In the original movie, did Ralph Macchio train at all? A lot of actors who don't have martial arts backgrounds can blag it with a bit of training. Jaden Smith actually put the work in, and it showed. I was pleasantly surprised as I thought he was going to be clumsy like Macchio.
"Why do you say this to me when you know I will kill you for it?"
Yeah...Jackie Chan said in a few interviews how impressed he was with the younger Smith's dedication and training towards the physical requirements of the film.
His hard work DOES show.
On November 6, 2012...God blessed America
Valid point.
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Even Hilary Swank seemed like a better fighter in The Next Karate Kid than Ralph Macchio ever did.
"Why do you say this to me when you know I will kill you for it?"
Yeah, if I want to watch someone pretend to fight I can just turn on a martial arts competition for the real thing.
If I want to watch a movie, I expect some acting. Jaden Smith needs to develop the ability to act or tell his overbearing daddy he's not cut out for this.
The original is superior to the remake. And I prefer calling the 1984 film "the original" instead of "that older version" as kids call it.
The story of Daniel in the original, a teenager dealing with bullies will always be more interesting then a story about a little kid dealing with bullies. If you get your ass handed to you at age 10, well who the hell cares? It's not a big deal and there's no shame when an adult comes and breaks up that fight in elementary school. But a 15 or 16 year old boy dealing with bullies is now entering defending manhood territory. Daniel's story as a high school teenager dealing with bullies is far, far more compeling then Wil Smith's annoying kid dealing with bullies.
And now that Jaden has grown like 5 or 6 inches in the past few years, he looks like a typical big black teenager kid. There's no way in hell sequels will work for the Jaden Smith movie. Ralph Macchio was a lanky early 20s guy playing 15. Today Jaden is now a young teenager that is tall and built, when he becomes an older teen he's going to be even bigger. Who's going to believe that a big black teenager with muscles is going to get harrassed? So sequels for the remake will be a joke. Yeah I know KK Part III was lame, but Part II was very good and held it's own as a solid sequel.
The character of Mr. Miyagi is far more interesting then Jackie Chan/Mr. Han. Miyagi made this franchise. Jackie Chan is just playing Jackie Chan with a little more seriousness. People even forget his character's name and just call him "Jackie Chan" instead of "Mr. Han". Everyone remembers Mr. Miyagi and Pat Morita earned an Oscar nomination for this role.
Granted, there will be generational differences regarding which franchise you think is better. I'm in my mid 30s and when I asked a girl in her early 20s about which she thought was better, she liked the new one b/c of the cute kids story. And even though she grew up with neither movie, though the originals were around when she was growing up but before her time, and she was already like 20 when the remake came out, she liked the cute kids story of the remake. She checked out the originals after watching the new one and couldn't get past the dated 80s fashions which she thought was "cheesy", so she was unwilling to give the movie a fair chance. But if you try to go in unbiased and judge the films on their merits of story and acting, the original comes out the winner.
I wouldn't say preference is down to age. I'm 30, and even as a child, I disliked the first KK movie because I thought it was cheesy, and it was clear as day that Daniel couldn't fight for toffee. I guess because I'd seen real martial arts movies at an early age, KK didn't cut it. I empathised with Dre more than Daniel, too. The culture shock of moving from USA to China is far greater than moving from New Jersey to Los Angeles. I'm an adult, and I'd find it daunting, to a little kid who has no choice but to be dragged to the other side of the world by his mother, it must be terrifying.
I don't know what kind of school you went to, but in mine, most bullies grew up and knocked it off by the time they were 16. The kids who wanted to piss around had left school by then, as they were no longer legally forced to be there.. At 11, on the other hand, bullying was pretty rampant, because little kids are stupid, plus I don't know how things work in China, but maybe bullying is worse over there.
If people forget Mr Han's name, that's just a testament to Jackie Chan's fame, not a commentary on the character. People seldom refer to Arnold Schwarzenegger's characters by name when they're talking about him movies, either.
"Why do you say this to me when you know I will kill you for it?"
If people forget Mr Han's name, that's just a testament to Jackie Chan's fame, not a commentary on the character. People seldom refer to Arnold Schwarzenegger's characters by name when they're talking about him moviesHmmm... a very good point.
I disliked the first KK movie because I thought it was cheesy, and it was clear as day that Daniel couldn't fight for toffee.The point of the movie was not to turn Daniel into an MMA fighter or an even bigger bully himself. It was to teach him how to defend himself to the point that the others respected him.
Yeah...I have to agree that Jaden Smith's work ethic obviated the need for a serious suspension of belief that the student was an credible protégée and heir to his mentor's martial artistry and mastery.
On November 6, 2012...God blessed America
The point of the movie was not to turn Daniel into an MMA fighter or an even bigger bully himself. It was to teach him how to defend himself to the point that the others respected him.
I didn't believe he could defeat the Cobra Kai in a tournament capacityTournament sparring for points is different than MMA style fighting though. Essentially Daniel just needed to defend and counter to rack up the points to advance.
I've had no martial arts training besides some judo 20 years ago, and I'm sure I could blag it better than Ralph Macchio ever did.yeah...I watched Will and Jada in interviews when the movie was coming out talking about how Jaden pushed himself...and Will was really proud of that. And then Jackie Chan talking later about it...about how Jaden progressed so much and never quit when being trained by Jackie. That really impressed me.
Will and Jada gushing over their kid????????? What parent say's their kid sucks or their kids movie sucks ....Shoot what actor when their movies coming out says "My new movie sucks..I just did it for the easy money..save your money.Hey I already got paid."
http://youtu.be/iDiwoKOD8hA
http://youtu.be/ifJYxdV57go
http://youtu.be/v5YEY925Gew
..and yeah...so it made for some enjoyable training and fight sequences.
On November 6, 2012...God blessed America
Who cares if the kid trained harder? He is an incredibly annoying kid who can't act. If I've got a bunch of bullies picking on me and I need a Kar er, Kung Fu Kid, I'll call Jaden. If I'm going to see a movie about a Karate Kid, I'll take Ralph Macchio.
I'd take part 3 as an inspiration. All that whining could clearly defeat anyone.
shareCobSpiderMage, you are dead on. Dre was focused on what he was doing and actually learned some kick-ass fighting moves and was a much better fighter than he was in the beginning. Daniel just thought everything would come to him and mainly focused on eating mac & cheese (lol), only trained marginally and he looked like a wimp in his fights only to win it on ONE miracle move.
shareThe OP missed the point of the original. People still celebrate the original over 30 years later, the cast did conventions and interviews for the 30th because of a strong fanbase. This movie is 6 years old, mostly forgotten and will anyone care about Jaden talking about this movie once it turns 10 or 20. Nope just another useless remake/reboot made in the 2000s/2010s
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