You May Have Missed: The Karate Kid by @danie_gee

This week is all about Scott Pilgrim. Alas, none of our intrepid team were invited to the preview.

Instead, we offer a review of the Karate Kid remake that's still showing in cinemas. Hit the jump to find out if it's wax on or wax off:

I watched the remake of The Karate Kid literally less than an hour after watching the 80s original, so the first movie was pretty vivid in my mind throughout.

For those of you who don't know the basic format of the Karate Kid movies, a kid who moves to a new place and starts regularly getting beaten up by the local bullies, until an old janitor comes out of nowhere like Batman and beats ups the bullies with martial arts. From there the kid begins learning the skills required to kick major ass of his own.

I loved how the remake followed the existing patten, but still did enough to distinguish itself. Jaden Smith is considerably younger than Ralph Macchio, but the emotion he portrayed felt much more raw. I'm not sure if it's because of his acting or because his age played on my sympathies. In any case, it was amazing to see a movie that actually succeeds in inspiring empathy for once. Even Jackie Chan had scenes that didn't just make me want to laugh, they made me cringe and cry.

The only thing I can say that I didn't like about The Karate Kid was that karate was nowhere in sight. I know it followed the movie scheme but if you're going to use a type of martial arts in a title, it should be used in the movie. However even if you are adamant about not wanting to see another remake (especially one with the above flaw), you should still watch this movie. It was a good time at the theater and a nice way to reminisce without watching the same movie again.