The Karate Kid 2010. Remake or not?

I'm a Gen-Xer born 1980.  So, I grew up with The Karate Kid.  I know what wax on / wax off is.  If you say Daniel San, I know what you would be talking about.  Say Mr. Miyagi, Pat Morita's face comes up.  The song Eye of the tiger.... c'mon!  Glory of Love, yeah...

So, when I found out that there is a new Karate Kid movie with Jackie Chan and Will Smith's son Jaden Smith was in the movie, I was a very skeptical.  Skeptical because, The Karate Kid is such a classic and people like me, hesitant of change will not like such a classic remade.  However after watching the movie, it's really not a remake.  It simply is another "Karate Kid" story in a different setting, different Mr. Miyagi and Daniel San.  It's Mr. Han and Dre.  There's no Karate, only Kung Fu.  (After watching

The Matrix, who wouldn't like Kung Fu.)  Both Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith did a fantastic job in my opinion.

So for those who would argue that the movie should have been titled The Kung Fu Kid, I would have to agree that the title should remain The Karate Kid because it is a mirror of the classic movie we all love in simply a different setting, time and characters.  But the essence of it is The Karate Kid.

I was watching the movie with my 10 year old nephew and he enjoyed the movie very much.  He is unaware of the original movie, but come to think of it, we grew up with The Karate Kid and now he's growing up with The Karate Kid.  Hey, we enjoyed our time with the Original Karate Kid and I would still watch it when it comes on TV.  The new movie didn't impose on Mr. Miyagi and Daniel San, but it's just "The Karate Kid" Story.  Mentor, student, school kid, martial art, love, bad teacher, good teacher, bad kid, good kid, tournament, respect, ect. ect.

All I say is, if you're skeptical, hesitant, or angry about this new Karate Kid, just give the movie a chance.  I did bad mouth the movie before I watched it, but after watching the movie, all I could say is, "now I get it."  So the lesson still  proves true that all good things are sometimes met with disbelief and ridicule at first.  But only at first.  LifeStyle Living is about giving things a chance and being open to some change.