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Young-Fu Fighting

Twenty-six (yep, count 'em) years after Ralph Macchio crane-kicked his way into our hearts, a brand new version of "The Karate Kid" hits screens this weekend. Starring Jaden Smith (son of Will and Jada, who are also executive producers) as the titular character and Jackie Chan as his mentor, this fish-out-of-water story relocates to the city of Beijing and the world of Kung Fu.

Despite the new setting and a completely different martial arts style, the major plot points of "The Karate Kid" stay faithful to the original. When his mother gets a job in a Beijing auto factory, Detroit kid Dre (Smith) finds himself in a new city with little understanding of the language or the culture. While his widowed mother (Taraji P. Henson) embraces their new adventure, Dre struggles to adjust to his new life.

When Dre takes an interest in a comely schoolmate, he draws the attention of the school bully, Cheng (Zhenwei Wang). Cheng and his buddies are students of the local Kung Fu studio, led by Master Li -- a man with a stringent zero-mercy policy. The pint-sized gang take their training to heart on the new kid, with regular beatings and harassment. During one of these beatings, he is saved by Mr. Han (Chan), the broken-down maintenance man in Dre's apartment building. As typical of a Chan film, Han fends off his attackers with a series of cleverly executed defensive moves that cause the boys to defeat themselves without Han ever striking a blow.

Gruff, stooped and bowl-legged, Han seems an unlikely Kung Fu master, and an even more unlikely mentor for Dre. But he takes a reluctant shine to the small, brash kid and agrees to teach him "real Kung Fu." Han makes a deal with Master Li to have the bullies lay off Dre while he trains for the local Kung Fu tournament. Cue training montage. Or, rather, montages.

As in the original, Han has an unorthodox training style, putting Dre through seemingly pointless, repetitive tasks that translate into some pretty sweet Kung Fu moves. Unlike the original, these sequences are embellished with some elaborate and over-the-top locales. Dre's training, for example, is supplemented by trips to the local mountaintop Shaolin temple and drills atop The Great Wall. Because, apparently, that's the only way to learn "real Kung Fu."

While The Great Wall is lovely to look at, these trips into the countryside seem like silly distractions from Dre's real journey. While he trains with Han, Dre learns some valuable lessons about respect, heart and how to focus his energies. Jaden Smith could be his famous father in miniature, with similar charm, mannerisms and attitude. But there's no mistaking that Smith is still a child, both evidenced by his (mostly) unaffected performance and his physical size. It is truly uncomfortable to see someone of his age and size beaten so mercilessly by Cheng and his buddies. But it seems to work in his favor, as he makes Dre a character to root for.

As Han, Jackie Chan gets the opportunity to actually act in an American film, and he makes the most of it. When Dre meets Han, he is a broken man with a tragic past. His slumped posture and haggard expression make him seem much older than his years. Chan's delivery of an emotional and painful scene is surprisingly moving and heartfelt. Hollywood would do well to give Chan the chance to do more than cheesy family fare like "The Spy Next Door" and "The Tuxedo".

Clocking in at a hefty 2 hours 20 minutes, much of "The Karate Kid" is bloated with extended training sequences (see above), a romantic subplot and an outlandishly appointed tournament that seems to have been sponsored by video game creator Konami. But if you can make it past all that, "The Karate Kid" is still a story to get audiences cheering at the end.