As you may very well know, Will Smith's kid, Jaden and Jackie Chan star in this 2010 remake of the classic karate kid. The remake takes place in China, which makes you wonder where karate comes into play (it was really karate they used in the movie, even though it looked like kung-fu). With that aside, we now move to the synopsis (spoilers ahead)
In this version of Karate Kid, we have Dre Parker (Jaden) moving to China after his mum gets reassigned by her company. If you've watched the first version, or know how it goes, then I probably won't need to explain the rest, but I'll do so anyway. Our little friend then gets noticed by ~14 year-old bullies for sticking up for the ringleader's (supposed) childhood friend. Dre then proceeds to get beaten up by a 14-year old master in Karate. Following that, he goes emo and traumatized, having to watch his back every moment at school to avoid them bullies. After awhile, he gathers enough courage for revenge, but dumping a barrel of what looked like murky water all over the antagonist's gang, who wastes no time to begin their pursuit for revenge. Fortunately, Little Dre gets saved by the apartment handyman (Chan) who defeats 6~8 supposed masters in Karate aged from 14~19 (Omg Chan is OP, nerf him!)
What happens next is I get bored typing and link you to wiki so that I don't need to summarize things. But rest assured, the story ends on a positive note, with Dre earning the respect of his peers. They live happily ever after, the end :o Anyway, many reviewers (such as IMDB) have said that this version of Karate Kid emotionally engages the audience, which might mean that it makes you laugh at the sad moments and cry at the happy ones, engaging indeed. Some, if not most viewers however, might be aware that Karate is nowhere to be seen in this movie, which makes the name "Kung-Fu Kid" more apt, which is what the production cast thought as well. But since this one is paying homage to its predecessor, they kept the name, supposedly making exceptions only for releases in China and Korea (it was mentioned in Wikipedia). The cast also referred to the movie as Kung-Fu kid during production.
Long story short, being a remake of the original, the storyline definitely won't stand out as much as it could, but the actors playing it might make a difference for some (we're all critics). Others would think that the combination of African-Americans and Kung Fu is an unbearable one, and outright refuse to watch it (you know who you are). Personally, I think it's worth watching if you have some time to burn.
P.S. Cheng, the antagonist-turned-good guy in the end, spent 7 years learning kung-fu, that means he started since he was 7, talk about dedication.
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