For those of you that don’t know, Will Smith’s son, Jaden Smith is in the leading role of Daniel Larusso.  However, the name will likely be changed as Larusso was Italian. The character has also been dropped from high school to middle school, making any amount of story from the original movie nil.  An article at Variety said that it “will borrow elements of the original plot, wherein a bullied youth learns to stand up for himself with the help of an eccentric mentor.”

But that’s not all. The film has a director attached: Harald Zwart. The director of Agent Cody Banks.

The fact that they’re doing this movie is a travesty. That they’re calling it The Karate Kid at all is wrong.

It’s not at all what a new Karate Kid movie should be.

The best thing that could happen for the film would be to have Ralph Macchio play the role of Daniel Larusso again, and have him in the role of teacher, with Jaden Smith as the new Karate Kid.

They could call it The Karate Kid Part V. Or Part IV, because The Next Karate Kid doesn’t really count. Seriously. Two Words: Bowling monks.

But alas, contracts are either signed, or being signed, and the film will be produced. The one thing that could happen, which I think should happen, is a name change. It happens often in film making. Call it The Kung Fu Kid. Call it The Tae Kwon Do Kid. Call it anything but The Karate Kid.

It’ll never be the same, and can never be. The music just isn’t going to be good enough.

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To truly understand the problem that this has caused, we have to understand the history of The Karate Kid. It’s a film that I grew up on, and more important, it’s a film that AMERICA grew up on. America learned how to be a man from life lessons by Mr. Miyagi. Who hasn’t heard the phrase “Wax on, wax off?” Where else did we learn how to paint the fence, and defend ourselves, in the same night? When else can we move from one side of the country and learn Karate by doing chores from a man who has exiled himself from his home country of Okinawa?

It’s certainly not from whomever is going to try to imitate Pat Morita’s iconic Mr. Miyagi. It’s certainly not from a younger version of the story. No, this is more in the vein of The 3 Ninjas than TMNT.

The Karate Kid has it all. It’s got a guy in high school, dealing with a new town, making new friends, and a girl that happens to be the ex-girlfriend of his new-archnemesis. It’s also got a martial arts expert.

The new faux-Karate Kid? Middle-school. Will there be a middle-school girl? Will there be a clique that all goes to a crooked teacher that teaches false Martial Arts?

Who knows and who cares. It’s not set within the correct age group. It’s just not realistic.

Now, I’m not one to pre-judge a movie unless I am well educated about the content of the film, and I am not falting them for wanting to remake this amazing movie for a new generation. Call it Kung-Fu Kid, call it Karate Kid: The Next Generation, anything but The Karate Kid. Let’s not try and replace the original film with something new and flashy.

America deserves better than this. America thought better than “The Next Karate Kid” and they should think better than this film.

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• March 30, 2009 -- The Kung Fu Kid – The Karate Kid Remake: Renamed?
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• May 26, 2009 -- Disney Remaking Flight of the Navigator!
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