Happy Is Simple: The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid (Chinese: 功夫梦; literally "The Kung Fu Dream"; sometimes Karate Kid 5) is a 2010 American martial artscomedy drama film and remake of the 1984 film of the same name. Directed by Harald Zwart, produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, the film stars Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith. Principal photography for the film took place in Beijing, China; filming began around July 2009 and ended on October 16, 2009. The Karate Kid was released theatrically in the United States on June 11, 2010. The plot concerns a 12-year-old boy from Detroit who moves to Beijing, China with his mother and runs afoul of the neighborhood bully. He makes an unlikely ally in the form of his aging maintenance man, Mr. Han, a kung fu master who teaches him the secrets to self-defense.

Plot :

12-year-old Dre Parker and his mother Sherry move to Beijing from Detroit after she gets a job transfer. Dre develops a crush on a young violinist, Mei Ying, who reciprocates his attention, but Cheng, a kung fu prodigy whose family is close to Mei Ying's, attempts to keep them apart by beating Dre, and later bullies him at school. After a field trip to the Forbidden City, Dre encounters Cheng and his friends hanging out close to his apartment. Dre tries to pass by without them seeing him. When he finds a bucket of oil, Dre gets revenge by splashing oil around Cheng and his friends. Cheng and the others catch Dre and beat him. During the attack, the enigmatic maintenance man of Dre's building, Mr. Han, comes to Dre's aid, revealing himself as a kung fu master who dispatches Dre's tormentors.

After Han mends Dre's injuries using fire cupping, Dre asks if Mr. Han could teach him kung fu. Han refuses, but meets Cheng's teacher, Master Li, to make peace. Li, who teaches his students to show no mercy to their enemies, challenges Dre to a fight with Cheng. When Han declines, Li says they will not be allowed to leave his school unless Dre or Han fights. Han acquiesces, but insists the fight take place at an upcoming tournament, and that Li's students leave Dre alone until the tournament. Li agrees, but tells Han that if Dre does not show up during the tournament he will personally bring pain to Han and Dre.

Dre is shocked when Han tells him that he will fight in a kung fu tournament. Han promises to teach Dre "real" kung fu. Han begins training Dre, but Dre is frustrated that Han merely has him spend hours taking off his jacket, hanging it up, dropping it and putting it on again. After days of this, Dre refuses to continue until Han demonstrates that the repetitive arm movements were Han's method of teaching Dre martial arts techniques, which Dre displays instinctively when prompted by Han's mock attacks. Han emphasizes that the movements Dre is learning apply to life in general, and that serenity and maturity, not punches and power, are the true keys to mastering the martial arts.

As Dre's friendship with Mei Ying continues, Dre persuades Mei Ying to cut school for a day of fun, but when she is nearly late for her violin audition which was preceded in a day without their knowledge, her parents deem him a bad influence and forbid her from spending more time with him. When Dre finds Han drunk, despondent and breaking the car he had in his living room, Dre learns that it is the anniversary of Han's wife and son's deaths, which occurred when he lost control of the car due to anger caused from an argument he was having with his wife. Dre reminds Han that one of his lessons was in perseverance, and that Han needs to heal from his loss. Han assists Dre in reading a note of apology to Mei Ying's father in Chinese; he accepts and promises that he and Mei will attend the tournament to support Dre.

At the tournament, the under-confident Dre is slow to achieve parity with his opponents, but soon begins beating them and advances to the semifinals, as does Cheng, who violently finishes off his opponents. Dre comes up against Liang, another of Li's students, who is instructed by Li to injure Dre's leg. When Liang insists that he can beat Dre, Li sternly tells him that he does not want him beaten, but broken. Although Liang is disqualified for his illegal strikes and insubordination, Dre is badly injured.

Despite Han's insistence that he has earned respect for his performance, Dre convinces Han to mend his leg by using fire cupping in order to continue. Dre returns to the arena, facing Cheng. Dre delivers impressive blows, but Cheng counters with a strike to Dre's injured leg. Dre struggles to get up, and attempts the reflection technique to manipulate Cheng into changing his attack stance. Cheng charges Dre, but Dre flips and catches Cheng with a kick to his head, winning the tournament along with the respect of Cheng and his classmates. Cheng awards Dre the trophy, instead of the presenter and the Fighting Dragon students bow to Mr.Han.

Cast :

Jackie Chan as Mr. Han the maintenance man who teaches Dre kung fu.
Jaden Smith as Dre Parker. A young boy from Detroit, Michigan who is bullied by a kung fu student, and must learn to stand up to him.
Taraji P. Henson as Sherry Parker, Dre's mother. She is very protective of Dre.
Wenwen Han as Mei Ying, Dre's crush who quickly befriends him.
Zhenwei Wang as Cheng, the main antagonist and student of Master Li.
Yu Rongguang as Master Li, a Kung Fu teacher who instructs his students to be merciless towards their enemies.
Ming Xu as Bao
Ji Wang as Mrs.Po, the principal of Dre's new school.
Shijia Lü as Liang, a classmate of Cheng's who is instructed by Master Li to cripple Dre during the tournament.
Yi Zhao as Zhuang
Tess Liu as History teacher
Harry Van Gorkum as Music instructor
Bowen Sheng as himself
Luke Carberry as Harry, a boy who also befriends Dre.
Cameron Hillman as Mark
JP Nguyen as Wing Chun practitioner on Wing Chun Dummy
Sarah Beckley as one of the students on the excursion
James Haobijam as one of the students