The Karate Kid

Kid moves to China, finds an enemy after showing interest in a girl, gets beat up, and realizes facing his enemy is the only way to earn respect. That’s all you really need to know if you have been under a rock and never seen the original. Though it is another Karate Kid movie, not a remake.

Geared towards a younger audience than the Ralph Macchio / Pat Morita version, micro Will, Jaden Smith (and I call him that because it was astonishingly like watching mini-me on the screen; acting, manurisms, etc) does a good job in his role as Dre Parker from Detroit. His timing is good, he’s charismatic on screen, and it’s easy to tell that he will follow in his parents’ footsteps for quite awhile.

Kevin: I found it hilarious that Jaden crying on screen was so much more believable than Jackie Chan.

Gina: OK?!?

Pat Morita was sorely missed as the mentor, but Jackie Chan as Mr. Han was a better fill in than anyone else out there at the moment, and it was good to see Chan on the screen again. His martial arts stunts are always stunning. The rest of the cast was decent as well but the only other stand out was the “bad kid”, Cheng, and not for his acting but for his overall mean persona. He looked like a prick!

Gina: I wanted to slap that kid for being such an asshole, but I guess that was the point.

Now, other than the fighting scenes, there was a real lull throughout the film. You really feel the two and a half hour running time, and that is never a good thing.

Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time

The first thing you have to take into consideration before seeing Prince Of Persia is the history of movie adaptations of video games… quite frankly they suck! Do I even have to mention Street Fighter, Super Mario Bros, or the best of the worst Double Dragon?

Now with that we can get to the movie. The Sands Of Time follows a child street rat, Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal), that is adopted by the King for showing an act of bravery and in turn becomes a prince. I’m thinking Aladdin? However his brothers hold a little resentment towards him for not being part of the bloodline. When Persia attacks a peaceful city after word of an arms dealing to Persia’s enemy, Dastan comes across a mystical dagger unbeknownst to its true powers. He then teams up with the city’s Princess to help uncover the true nature of Persia’s attack.

Packed with action there were few slow moments, which worked in its favor because those were definitely the low points of the film. It was said that Gyllenhaal did the majority of his stunts, and while watching, it was quite impressive to know with the amount of Parkour scenes.

Gina: It was entertaining. I don’t understand why it is getting such a bad rap. There was enough action without being too graphic for kids. Coming from Disney it was better than Alice In Wonderland.

Kevin: Well that’s not saying much!

New To DVD: Wolfman

Our newest installment of New To DVD is Wolfman, the remake of an American cult classic horror movie starring Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Emily Blunt. I don’t know if this is out already or if it comes out this Tuesday, but it really doesn’t matter because you really don’t want to see it. This had the potential to be a really stunning remake and the previews deserve an Emmy for making it look that way.

The acting was mediocre at best, there was an insulting lack of a storyline, and the special effects (save for a couple transformation scenes) make the original Clash Of The Titans look like Avatar. Del Toro honestly looked like he was wearing the Chewbaca mask from Step Brothers, and no not the movie quality one.

Our review? Chad fell asleep, Gina was web browsing on her phone, and I suffered excruciating pain lasting through the end so that I was able to plead you not to waste your time with this film.