Remakes have been fairly common in hollywood for a while now. Truth be told, remakes go back a lot further than recent cinema (such as Scarface). It isn't till the past few years though that they have become downright hated by some people.
I would say this is in large part due to the many crappy remakes we have had in recent year that add nothing to the original and if anything, ruin its legacy (Rollerball and Texas Chainsaw Massacre come to mind). It seems like this tradition may be continued with the upcoming Karate Kid movie.
Now I'll admit, the original Karate Kid is incredibly dated by its 80's-ness but its still a great zero-to-hero tale held up by the great chemistry between Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita (who got an Oscar nom for his role as Mr. Miyagi. With wax on wax off and the infamous crane kick, the movie is a classic. My problem, however, isn't in the fact that they are remaking it. Its in how they are doing it.
First off, what is with it being little kids. Daniel-son was freshmen-ish in the original but these kids look 12 at the oldest. I can't take their fighting seriously (much like I can't take Jaden Smith's dreds seriously). Also, the whole American kid in Asian land feels a little too "Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift" to me. Another thing that bugs me is the fact that the movie features kung fu instead of karate (which yes, there is a difference). I would assume its because movie audiences are more accustomed to the movements of kung fu, but when something is in the name of the movie, you probably shouldn't cut it out.
My last problem is this: they already tried to remake the karate kid franchise! It was called The Next Kara.te Kid and it starred Hilary Swank (long before she was a two time Oscar winner). That movie failed horribly and I fear this movie will to. It doesn't help that this is the director who gave us The Pink Panther 2 and Agent Cody Banks. The only promising aspect seems to be a surprisingly serious Jackie Chan. It seems he could be a decent Miyagi. Still, Jackie Chan seems to have an agent worse than Vin Diesel's and appears in the crapiest of the crap out there. If you want a remake with some promise, wait for Clash of the Titans.
P.S. Also disappointed that they didn't bring on Bill Conti to do the music. This is the man who not only did the original Karate Kid but gave us the Rocky music (except Eye of the Tiger and those ridiculous power ballads which came from Survivor). He did a great job with Rocky Balboa a few years back and I'm sure he could have brought something good to this movie. Oh well.
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