Tuesday 23 February 2010

The Karate Kid 2010

I came across this trailer for the Karate Kid 2010 the other day whilst surfing youtube... Looks fun. I'm intrigued by the fact that Jackie Chan is playing a wizened old martial artist teaching a youngster the tricks of the trade in order to beat the 'bad' guys... (Same old story, huh?). From the clip I saw this suits Chan: older mentor, unassuming ordinary bloke. Or maybe he just plays it well (after all, he is an actor).

What intrigues me most is that it's called 'karate kid' and it's set in China! Now I know that kara te originally held the meaning 'China Hand' but I think this is pushing the link between Chinese and Japanese arts a bit too far. (Interesting article here on the history and meaning of Kenpo/Chuan fa/Karate)

I haven't seen the film yet, but maybe it should be called The Chuan Fa Kid?
:-)








1 comment:

Ikigai said...

Yuck for me on this movie. But I'm a little grumpy when it comes to destroying franchises to squeeze a few last dimes out of it.

They could have easily created a more appropriate name for the movie and not copied the original in cheesy ways, but that would have made far less money then this one lined up for.

Less sour people will probably have a good time with it though!