A highly inaccurate statement, but I’ll let it pass. “The Kara­te Kid,” a remake of the 1984 film of the same name was released on June 11, and had a superb opening weekend of $56 mil­lion. Remakes have not exactly inspired confidence for me since many of them often turn out unnecessary and recycle old ideas, defeating the purpose of a remake. The previous film, “A Nightmare on Elm Street” end­ed up being terrible. Much to my surprise, “The Ka­rate Kid” is the complete opposite and, if Hollywood insists on doing more remakes, this is the example they must follow. Though the plot is predictable and the themes are obvious, the film still ends up being a rousing and inspir­ing success in a summer that has produced only disappoint­ment. Twelve-year old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) is moving to Beijing, China since his mother, Sherry (Taraji P. Henson), has accepted a new job at a car manufacturing plant. On his first day in a new country, Dre meets a new friend and is play­ing basketball with the local kids when he notices a beautiful girl named Mei Ying (Wen Wen Han), a practicing violinist. At the insistence of his friend, he hesitantly talks to her and tries to impress her with his dance moves. However, a bully, Cheng (Zhen Wei Wang), becomes annoyed and knocks her sheet music away. Dre tries to intervene but Cheng, who is adept at kung-fu, brutally beats him and gives him a black eye. Seeking to learn how to defend himself, Dre watches a karate instructional video while Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), the building’s maintenance man, arrives to fix the shower. At school, Dre is repeatedly bullied by Cheng and his friends. Unable to confide about the bullying to his mother, he only exclaims that he wants to go back home to Detroit and how he hates living in China. Fed up with Cheng, Dre tails him one day after school and hurls a bucket of dirty water at him. Cheng and his friends chase him through the streets and corner him near his apartment. With his friends holding him, Cheng repeatedly beats Dre into submission. Unsatisfied and taking his kung-fu teacher’s brutal doctrine of ‘no mercy’ to heart, Cheng prepares to land a finishing blow but a hand suddenly grabs him. It is Mr. Han, who comes to defend Dre and revealing his own kung-fu skills. Once Dre has recov­ered, Han takes him to see Master Li (Yu Rong Guang), Cheng’s kung-fu teacher, to apologize for any injuries his students may have sustained and request that they stop harassing Dre. To settle the matter once and for all, Li challenges Dre to fight Cheng but when Han refuses, he threatens him and says that he cannot leave the school until Dre or Han fights. Han reluctantly agrees but on two conditions: the fight will take place in an upcoming kung-fu tournament and that Li’s students must not ha­rass Dre while he trains him. Excited at the prospect of learning kung-fu, Dre begins his training with Mr. Han to earn the respect of his peers and defend his honor. Personally, I have never seen the original “Karate Kid”, but many critics have pointed out that it follows the general plot closely, almost to a fault. Still, even if you haven’t viewed the original film, you can predict with 100% accuracy what’s going to happen. To create a more true ‘fish out of water’ experience, Dre is moving from the United States to China, a country where he is unfamiliar with the language and customs. The film explores the themes you would ex­pect from an underdog tale, such as rising from nothing to becom­ing a champion, but there are certain elements which require some suspension of disbelief. The first act is rather brutal as Dre is repeat­edly kicked and punched by Cheng- you wonder why no adults would come to his rescue until thirty minutes into the film. Master Li teaches his students the maxim, ‘No weakness, no pain, no mercy’ and during a sparring session, he slaps a student for hesitating to finish his opponent. His brutality is increasingly hard to swallow as he encourages his students to actively maim their opponents. While training with Mr. Han, Dre is repeatedly ordered to take off his jack­et (a homage to ‘wax on, wax off ‘), much to his dismay and he loses patience, failing to see the point of this ‘exercise.’ It is revealed that these ac­tions are blocking techniques but again, it is hard to see how this could suddenly make you adept at kung-fu. For the sake of running time (which is rather lengthy for a kid’s film), much of the training is done through montages but it is no less impressive as you see Dre become more confident in his abilities. There are also some dramatic moments that moved me to tears and the love that develops between Dre and Mei Ying is charming and cute. “The Ka­rate Kid” may not be all that original in material and concept, but it delivers some strong morality lessons that never feel forced down one’s throat and seeing Dre beaten down and getting up is inspiring. The acting was surprisingly good. My initial fear was that Jaden Smith would somehow screw it up-he was rather annoying in “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (another uninspired remake) – here, he displays the kind of charisma that made his father famous. Jackie Chan hasn’t had much box office success in recent years, but he delivers an excellent performance as Mr. Han. This is a more serious role that Americans might not be used to but Chan has been doing more dramatic work back in Hong Kong. Taraji P. Henson is Dre’s mother Sherry, the kind of over­protective mom you always see, but I wondered why they didn’t just use his real mother, Jada Pinkett Smith. The rest of the cast is comprised of Chinese actors; though their inexperience with Eng­lish shows, they do a fine job. I don’t care what people say; the actress that plays Mei Ying, Wen Wen Han, is really pretty! Though the film is mostly serious, there’s some comedy to lighten the mood and director Harald Zwart makes the most out of the setting, with sweeping shots of China’s Wudang Mountains to emphasize the peaceful serenity of kung-fu, the Great Wall, and Forbidden City. James Horner’s score is also epic but often sounds exactly like his work in “Avatar.” I also wished it stuck with the score rather than mixing it with tween pop music, which is grating on my ears. Released on June 11, 2010, “The Karate Kid” has received positive reviews with 71% on Rotten Toma­toes, compared to 90% for the original. Critics felt that ‘it may not be as powerful as the 1984 edition, but the [remake] delivers a surpris­ingly satisfying update on the original.’ After three down weeks at the box office, the film revitalized the summer movie season with a $56 million opening weekend. Another 80’s flashback, “The A-Team” mus­tered only $26 million and came off as a generic action flick. Much has been made that Dre is learning kung-fu, not karate and some purists have condemned the film for using such a deceptive title. Karate origi­nated from Japan while kung-fu is from China; racial tensions have continued to exist between the two nations ever since World War II. In most parts of the world, the film was released as it is but in China, Japan, and South Korea, the title was changed to “The Kung-Fu Kid” due to allegations of cultural ignorance and potential racism. If you ask me, people really need to lighten up. Although today is a weekday, I was surprised at how packed it was! The audience thoroughly enjoyed the film and applauded numerous times. With likable chemistry be­tween Chan and Smith and strong moral themes, “The Karate Kid” is an entertaining, feel-good movie that anyone can enjoy-a successful remake of a beloved classic.