For those weaned on the original, watching The Karate Kid ‘s franchise reboot is a little like running into your old crush at a middle-school reunion: Warmly familiar and yet altered enough to warrant a second look, the raw material’s all there, it’s just been moved around a bit. OK, more than a bit: The Sex and the City ladies follow the money to Abu Dhabi; the Karate kid and his widowed mom follow the jobs — to China. This necessitates one of the film’s most conspicuous and yet least noted swap-outs: In China one practices kung fu, but karate is Japanese, as was the original film’s instructor, Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita). And yet the title remains, asserting allegiance to brand over narrative logic. It’s all the same crap anyway, right?
Read the original:
REVIEW: Jackie Chan, Karate Kid Offer Hit-Or-Miss Summer Treat
