think Daniel would have something to say about that.)

That’s not to the say that the film doesn’t also have a few things going for it. The sense of place in The Karate Kid, for instance, adds a lot to its charm. Even the opening shot, of Daniel and Lucille (though clearly not of Ralph Macchio and Randee Heller) leaving Newark on their way to California, manages to capture the essence of that blighted city in under thirty seconds. And once the action switches to Reseda, that sense of place remains. The Valley of The Karate Kid is a very specific, very real place and by the end of the film, the Valley has become as much of a character as Daniel-san.

There’s also a lot to be said for the spirit of the film. Though it’s a hard thing to isolate and codify, it’s undeniable that The Karate Kid has a sense of righteousness and a can-do spirit that invigorates the whole film. Daniel’s quest, such as it is, is one everyone can identify with and feel good rooting for. When he’s the subject of merciless bullying, Daniel doesn’t go to the principal to complain. His mother doesn’t get involved. He just learns some karate and stands up for himself.

At its heart, The Karate Kid is a delightfully simple story, but the issues it deals with are resonant. Aside from the obvious themes of dedication and sticking up for yourself, the film is also about a young man who’s lost his father and finds a mentor. It’s about a father who, having lost a wife and child, finds an apprentice. And it also touches on the very thorny issue of World War II-era Japanese internment camps and the conflicted loyalties of those ‘imprisoned’ within. The Karate Kid deals with these sticky issues in a way that feels both complicated and real. And while it’s certainly not the deepest film ever, it tackles a lot more than it has to to tell the story it does. Because of that, The Karate Kid is still worth watching two and half decades after its original release.

The 2010 remake of The Karate Kid, on the other hand, contents itself with being simply a sports uplift story. That it does so while being more or less the exact same film, scene for scene, as the original is disappointing but not surprising.

Though The Karate Kid (2010) has almost the exact same structure as the original, the choice to center the story on twelve-year-old Dre (Jaden Smith) instead of sixteen-year-old Daniel fundamentally alters much of what made the original work. The love story, for example, carries almost no weight in the remake. It just feels icky to be rooting for (or even interested in) the romantic lives of twelve-year-olds. The filmmakers recognize this to some extent and underplay the relationship between Dre and Mei to the extent that it ends up feeling pretty much meaningless. And without the original film’s most resonant subplot, the remake becomes all about the karate.

Unfortunately, the fight scenes in The Karate Kid (2010) also suffer from the shift to a younger protagonist. Watching sixteen and seventeen-year-olds beat on each other is one thing. Watching twelve-year-olds do it is quite another. Plus, the remake, as you'd expect, ratchets up the intricacy and brutality of the fight scenes to the point where the vicious beatings Dre sustains become uncomfortable to watch. And when Dre becomes a proficient fighter and starts to give as good as he got, the film takes a turn for the ludicrous. In the original, the fights were believably age appropriate. In the remake, these kids fight like Jet Li. And it makes the whole thing feel pretty absurd.

Take, for instance, the final fight in which Dre performs the legendary 'crane kick.' Where Daniel-san simply kicked Johnny Lawrence and was done with it, Dre, while standing on one foot, executes a standing back layout, kicks his opponent in the head, and lands on one foot. I’m not sure anyone alive could pull that off let alone a twelve-year-old who’s taken a few months of lessons.

That scene is indicative of what’s wrong with the entire film. In an effort to 'update' The Karate Kid, the filmmakers changed everything that worked about the original while leaving the irrelevant stuff intact. It makes the whole thing feel hollow and depressing. The original Karate Kid worked in spite of its structure and technique. The remake is all technique and structure and no heart. That said, the crowd I saw it with cheered like they were watching the seventh game of the World Series so maybe, god forbid, The Karate Kid (2010) will be with us for a while yet.