The Karate Kid

My sister wanted to go see this; I went in very skeptical, but I have to say I thought it was a cute movie and quite liked it. And Jaden Smith did waay better than I thought he would.
Here's my review:

The Karate Kid
Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Taraji P. Henson, Han Wenwen, Zhenwei Wang

Yes, ‘The Karate Kid’ is yet another remake in a long line of remakes that have been churned out the last little while; but if you go into the theatre objectively you’ll leave surprisingly satisfied.
This version follows twelve year old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) to China, moving there from Detroit due to his mom Sherry’s (Taraji P. Henson) career. They settle into a small apartment where Dre soon meets the antisocial maintenance man Mr. Han (Jackie Chan). Unfortunately things turn sour quite quickly when Dre becomes smitten with classmate Mei Ying (Han Wenwen), drawing negative attention from another classmate, and martial arts student, Cheng (Zhenwei Wang). Tired of being Cheng and his buddies’ punching bag, Dre turns to Mr. Han, who revealed his own martial arts skills while putting a stop to one of Dre’s beatings. Instruction begins and Dre prepares both physically and mentally for a face-off with his tormentors, learning lessons and forming friendships along the way.
Admittedly, this movie does have some flaws; the 2hr. and 20min. time frame could have been cut down a bit, and the beginning lagged slightly and took a while to get going, but once it does the film clips along at an average pace, still a little slow but quick enough to keep the viewer interested. The imagery throughout the movie is beautiful, and the performances from each of the actors were engaging and enjoyable. The characters themselves are pleasing; they aren’t sleek or ‘movie glamorous’, they are real and emotional; Dre and his mother don’t have the ‘perfect parent-child relationship’, or the clichéd impatient parent-rebellious child relationship. They are a mother and son who love each other and are struggling with their differences and conflicting emotions.
Young Jaden Smith had the weight of a movie resting on his shoulders, and while he stumbled a bit, he didn’t let it fall. He was somewhat awkward in parts, but overall he did quite well; the emotional scenes were especially well done and didn’t seem overly forced. Taraji P. Henson was excellent as a mom struggling with a new life and the pain it’s causing her son; and Jackie Chan gave a great performance as a lonely maintenance man with a painful past who has more to him than meets the eye.
While it may not pack the same punch as the original, ‘The Karate Kid’ is a fun and satisfying film with heart.

Any other opinions?