[Cerek]

I took the boys to see it last night. The movie was good enough, although even my 8-yr old remarked they should have called it "The Kung Fu Kid" instead of "The Karate Kid". As far as remakes go, it is better than most; staying true to the original plot while changing a few key elements. The tournament fighting in this one was much better than the original (IMO), but I still liked the training sequences from the original better.

My boys watched the first 3 Karate Kid movies last week before seeing this one and liked all of them. The movie is a good remake for those of us who loved the original and is a great movie for kids who never saw the first one. The only complaint I have was a review I read on imdb which tried to claim this was NOT a remake of the original. It said there were a few similarities, but they were minor and this movie was much different than the first.

BZZZZZZZ! WRONG ANSWER, BUT THANK YOU FOR PLAYING!

It most certainly IS a copy of the first, containing all the major scenes and elements from the first and even keeping the same dialogue in many parts. While there are numerous examples from beginning to end, the most obvious to me was the scene with Dre and Han in the locker room before the final fight.

*Warning - Slight Spoiler*





Dre has been injured (in the knee) and Han is telling him there is no reason for him to go back out. Dre says he won't have "balance" in his life if he doesn't go back out. That was a pivotal scene in the first movie, but in the new one, Han never mentions having "balance" in your life through kung-fu. So they stole part of the original dialogue, but left out all the background leading up to the line.

One other quibble is the final move...it is much less believable than the first, but hey - it's the movies and we're here to see Dre kick the bully's ass.

One thing I DID like was the reaction of the bully and his gang after the final bout. I thought it was done better in this version than in the original.