The Karate Kid (2010 film)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A Continuity Reboot of the Karate Kid series that premiered in June 2010, borrowing elements of the first one but set in Beijing, China. Jaden Smith (Will Smith's son) plays the lead role of Andre "Dre" Parker and Jackie Chan is the old mentor, Mr. Han. There is almost no karate in this film; the lead character trains in kung fu instead.

Many people have noticed that DC Comics is credited in the films, but contrary to popular belief, the films are not directly based on a comic book. Columbia Pictures needed permission from DC to use the title "the Karate Kid" because the name was already in use for a character in DC's Legion of Super-Heroes comic; the films draw no inspiration from the character.

Tropes used in The Karate Kid (2010 film) include:


  • And Your Reward Is Clothes: Han gives Dre a white jacket at the end of his training.
  • Almighty Janitor: Jackie Chan plays a literal janitor who is also a master in the ancient art of being Jackie Chan.
  • Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: Cheng is a sadistic little creep. The rest of the Fighting Dragons too, especially the teacher, Li.
  • Artifact Title: Being set in China, the film uses Kung Fu rather than Karate.
  • Backed by Beijing: The remake has gratuitous shots of notable landmarks in China which have probably needed to be directly authorized by some high Chinese officials. In return, China is depicted as a really nice land, mix of ancient civilization, modernity, and natural beauty. Not to forget a puppet play.
  • Badass Adorable: Dre becomes this as the story progresses.
  • Bilingual Bonus: Viewers who knew mandarin would have pegged Meiying's father as a potential source of conflict early on once they heard Cheng and Meiying's first conversation (which didn't show up in the subs).
  • Black Best Friend: Inversion in that as soon as Dre moves to China a local blonde starts being his friend but then disappears after a third of the way into the film.
  • Brick Joke: On Dre's first day of his new school, he's wearing the school uniform. The principal told both him and his mother that they only wear on uniform day. Later on, it's the school field trip and it's also uniform day. Guess who's not wearing the uniform...
    • Also later he meets up with Meiying "look uniform on uniform day."
  • Buffy-Speak: "Fiery cup thing."
  • Chekhov's Skill: Snake charming, which Dre uses to psyche Cheng into losing control.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The tournament. Dre is in white and Cheng and his team are in black and red. The other teams, which pretty much serve as cannon fodder, are dressed in green, purple, and blue.
  • Comforting Comforter: A rather sweet scene when Dre falls asleep onto Mr Han's lap and a hesitating Mr Han places a hand on his shoulder.
  • Crazy Cultural Comparison: The scene involving the hot water switch.
  • Contrived Clumsiness: Cheng knocks over Dre's lunch tray and then says "Sorry!"
  • Curb Stomp Battle: The first fight between Cheng and Dre does not go well for Dre at all.
  • Death Glare: Cheng has a scary one for a little kid.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: Cheng is the one who gives Dre the winning trophy. Then, him and the other boys who had bullied and fought with Dre also pay their respects to Mr. Han. Master Li is also forced to suck it up and applaud Mr. Han's victory.
  • Determinator: Dre first has his leg ruined, and gets some magic Kung-Fu healing. After that it's broken and he finishes the match on one leg. We even see him hopping around after the post-win crowd pan.
  • Disappeared Dad: The fact that Dre's father had died was made known at the beginning of the movie.
  • Did Not Do the Research: Everybody in this film seems to call all types of martial arts featured "Kung Fu", despite the fact that the Chinese would more likely use the term "Wushu".
  • Dragons Up the Yin-Yang: As part of Dre's training, Mr. Han takes him up a tall mountain to the Dragon Well, where drinking from it purportedly make one invincible. The well is a shallow fountain with a yin-yang symbol in the center.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: One of Cheng's cronies tells him to stop hurting Dre, after he has beaten him up significantly.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: subtly done with Li in two scenes. First, when an injured Dre returns to the tournament, the tournament's spectators are impressed, but Li only mockingly applauds, suggesting that he considers Dre's slim chances of actually winning rather than his courage and fighting spirit. Later, when his own students show their respect to Mr. Han by bowing, he is shocked rather than angry. Which means that he fails to understand why young students would respect a successful, yet kind teacher.
  • Eye Cam: When Cheng beats Dre up for the second time, we see that Dre is so badly hurt that his vision is impaired.
  • Finish Him!: Master Li screams this at Cheng during the final battle against Dre.
  • Fish Out of Water: Dre moves from Detroit to Beijing, China. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Five-Bad Band:
  • Gratuitous Foreign Language/Asian Speekee Engrish: Justified, as Dre is horrible at Chinese and tries to learn bits and pieces. The Chinese people around him either speak English with a heavy accent or don't speak it at all.
  • Idiot Ball: Dre at one point throws a bucket of dirty water on Cheng to get revenge, and gets his ass brutally kicked.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: Eventually.
    • Heartwarming Moments: When Dre tells Han he is his best friend and Han gives him a shirt as a present.
  • Kick the Dog: Master Li is already known to be a Jerkass, with the way he teaches his students to show no mercy to their enemies. But he steps into this territory when he slaps one of his students who didn't finish his opponent completely.
  • Kick Them While They Are Down: Master Li puts heavy emphasis that his students should never show mercy to their enemies, even encouraging his students to attack them while they are defeated.
  • Kung Fu Kid
  • Love Triangle: A bit of a case with Dre and Cheng who both have a crush on Mei Ying, who chooses Dre.
  • Magic Feather: They don't say it, but the Dragon Well that gives awesome kung-fu powers was probably this.
    • This could be more of a subversion as the characters knew full well it was simply folklore and never actually believed that the well would grant any powers.
  • Martial Medic
  • Meaningful Name: Mr. Han. "Han" （汉）, while an actual (but very rare) last name, is also the ethnicity that makes up the majority of China, so it's sort of like calling him "Mr. Chinese Man".
  • Mighty Whitey: Despite obviously not being white, Dre goes to China and learns kung fu better than the native Chinese kung fu fighters. Not much of an issue, seeing as there is nothing in real life to prevent one of any nationality becoming a talented martial artist.
    • Somewhat averted in that Dre doesn't become better at Kung Fu than the natives, he simply learns a truer form of the art from Han than the perversion Li teaches Dre's adversaries.
    • Plus it's more easily explained by Underdogs Never Lose.
  • Mythology Gag: There's scene where Mr. Han sees a fly and, after chasing it around with his chopsticks, whips out a flyswatter, smashes the fly against the wall, picks the fly off with his chopsticks, and continues eating with the chopsticks.
    • The trailer that featured this scene had "You're The Best Around" playing in the background.
    • Also, The Flying Dragons use a variation of "No Mercy" for their motto.
    • Mr. Han waxing his car.
  • Non-Indicative Name: The movie is called "The Karate Kid," even though no karate appears in the movie.
    • They threw in a line about Dre knowing "a little Karate" to justify the Artifact Title, and the term is used as a derisive nickname a few times.
    • There are a couple of scenes of Dre trying in earnest to use Karate (albeit trying to learn from an infomercial or some such thing.) The results are less than indicative of the title.
    • And Dre's mother mistakes Kung Fu for Karate.
    • Some have claimed that the original title was "The Kung-Fu Kid" (with many of the film crew using that name during production), but the name was changed due to its name recognition and nostalgia factor.
  • One-Scene Wonder: The contestant with the So Bad It's Good hair.
  • Ordered to Cheat: Master Li orders two of the Flying Dragons to break Dre's leg.
  • Overprotective Dad: Mei Ying's father disapproved of his daughter's friendship with Dre because he saw him as a bad influence to his daughter, causing her to be late for her recital and forbade her from spending time with him.
    • However, he turns out to be much more reasonable than the stereotypical version. When Dre respectfully approaches him and apologizes (in phonetic Chinese), he reconsiders and is later seen actively cheering for Dre.
  • Parental Substitute: Mr Han acts like one of these and a friend to Dre. In return, Dre reminds Mr Han of his deceased son.
  • Parting Words Regret: Mr. Han towards his family.
  • Pet the Dog: a non-villainous example with Mr. Han (who acts like a bit of a jerk when he is first introduced). During the tournament, when Dre knocks one of the Dragons down, it is Mr. Han who helps him up. This little gesture is in sharp contrast with Li's behaviour, who considers showing the opponent kindness a sign of weakness, and even mistreats his students.
  • Recycled Title: Because "The Kung-Fu Kid" would have sounded silly.
    • Ironically, this, according to the Other Wiki, is exactly what the film is actually called overseas!
    • Not quite. In China, it's called "功夫梦" ("The Kung Fu Dream"); in Japan, and South Korea, it's called "Best Kid" (the same title that was used for the original movie in those countries), and "The Karate Kid" everywhere else.
  • Running Gag: Possibly Dre's expression when he hangs up his coat for his mom. Mr. Han makes a point of making sure that "attitude" is there during Dre's "jacket-on, jacket-off" training and it practically has a spotlight shone on it when it shows up in the tournament.
    • People touching the Parker's hair. At one point, Dre's mother is surrounded by little kids who are happily playing with her hair.
      • Absolutely Truth in Television. Foreigners with either important or distinctive hair in China have been mobbed by children wanting to touch it.
  • Sarcastic Clapping: This is Master Li's reaction when Dre decides to stay in the tournament with a leg injury.
  • Sassy Black Woman: Dre's mother.
  • Serious Business: This is a tournament for young pre-teen kids. And Master Li wants his students to break Dre's leg and defeat him completely.
  • Shout-Out: A black kid is bad at basketball and gets in trouble with a local gang of tough kids on the court? Must be genetic.
  • Sleep Cute: Dre, whether it may be in an airplane, a couch or a train.
  • Smug Snake: That smirk Cheng flashes while walking away in the cafeteria scene transcends cultural boundaries.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Dre.
  • Underdogs Never Lose
  • Values Dissonance: The Chinese tend to stay silent out of respect after a performance of any sort. So after Mei Ying's recital, they were opt to remain silent. However, Dre, who came from United States, cheered and clapped. This invoked anger from his crush's father.
  • Wax On, Wax Off: Jacket on, jacket off, drop the jacket, pick up the jacket, jacket on... it also has the nice side effect of disciplining Dre for his attitude.
  • We Will Meet Again: Dre gets beaten up a few times. A truce is called, pending a tournament.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: The blond kid, and first English speaking peer that Dre meets in China. He seems to be set up as a friend, a translator and a general supporter and help to Dre. But nope, after about a third of the way in we only see him in passing at the tournament. This is a Shout-Out to Freddy from the original film, who fades into the background after Daniel starts having run-ins with the bullies, but finally does re-appear in his cheering section.
    • A weird case of Truth in Television. When in a new/unfamiliar location, people of similar backgrounds (national, cultural, and occasionally even ethnic) tend to stick together, if only initially. This is what happened with Dre and the blonde kid - having seen that Dre is an American, the kid offers to help show Dre around the place, but quickly vanishes into the background as Dre figures things out and makes his own friends (and enemies).
      • Alternatively, the blonde kid could have just stopped hanging with Dre once he realized that Dre is going to get the crap beaten out of him, possibly on a regular basis.
    • There's also the subplot of Mei Ying practicing for an audition to be accepted to the Beijing Academy of Music. We see the audition, but never find out if she was accepted or not nor just what her instructor meant by "you know what this would mean for your family" since, judging by their home, they aren't exactly living in poverty.
      • Well, that "you know what this would mean for your family" talk was probably a matter of honor rather than money. Like when Dre qualified for the tournament finals (even if just because his opponent was disqualified) and was told he honored his family.
    • Actually, if you look closely, the blonde kid is sitting there watching the tournament with Dre's mom and Mei Ying. He just doesn't really say anything or do anything noteworthy.
  • Your Normal Is Our Taboo: Dre applauds one of Mei Ying's performances at a time when it is inappropriate to do so.
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