The Karate Kid (2010)

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Morita immortalised the part of the wise, old Asian mentor, and Ralph Macchio, though prone to overacting a bit in places, was endearing and convincing as an awkward out-of-favour kid with issues (single mom, new city, etc).

Add to that John G. Avildsen's talents for emotive framing and that training montage, and you have a movie that's practically cinema's gift to Saturday afternoon TV.

The Karate Kid 2010, on the other hand, is at the outset a commercial enterprise, hoping to cash in on an audience that's likely never seen the original. For them, the movie will work well enough, even at a surprisingly generous running time of 131 minutes.

But for those of us who saw the original as part of a double feature at the Cineplex for about R5.50, it comes off as a slightly less honest translation of a book... where the Japanese are the Chinese, and the back stories of the characters are slightly unfocused in the employment of better film technology some 25 years later.

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