Some of you know how I feel. I honestly can't think of a worse pandering job than Hollywood has done with this film, and that's saying a lot. I don't care how good it might be, it was built from the ground up to sell maximum tickets, no matter the actual resulting quality. The world's biggest star can't play a kid, so let's get the world's biggest star's son. Guaranteed sell. Now let's get martial arts film legend Jackie Chan to play the Miyagi character. "But he's not Japanese. And he doesn't do karate." So what? We'll set the thing in Hong Kong, and the kid will learn kung fu. "Kung fu is not karate." So what? People have been confusing the two for decades, anyway. "So how do we explain 'Karate Kid'?" We say he does know a little karate, but it won't help him against bullies. So comes the kung fu training. "Are you serious?" Dead-ass. Jackie Chan is guaranteed sell. "You are aware there is another martial arts film legend named Yasuaki Kurata, who is actually Japanese and actually knows karate." Ya-who? Doesn't sell.
I'm still laughing about Miami Vice, and The A-Team is looking like another one, and now the Tiny-Bit-of-Karate Kid looks to play audiences for suckers? This is the closest I've come to recommending a street bootleg, because they're not getting a dime from me.
EDIT: "Hong Kong"=Beijing.