karate kid

i didnt really have much interest in seeing this one, but i am a sucker for anything with jackie chan in it. i remember the old karate kid movies from back in the day and found this one to be a very worthy update of those old movies. in fact, this one almost seemed better than the 80's movies! the story follows jaden smith who plays a boy who's mother gets a job that takes her to china. he must go along with her and tries hard to adapt to the different environment and culture around him. of course there is a love story, which is appropriately chaste considering both of them are only about 11 years old! smith keeps getting bullied by the chinese kids and seeks help to try and stand up to them. hopeless janitor jackie chan reluctantly agrees to train him. following the karate kid tradition of mr. miyagi, chan uses very a unconventional approach to his training which confuses smith to no end! the story ark of jackie chan and the developed friendship between he and smith are the real heart of this film. chan gives a moving performance as a man trying to come to terms with his past so that he can finally accept that he has a future worth living for. in a just world there would have been oscar talk last year for his amazingly raw performance- he really is a good actor! the final match between smith and the bully is fairly predictable, but the film leading up to it has been so unpredictably great that it is easy to over look such a small problem.