The Karate Kid (2010 film)

The Karate Kid (known as The Kung Fu Dream in China) is a 2010 martial arts drama film directed by Harald Zwart, and part of The Karate Kid series. It stars Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith in lead roles, and it was produced by Jerry Weintraub, James Lassiter, Ken Stovitz and Jaden's parents Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. The plot concerns 12-year-old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) from Detroit, Michigan who moves to Beijing, China with his mother (Taraji P. Henson) and runs afoul of the neighborhood bully (Zhenwei Wang). He makes an unlikely ally in the form of an aging maintenance man, Mr. Han (Chan), a kung fu master who teaches him the secrets of self-defense. The screenplay by Christopher Murphey was from the story written by Robert Mark Kamen for the original The Karate Kid. Unlike the original, this remake is set in China, and features Kung Fu instead of Japanese-Okinawan Karate. The film's music was composed by James Horner. It is an international co-production between China, Hong Kong, and the United States.

Principal photography took place in Beijing, China, and filming began in July 2009 and ended on October 16, 2009. The Karate Kid was released theatrically worldwide on June 11, 2010, by Sony Pictures. The Karate Kid received generally positive reviews and it earned $359.1 million on a $40 million budget.

Plot
12-year-old Dre Parker and his mother Sherry move from Detroit to Beijing after she gets a job transfer at her car factory. After settling in their new apartment, Dre goes to a nearby park where he eyes a young violinist, Meiying, who reciprocates his attention, but another boy Cheng, a rebellious kung fu prodigy whose family is close to Meiying's, attempts to keep them apart by physically attacking Dre, and later he and his friends bully Dre at school. After a school field trip to the Forbidden City, Dre throws a bucket of dirty water over Cheng and his gang who then chase and brutally attack Dre before he's saved by the maintenance man, Mr. Han. When Cheng and his friends try to interfere, Han defeats each of them in close combat, showing himself to be a kung fu master.

Han helps heal Dre's injuries using fire cupping as he tells the boy that those students aren't inherently bad but made so by their teacher who is. Intrigued, Dre asks if Mr. Han could teach him kung fu. Han refuses, but brings him to meet Cheng's teacher, Master Li, at the Fighting Dragon studio to make peace. Li, who teaches his students to show no mercy toward their enemies, challenges Dre to a fight with Cheng. Han instead proposes that Dre compete against Li's students at an open martial arts tournament, and that the students leave Dre alone to train for the tournament. Li accepts the offer but warns Han that if Dre does not show up at the tournament, he will personally bring pain to Han and Dre.

Han promises to teach Dre kung fu and begins to train him by emphasizing movements that apply to life in general. He conveys that serenity and maturity, not punches and power, are the true keys to mastering the martial art. He teaches this by having Dre perform repetitive motions using his jacket, which teaches Dre real muscle memory moves. Han then takes Dre to a Taoist temple in the Wudang Mountains where he trained with his father, and Dre witnesses a woman making a cobra reflect her movements and drinks the water from an ancient Taoist well.

As Dre's friendship with Meiying grows, they share a kiss at a festival during a play about the folk tale The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Dre persuades Meiying to cut school for a day of fun, but she is nearly late for a violin audition that was pushed up a day without her knowledge. Her parents thus deem Dre a bad influence and forbid her from seeing him again.

During their training, Han gives Dre a day off. Dre seeks an explanation that night and finds Han apparently drunk, smashing the car he was working on. Han explains to Dre that he crashed the same car years ago, and that his wife and 10-year-old son were killed in the crash. Han fixes the car every year but smashes it to remind himself of what happened; this inspires Dre to train harder to help his teacher get past the incident. Han assists Dre in writing and reciting a note of apology in Mandarin to Meiying's father, who accepts and promises that Meiying will attend the tournament to support Dre.

At the tournament, the under-confident Dre is slow to achieve parity with his competition but soon begins beating them and advances to the semifinals. Cheng does the same by violently finishing off his opponents. Dre then beats Master Li's students, causing Li to order Dre's semi-final opponent Liang (one of his pupils) to injure Dre. Liang is shocked at this order but reluctantly does so under Li's intimidation. As the match continues, Liang seizes Dre's leg and delivers a crippling blow, after which he is automatically disqualified. Dre can advance to the final to face Cheng but has a limited time to return to the ring or Cheng will claim the trophy. Dre pleads with Han to heal his leg via the fire cupping method. Han tries to talk Dre out of it but does it eventually when Dre says he "doesn't want to be afraid anymore". Thus Dre is set to face Cheng in the final.

The match goes back and forth and is tied at two points apiece, with the next point to determine the champion. Cheng furthers hits Dre on his broken leg with a powerful kick, thus causing Dre to lose balance. Dre gets up with full confidence and uses the snake stance used by the woman at the temple. The move is successful, and Cheng changes his technique and charges at Dre, who does a flip and catches Cheng in mid-air with a kick to his head, winning the tournament along with the respect of Cheng and his classmates. Cheng asks the presenter for permission to present Dre with the trophy. All of the Fighting Dragon students bow to Mr. Han in respect, accepting him as their new master, leaving Li defeated.

Cast

 * Jackie Chan as Mr. Han (S: 韩先生, T: 韓先生, P: Hán-xiānsheng)
 * Jaden Smith as Dre Parker (德瑞∙帕克 Déruì Pàkè)
 * Taraji P. Henson as Sherry Parker (雪莉∙帕克 Xuělì Pàkè), Dre's mother
 * Wenwen Han (韩雯雯) as Meiying (美莹 Měiyíng)
 * Zhenwei Wang as Cheng (陆伟程 Lù Wěichéng)
 * Yu Rongguang as Master Li (李师傅 Lǐ-shīfu)
 * Luke Carberry as Harry (哈里 Hālǐ), a boy who befriends Dre
 * Shijia Lü (吕世佳) as Liang (梁子浩 Liáng Zǐhào), a friend and classmate of Cheng's
 * Ji Wang (王 姬) as Mrs. Po (博太太 Bó-tàitai), the principal of Dre's new school
 * Zhensu Wu (武振素) as Meiying's father
 * Zhiheng Wang (王志恒) as Meiying's mother
 * Yi Zhao (赵 毅) as Zhuang (秦壮壮 Qín Zhuàngzhuàng), a friend and classmate of Cheng's.
 * Cameron Hillman as Mark (马克 Máke)
 * Ghye Samuel Brown as Oz (奥兹)
 * Bo Zhang (张 博) as Song (宋), a friend and classmate of Cheng's