Karate Kid vs Kung Fu Kid

Last weekend I made an impromptu trip to the movies with Mrs Jamaipanese to check out Karate Kid, the remake of a cult classic that I must have watched at least a hundred times as a child. I knew very little about the remake before hand, so little in fact that I didn’t even know Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith played the lead roles. Jackie is an acting legend, albeit an aging one and Jaden is the son of an acting legend so I had high hopes.

Disclaimer: Please dont try at home, your groin will thank me

It was a wonderful film that I enjoyed and I don’t regret paying money to see but from my post Karate Kid remake watching experience I started to check out a few reviews and apparently I’m not as smart as I think I am, as everybody and their uncle’s aunt was wondering why the pluck is the movie named “Kung Fu” Kid if the tween is taught Kung Fu. Γ£β€šΒΓ£Ββ€ΉΓ£β€šΕ Γ£ΒΒΎΓ£Ββ€”Γ£ΒΕΈΓ―ΒΌΕΈ

More on Jamaipanese.com:  Shikoku Japan - Temples and Shrines

I’ve spent a week in discussion with friends, reading online feedback and sacrificing baby rabbits with the hope of understanding why this happened and unearthed the following serious and not so serious reasons.

  • Hollywood is milking the Karate Kid Brand name
  • China is a greater player on the world scene now than Japan
  • Mr Miyagi was injured in a fight with me
  • This is worse than racism it’s deindividuation!
  • Jaden is the new fresh prince of Beijing

It was a good movie, really it was! But I can’t help being feel like I was robbed or feeling like the original has been tarnished! Can’t I sue somebody for misrepresentation? This is like going into a restaurant to buy curried goat and being served curried sheep instead! Anyway, still on a not so serious note, who would win an all out brawl, Mr Han or Mr Miyagi? Vote in the embedded poll below, then leave a comment or I will break your leg.

More on Jamaipanese.com:  6 Tips for Living in Japan - be mindful of these things

Kung Fu (Mr Han) vs Karate (Mr Miyagi)

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

[clown]

17 thoughts on “Karate Kid vs Kung Fu Kid

  1. Jackie Chan has said that on set everyone was calling it The Kung Fu Kid; that’s what they thought it was going to be called. In the end someone decided that it would be easier to market the film with an inappropriate but more familiar name. It’s a ridiculous decision that was, at the very least, rectified in China where the film is called The Kung Fu Kid… But to be fair, all of the trailers and marketing for the film (aside from the title, of course) were very clearthat it’s about Kung Fu, not Karate, so it’d be hard to really make a case for false advertising despite the title.

    I think saying that it tarnishes the original is much too harsh. I think the filmmakers paid the appropriate respect to the original by changing the setting rather than making a complete carbon copy. The issue is that a bunch of executives disrespected the new movie – not the original – by choosing the appeal of nostalgia over an appropriate title. I’d also say that it doesn’t pay appropriate respect to the rich history and culture of Chinese martial arts.

    With all that said – and it certainly does bother me as a martial artist – a poor choice of title didn’t stop me from enjoying the film immensely. Despite following the original story perhaps too closely, the change of setting brought more than enough freshness for me. Making the switch to a different location and a different martial art was the best decision made by the filmmakers on this one – what would’ve been the point otherwise? – it’s just a shame that the studio executives took that smart move and made the worst of it.

    1. thanks for your comment. Maybe If I had seen some previews or paid close attention to a trailer or poster I wouldn’t have been so surprised and expected the mix-up

      1. I think an even MORE interesting question is, “Why isn’t it called, ‘Karate Kid’ in Japan?” In Japan, the series is called, “Best Kid.”

        Btw, the joke you made about Mr. Miyagi being injured caught me off guard. Good one!

    2. Yea i have to agree with you on that they should of went more on the chinese.I have a question though i have been looking for somone else who knows the Irion wall i dont know how to spell this word well but i hope it helps technieck lol or move itsa defenive move and can not find anything else on it and only seen it once in a book and ive peformed it afew times and want to learn more about it so if u ca e-mail me if u know anything or just like to talk ok later

  2. I only saw trailers. I most likely won’t watch this movie, I’m a big fan of the real Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso with Ralph Macchio and Mr. Miagi played by Pat Morita. Sure, only part 1 is legendary, but I like parts 2 and 3, eve though Macchio wasn’t a kid anymore, but that’s fine for me. I grew up with these movies. And I’m fine if the new generation has new actors and a movie which is based on a similar premise. But to name it same as the movie I grew up with, that’s lame! Not only lame, it’s mean and very disrespectful to the original movie. Frankly I hate remakes. And Hollywood, lacking of ideas in the last years, is doing remakes of Asian movies, especially Korean and they’re totally destroying them. You can’t replace Korea and Korean actors with white people set in America. It just doesn’t work. Hollywood should be opening horizons like with Avatar, that was a masterpiece, but stop doing remakes. It’s getting boring already… [sad]

    1. Well, I’m a big fan of the original KK movie too. But I have to say I really liked this version. In fact, in certain ways, it’s even better.

      And BTW, Avatar is beatiful REMAKE too.

  3. There are certain things that if remade I wouldnt even dare watching. Karate Kid being one of them. Mr Miyagi is the man, Wax on Wax off, some legendary unforgettable stuff πŸ˜€

  4. My understanding is it was renamed Karate Kid due to copyright issues with Dreamworks who own “Kung Fu Panda”

  5. I recently heard a radio interview with Jackie Chan on BBC1. He explained in this interview that they had wanted to call the movie ‘The Kung Fu Kid’, but apparently the company that did ‘Kung Fu Panda’ (I think he might have mentioned it being Dreamworks, but not sure) had already trademarked a bunch of variations on their title including the phrase ‘Kung Fu Kid’, which made it very difficult if not impossible to use this title in Western countries. I heard that it’s being marketed as ‘The Kung Fu Kid’ in Japan and China. Jackie Chan said in the interview that the title was not a bit problem for him because anyone who knew martial arts would know the difference. He also claimed that this movie was better than the previous Karate Kid movies because the two stars (namely himself and Jaden Smith) were highly trained in kung fu, whereas in the previous movies apparently the stars had very little martial arts training. Still not sure if I’ll rush out and see it though. Hope that helps clarify your mystery!

    1. thanks for your comment M. I understand and agree with almost everything except the last part about it being “better” than the previous movies. Its somewhat clearly know though so again thanks for stopping by.

  6. Bit late to the party, I know…

    Yes, but you can tell from the way it is cut together that it was meant to be “The Karate Kid”. Especially during the very first few scenes, it is almost exactly the same. They were both maintance men of the apartment, and the similarities go on and on. It was in no way intended to be a stand-alone film.

  7. I saw the movie on the first day it came out (June 11). EFFING AWESOME!!!!
    Of course it should’ve been called The Kung Fu Kid. I was so pissed! They’re calling the film “Kung Fu Dream” in Asian countries.
    Dre defied gravity with that AWESOME last kick. In my opinion, the film, as a whole, is better than The Karate Kid because Dre went through more intense training the original film.
    Cool blog too! πŸ™‚

  8. When I first read up on why it was still called Karate Kid, I read that in the film, Dray (spellcheck?) was supposed to be known as the karate kid because he went there knowing only a little bit of karate and got whooped…After seeing the movie, it turns out that that was never once mentioned as far as I can remember, so whether or not that was the original explanation that was written out is beyond me…but I assumed the name was just because it was still the same concept, just a more violent scenario…I’m actually more of a fan of the remake than the original, but that could be bias because of my love for kung fu (Been taking it for 13 years, almost 14)…:P…

Comments are closed.