This article is lifted from the online Guardian
reposted here for your perusal.

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To the Great Wall of China, where the scion of one of America's foremost acting families prepares to make his leading child debut opposite an icon of the People's Republic, in a coolly anticipated reimagining of one of the most important movies of the 80s.

To wit, Will Smith's boy, Jaden, is to star opposite Jackie Chan in The Karate Kid. Or The Kung Fu Kid, as it is to be known, after Chinese financiers insisted production be shifted from Japan to China. These same constraints appear to have necessitated the rebranding of Mr Miyagi to Mr Han, who is shown in the first on-set pictures released this week looking on semi-indulgently as little Jaden high-kicks his way to centre-stage atop the Great Wall.

Does the casting of Chan presage a movie one would want to watch? Over to the original film's star Ralph Macchio, who says. "I think Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith, with a good script, and all the moons in alignment? It could be another big, fat hit. The thing is whether Jackie Chan gives you Jackie Chan, or if Jackie Chan does a, you know, real stretch to the character . . ."

Say no more, Daniel-san. Say no more. We can only hope that, like a legendary footballer's shirt, the "wax on, wax off" line has been retired in honour of Pat Morita – or at the very least, that the financiers have insisted on its being altered to communicate the benefits of practising goose-stepping for youngsters keen to learn kung fu.

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Will Smith is one of the producers of the film.....

the only thing I ever have seen jaden in was a eppy of the suite life he was okay in that he is a little cutie but in the in interviews I have seen he comes off as concited and full of himself. plus I dont think he only gets roles caues of who his dad is. gosh this post of mone sounds mean but I had to say it.

yes I am going to check out the prusit of happyness when I get a chance.

I didn't think 'The Pursuit of Happyness' was a great film. Can't they get some good looking Japanese kid to do the karate kid stuff? I'm not sure a negro boy fits in with the karate image somehow. The original 'Karate Kid' with Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita was a classic (worth getting the DVD for the commentaries alone) and is going to be a very hard act to follow. The nearest I've ever seen to it was good-lookin' Ted Jan Roberts in 'Magic Kid' a B movie that I doubt ever got to the cinema but is much underrated. However, I was very impressed by Jackie Chan in 'Shanghai Noon' which was a good rambling adventure film and genuinely funny with it. Jackie would be great in the Morita role BUT Jaden as a karate kid? Mmmm ... not so sure.

josephk wrote on 18. Dec 2009 at 22:33:


Umm, yup, silence is golden, as they say, BUT... how do we communicate without saying something?

So, if Joseph is unwilling to put his foot in it, I guess I feel compelled to comment....

Cinefan, perhaps it's just a generational thing, or something else, a senior moment, I don't know, but using the word 'nego' is kinda inappropriate these days. Preferred terms are obviouly 'African-American' or simply 'Black'. The word 'nego' has afaik been considered a tad derogatory, some may even say racist, since sometime back in the 70s.

A little bit more, ..  Ralph Macchio, IMO was about 10 years too old for the role. He was an adult playing the role of a kid, and he wasn't Asian, neither were the Three Ninja boys, so for the life of me I can't see what Jaden being black has anything whatsoever to do with him playing the role.

Maybe I read too much in your comment, so please don't take offence if I have read something in your post that was unintentional.

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found the trailer.

I think we get a bit too touchy about the words we use these days. Negro is Spanish for black so what do the Spaniards do? It's all this racist nonsense that has comedians and minstrel performers having to severely curtail their acts. Just as well the Irish don't get too upset about being the butt of a 1001 jokes!
I agree Ralph Macchio was too old at 23 for the part in 'Karate Kid' BUT he looked a teenager and that was what mattered.
Look through the Martial Arts DVDs and see how many ne - oops sorry - African-Americans you see. If I think of kick-boxers I think of Thailand. Is that incorrect? We can get ourselves tied up in knots with this PC thing which is so rampant at the moment.
Okay, so a black kid plays a karate kid. Big deal. I just thought an Asian kid would be more appropriate for the role that's all. Isn't karate a Japanese word?