The Karate Kid

[doug maverick]

its funny because even in the trailer jackie says he is teaching him kung fu...

[iron_silk]

iron silk:
And I agree that the strength of The Karate Kid was not in its fight scenes and clearly was never meant to be. But if a movie is called "Karate" Kid, then the actual performance of martial art should hold some level of importance.

I also feel there should not have been any sequels to the original. LaRusso/Macchio's skill maybe was acceptable for that one, but as it went into parts 2 and 3, his karate never improved (as you mentioned in an above post). And forgetting about the karate itself, his personality never seemed to grow. If anything, his personality and confidence seemingly regressed to zero by part 3. And the whole point of KK was the development of the whole person. I didn't like 2 at all, but 3 was a really big waste.

It's wonderful to have to someone agree with most of my points.

I guess that's why it's going to be difficult to say this. I actually liked Karate Kid 2.

Karate Kid 3 was completely garbage and fell into the "it's so bad it's funny category"

BUT Karate Kid 2 (despite the flaws that I have mentioned already) I felt it was still very good. We already learned about Daniel-san's life it's time to learn more about Miyagi (and although I felt his back story was a little "created" for the sequel) it was still very good. It allowed Daniel-san to care for someone more then himself and to fight for life (not just for a trophy) this time.

PLUS Tamlyn Tomita is HOT! (that's right...still)

ARTICLE: http://espn.go.com/page2/movies/s/simmons/020830.html

I'm not sure if I have posted this before or if others have posted it already or not.

But his is a hilarious review of the Karate Kid Trilogy (that's right...I count only three movies). He wasn't crazy about Karate Kid 2 either.

I urge you all to read it. Whether you like the movies or not.

[iron_silk]

BTW, kinda weird that the top quote in my above post is attributed to iron silk, when I originally posted it(?).

that was very weird...now it seems like I disagree with myself...

am I that lonely?

[Jimbo]

It's wonderful to have to someone agree with most of my points.

I guess that's why it's going to be difficult to say this. I actually liked Karate Kid 2.

Karate Kid 3 was completely garbage and fell into the "it's so bad it's funny category"

BUT Karate Kid 2 (despite the flaws that I have mentioned already) I felt it was still very good. We already learned about Daniel-san's life it's time to learn more about Miyagi (and although I felt his back story was a little "created" for the sequel) it was still very good. It allowed Daniel-san to care for someone more then himself and to fight for life (not just for a trophy) this time.

PLUS Tamlyn Tomita is HOT! (that's right...still)

ARTICLE: http://espn.go.com/page2/movies/s/simmons/020830.html

I'm not sure if I have posted this before or if others have posted it already or not.

But his is a hilarious review of the Karate Kid Trilogy (that's right...I count only three movies). He wasn't crazy about Karate Kid 2 either.

I urge you all to read it. Whether you like the movies or not.

Glad we do agree on a lot of points! Karate Kid 2 came out in 1986 when I was living in Taiwan, and though I thought the film itself was fairly well-made, it just didn't do it for me. We have 100% agreement on Tamlyn Tomita, though. I have a thing for hotties who not only look great young, but who also age gracefully!

I remember seeing the original U.S. trailer shown on a TV screen in front of the theater in the Hsimenting district in Taipei, and the voice-over was describing Danny LaRusso while an obvious double (sans showing his head) was doing a kata in a darkened room, filmed in slow-mo, saying "Danny is back. Now he's older.....stronger....." When I saw it, I felt like I'd been lied to. Though I do remember during the movie, thinking that the way Okinawa was portrayed, if I were Miyagi, I'd have left my handyman job in L.A. and moved back. The way in which Danny's big epiphany came from a little drum toy could have been done intelligently, but it wasn't, IMO.

Karate Kid 3 was so bad it was awful. I will admit that the guy with the ponytail who played the villain had the best karate in the whole series (except for Fumio Demura's stunt-doubling Miyagi) and he was pretty comical. But he was a better villain in John Carpenter's Vampires. KK3 ended very oddly. The filmmakers obviously had long since run out of ideas and were probably thinking, "Hurry up! End it....now! Done! Whew!"

In the new film, I'm expecting Jaden to look pretty good doing the kung fu. More importantly, it'll be really cool to see the real Wudang actually shown in an American film. I haven't even seen it shown in very many Chinese movies.

[iron_silk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX4YX...ayer_embedded#

Please tell me that at 0:16 the English dubbing of the Chinese kid was only for the trailer...because it was horrible...

I mean the idea of dubbing all the Chinese speakers in the movie is in my opinion a good of making this remake sink even LOWER! No respect. It's along the same line as calling it the Karate Kid but he's learning kung fu BUT only must worse.

[doug maverick]

dubbing could work if its done well. mr han was dubbed in enter the dragon, as for calling it the karate kid im sure that is going to be explained in the story...

[iron_silk]

dubbing could work if its done well. mr han was dubbed in enter the dragon, as for calling it the karate kid im sure that is going to be explained in the story...

I'm pretty sure Mr. Han in Enter the Dragon was suppose to be able to speak English.

My point being was that I am not against dubbing (good dubbing anyway) but against the need to make Chinese speaking into English for the sake of the audience.

Since the whole point of going to China and being a stranger in a strange land should include the language barrier. In fact during the second trailer involves him trying to speak Chinese to a banana on the plane from Detroit.

Unless Dre went to an English school in China and all subsequent bullies also speaks English.

[Lucas]

when did people stop reading sub titles?

[iron_silk]

when did people stop reading sub titles?

I think the question should when did they start?

I think movie studios have heard a lot of complaints that when North American audiences read subtitles they miss watching the movie.

As in it's too difficult for them to read and watch at the same time.

That's why when they import movies over (e.g. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) they release the dub version in the theatre.

Of course this doesn't apply to everyone...

[doug maverick]

well subtitles are usually for the art house crowd...there is a rule of dumb in film and thats keep it simple, stupid. and adding subtitles makes it hard for people to follow the story. so if i was a studio head looking for a tentpole i wouldnt use subtitles...however i dont believe there is going to be much dubbing in the movie. the dubbing could have just been for the international trailer. but we'll see...to be honest its not that important to me. i liked the trailer and think this is going to be a good movie. first american film to turn away from the whole shaolin thing and actually show what appears to be wu dong, so im siked for that reason alone.

[iron_silk]

Subtitles are for foreign language films. That's it.

Art house flick can be for a variety of things not isolated to "artsy ****sy" who wants the original language.

What the studio believe that people are too stupid to read subtitles and desire to keep it "simple" is purely business.

I don't hate dubbing...I know of at least one case where I enjoyed a dubbed version of a movie over the original for reasons that it worked better for the movie.

I am just very much against dubbing that really ruins a perfectly enjoyable movie.

I've seen the trailer...not sure it's going to be a good movie though...at all.

BUT one thing we do agree on is that I'm sure the dubbing was for the trailer only.

We'll see...

[Scott R. Brown]

when did people stop reading sub titles?

Around the same time they stopped reading!

[Tao Of The Fist]

Subtitles are for foreign language films. That's it.

Art house flick can be for a variety of things not isolated to "artsy ****sy" who wants the original language.

What the studio believe that people are too stupid to read subtitles and desire to keep it "simple" is purely business.

I don't hate dubbing...I know of at least one case where I enjoyed a dubbed version of a movie over the original for reasons that it worked better for the movie.

I am just very much against dubbing that really ruins a perfectly enjoyable movie.

I've seen the trailer...not sure it's going to be a good movie though...at all.

BUT one thing we do agree on is that I'm sure the dubbing was for the trailer only.

We'll see...

Would you consider captions the same thing as a subtitle? If yes then that's only thing I have to argue with. I need captions many times, partially because I find it hard to concentrate on what people are saying in a film, and partially because I can't hear it. I have very little trouble reading and watching simultaneously, but that's just me.

One more thing; the film industry (mostly Hollywood) is so full of stereotypes, hypocracy, generalizations and over simplifications to the point where it fries neurons just watching the steaming piles of poo coming out of Cali's butt.

That's it.

[Jimbo]

I have no trouble at all with subtitles, but most people I know don't like subtitled movies. My brother-in-law told me, "When I watch a movie, I want to watch a movie. I don't want to read. Then I can't see the movie." Reading subs is kind of a skill; you can get so used to it, if you watch them a lot, that you barely realize you're reading and watching simultaneously, and they're no longer a distraction. Also, you can usually get the feel of the person's meaning/emotions better in original language better than English-dubbed, even if you can't fully understand them.

It's kinda funny. So many people make fun of the English-dubbed Chinese movies (or any English-dubbed Asian movies), but so many of the same can't handle original language w/subs. To each their own. But many miss out on so much when they choose to live with tunnel vision in a world of drab uniformity.

[Zenshiite]

For some reason I think people who are or were at some time avid comic book readers have an easier time with subtitles. I think it has something to do with the combination of graphical representation of a scene and text.