The Karate Kid-Family Movie Review

If you want your child to hang up their coat, with a good attitude, then see this movie! Karate Kid is a remake of the 1984 original film. This is the story about a twelve-year-old boy Dre Parker (Jaden Smith), and his mother, who moves from Detroit to China, and once they’re in China, Dre is bullied by his classmates. A maintenance man and former martial arts champ, prepares Dre to take on the bullies.

Rating: Four out of five buckets
Release Date: October 5, 2010
MPAA Rating: PG
Best Age Group: 10+
Sexual Content: Mild
Violent Content: Excessive
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Moderate

See the trailer here!

Talking Points:

My favorite part of the movie is the wonderful relationship that Dre and his mentor Mr. Han have. When Mr. Han agreed to instruct Dre in martial arts, Dre not only learned karate, but he also attained a newfound confidence, which helped with his daily struggles.

I also loved the “coat” part of the movie, as I mentioned in the synopsis, probably because my kids don’t always hang up their coats. Initially, Mr. Han gives Dre a training exercise of hanging up his coat, the motion is to help with karate, but he also taught Dre to respect and listen to his mother. Adults and kids will appreciate that scene.

Some great messages that Dre learned from Mr. Han, which are stressed throughout the movie are:
“Life will knock us down, but we can choose whether or not to get back up.”
“Kung fu is not about fighting, it’s about making peace with your enemies.”

Sexual Content: Mild

Violent Content: Excessive

I absolutely loved this movie! However, I felt that the PG rating was not appropriate. I think older boys would like this movie, but will be deterred by the PG rating, and younger kids will want to see it because of the PG rating. However, I would not recommend this movie for kids younger than ten years old. There are many violent scenes; to name a few:

• When we first met the gang of bullies, they punched and kicked Dre many times, before they flipped him to the ground.

• The next time we saw them, they beat Dre to a pulp, which was very disturbing, especially for younger kids to view.

• There were also many disturbing scenes during the big karate tournament.

Profane or crude language: Mild

Drug and Alcohol Content: Moderate

• There was drinking, and Mr. Han had some alcoholic issues.

My friend and I brought our two ten year old sons to this movie, which was great, we all loved it. It was an action packed, entertaining movie, with solid moral messages. I recommend this for kids ages ten and up. I give it four out of five buckets.

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