The Karate Kid Rehearsal Movie

November 24, 2011 5:41 AM

When they were making The Karate Kid, they decided to shoot each scene's rehearsal with budget cameras so the actors could watch themselves back afterwards. Now it's been edited together so that it forms a version of the movie that looks like it was shot and made by eight graders in their basement, including loads of unseen scenes (SLYT)- The Karate Kid Rehearsal Movie.
posted by rudhraigh (28 comments total)

Sweep the leg!
posted by Fizz at 5:45 AM on November 24, 2011

What a bizarre idea. Kind of amazing. I really liked his shower costume on Halloween.
posted by to sir with millipedes at 6:16 AM on November 24, 2011

For those who are wondering, it's the 1983 Karate Kid, not the one with Jackie Chan.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:37 AM on November 24, 2011

This answers the long standing question "Did Ralph Macchio use a stunt double when he juggled that soccer ball on the beach?"
posted by jeremias at 6:47 AM on November 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

For those who are wondering, it's the 1983 Karate Kid, not the one with Jackie Chan.

What is this Jackie Chan version you speak of? Are you trying to tell me that Will Smith's kid was also a Karate Kid? Ha! Don't be ridiculous.
posted by asnider at 7:56 AM on November 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Will Smith's kid is John Galt.
posted by srboisvert at 8:04 AM on November 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Actually the Chan Karate Kid turned out to be really good.
We watched it on Netflix one night when we had literally nothing else to do and it's probably actually a better (but really very different) film than the original.
Of course I love the 1984 version and will always watch it a few times a year, but maybe give the remake a try. It's the rare remake that actually works.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 8:06 AM on November 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Christ almighty, this is the best thing ever. This is the sort of thing that I make up because it never actually exists.
posted by cortex at 8:07 AM on November 24, 2011 [8 favorites]

asnider: I dunno, man, I though it was a really nice update.
posted by pts at 8:30 AM on November 24, 2011

I also liked the Jackie Chan remake. I especially liked it because it didn't have Owen Wilson or Chris Tucker in it.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:32 AM on November 24, 2011 [7 favorites]

We watched it on Netflix one night when we had literally nothing else to do and it's probably actually a better (but really very different) film than the original.

No Elisabeth Shue = no better.

ahh first crushes...
posted by justgary at 8:46 AM on November 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Can anyone find part 8?
posted by fightoplankton at 9:07 AM on November 24, 2011

This is the sort of thing that I make up because it never actually exists.

The sort of Karate Kid thing I make up is a sequel where Daniel has to fight Apollo Creed to save the youth rec center. Creed wins, and the Ramones blow the rec center to bits. Man, I want to watch that.
posted by "Elbows" O'Donoghue at 9:13 AM on November 24, 2011 [10 favorites]

This actually looks more like an early Gregg Araki film than something made by eighth graders. It's got that budget Living End feel to it. And good god, this is amazing.
posted by saturnine at 9:24 AM on November 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

This actually looks more like an early Gregg Araki film than something made by eighth graders.

I was thinking it looked like something by Harmony Korine. This is very much like a Dogme 95 version of The Karate Kid.
posted by bobo123 at 10:07 AM on November 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

asnider: I dunno, man, I though it was a really nice update.

To be honest, I just kind of assumed that it would terrible and never bothered to watch it. I'll check it out.
posted by asnider at 10:49 AM on November 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

If do right, no can defend.
Hii-yah!
Not right, do it again.
Hii-yah.
One more time.
Hii-yah.
Nope.
Hii-yah.
So close.
Hii-yah.
While we're young.
Hii-yah.
Are we sure C. Thomas Howell is already booked?
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:53 AM on November 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

The new Smith Karate Kid is a good watch, but not better than the first. It intentionally plays second fiddle to the first and the differences are remarkable and well played, but stills plays up a bit of the fantastic that made the original great and leaves this one lacking. A little bit of spoilage coming up:

The Family
The original film is about a mother/son family that moves from Newark to LA, and the new version has a mother/son family that moves from Detroit to somewhere in China. In the 80's there was a bit of a boom in divorce rate that left a lot of single parent families disenfranchised and starting over, just as in the movie. In the Smith film, the single parent family is so disenfranchised they move out of the Detroit and out of the country to settle down in the middle of ???, China. Of course, it's Smith's kid so he's going to be The Karate Kid in his remake, but I thought it was interesting to see that we have to go all the way to China for a single African American mother to feel she has a chance of success.

The Maintenance Man
Morita's character was an older Japanese man dressed down in drab khakis, also mysteriously (until the second film) displaced from his home. As we find out Miyagi is clean, capable and industrious. He has a depth that we keep peeling back. Does he live in a junkyard? Nope, with Daniel's help we find out his home is an overgrown garden with a bunch of scrap cars. Chan's character, of whom I can't remember his name for the life of me which is obviously another huge difference between the character impressions, is just a plain handyman. No mystery, do depth there. Yes, he has a huge metaphorical 'elephant in the room' to deal with but we find out in the drunk scene why this is. Miyagi takes a day off every year to celebrates the day of the death of his wife and son he never had. Daniel, being the good adopted son puts him safely to sleep and happily take the exposition narrative as nothing more. Chan's character, OTOH, is a tormented man that is an internal wreck and conflicted over the death of his wife and son. Jay is just as much a replacement of a son as Chan is for a father. The dynamic is one of a tug-of-war of emotional need that slightly de-centers our attention away from our beloved Kid. Instead of a mysterious father with ancient and secret wisdom who garners respect out of loyalty, we have a father who lays bare the wisdom and passes it on in return for the respect. Even more so the knowledge he passes on is the respect. The coat on the floor bit comes up several times through the movie as point of contention between Jay and his mother, Chan turns that into something with which he can properly teach mother-son respect just as any other father would. Of course it's also a homage to the wax-on/wax-off. Miyagi is man vs nature: the fly, the bonsai, the glass, the beach, the pond. He has no problem with fighting other people, but that is not where the tension lies for him. He avoids confrontation with a calm demeanor. Chan is hugely conflicted about fighting. Of course beating up 12 year olds rather than 18 yr olds (men) is a little different, but we still see he has to reach back to Jay for support in dealing with the Cobra Kung-Fu teacher.

Overall, in the remake they maintained a few things that really resonated with a whole generation of kids in 80's. They matured a bit of the plot, but for some reason I didn't feel it was as good as the first. Maybe because I'm not a little kid anymore and can't see through those eyes.

Anyway, aside from the obvious, I still have no idea why the called it The Karate Kid.
posted by P.o.B. at 12:02 PM on November 24, 2011 [5 favorites]

I haven't seen the Chan/Smith remake, but since it's set in China, I'm assuming the martial art in question is kung fu, and not karate. The film got good reviews, but it was lame in the extreme to call it "The Karate Kid" when karate is nowhere to be found. Typical Hollywood marketing bullshit.
posted by zardoz at 1:03 PM on November 24, 2011

Overall, I'm kind of meh on the name thing. It was one of the things I wanted to find out about when I picked it off the shelf at the library the other day, but I think overall there are three points to talk about on that: the homage or remake status, the mother/son relationship, the cultural insensitivity. The first point is obvious and probably the reason why they used it.
The mother and son relationship is an interesting aspect and comes up a little more in this film than the original. I don't remember if it's in the first film but at one point the mother proudly tells Dre "you're my karate kid" and he replies "it's not karate, it's kung fu." Which, okay, we can see how the title is actually a highlight of their relationship by redirecting the pov of Dre from the viewer to the mother. I'll admit that's kind of a weak point, but the strongest positive reason I can find for it.
What we still can't divorce from the any of these is the cultural insensitivity. So why did they do it? The homage status? I don't know but there seems to be quite a few places that steamroll through the insensitivity without ever addressing it. Dre even mentions to his mother "everyone in China knows kung fu." Haha funny, I get it, but really? Like I said, I don't know. Maybe it's just part of the joke; "Haha, it's called... except he's NOT doing... LOL!"
posted by P.o.B. at 2:16 PM on November 24, 2011

I think outside of America they called it ¨The Kung Fu Kid¨.
posted by concrete at 3:15 PM on November 24, 2011

Anyone know why the first scene is black and... green? I mean, black and white is understandable, but where'd the green come from?
posted by exphysicist345 at 4:46 PM on November 24, 2011

Ralph Macchio really was cute, wasn't he? In an underfed kind of way. The Araki comparison seems apt - or maybe Gus Van Sant. This is really great, thanks.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 5:38 PM on November 24, 2011

Pre-Sweded!
posted by EarBucket at 11:39 AM on November 25, 2011

Anyway, aside from the obvious, I still have no idea why the called it The Karate Kid.

There were lengthy, intense meetings and conversations about whether or not to call it The Karate Kid or The Kung-Fu Kid, and in the end most people involved felt that they didn't want to appear to be running away from the fact this was a remake, they wanted to embrace the nostalgia and the references. There's also the fact that Kung-Fu is still heavily associated with the David Carradine TV Series, and also most Americans believe that karate refers to all martial arts.

Some of us, uh, DISAGREED with the decision. But some of us were not Will Smith.
posted by incessant at 6:39 PM on November 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is my favoritest thing in the world. Thank you.
posted by lubujackson at 12:33 PM on November 27, 2011

We watched it on Netflix one night when we had literally nothing else to do and it's probably actually a better (but really very different) film than the original.

Going a bit off topic here, but in defense of the original, what I always appreciated was how deep and realistic (aside from the voodoo massage) the writing was. No joke. In every way the movie fits into that 80s underdog sort of genre (ala Rocky) but it has a clean story progression and really encapsulated how it feels like "high school = everything" at that age WITHOUT having to resort to amping up the characters with unrealistic evil/unrealistic strength. These were beach kids taking after-school karate, not karate masters. By modern standards, the fight scenes are pretty lame, but what's at stake makes it all work.

In the remake, as soon as the new Ralph swings his leg over his head, I was done. I don't know how many hours Will Smith's son spent stretching and practicing to be able to do some of that stuff, but he certainly didn't learn it from Jackie Chan in a couple of weeks.
posted by lubujackson at 1:00 PM on November 27, 2011

Bah. The Karate Kid would be no match for Red Haired Evil and Eagle Man.
posted by homunculus at 2:14 PM on November 29, 2011