Final Fantasy... Finally

I had heard about the new Karate Kid and Jaden Smith playing the role of the puberty challenged wimpy kid turned karate warrior sometime in January (thanks to mediatakeout). But it wasn't until the Karate Kid's TV trailer played on TNT during the NBA playoffs did I really take note.

Now that said, what the... (just imagine the word that I wanted to put here for a second)... I mean, are they serious??

First, since the commercial for this trailer has been playing non-stop during the playoffs, I've had no choice but to realize how stupid this notion of moving the "kid" to china really is in comparison to say.. keeping him domestic like the original Karate Kid. But okay, with globalization being such a huge part of the world today, I can see why we move him abroad... and I'm sure getting a financial boost from Asian markets only played an insignificant role in the move (I'm obviously understating that point for purposes of sarcasm.)

Now onto my second and real issue. Why the FREAK does Jackie Chan say, "I will teach you real Kung Fu" (he says this with about 53 seconds on the clip), was it an error, NO! Because as we can clearly see, Jaden is being taught and then later attends a competition for.. (you guessed it) "real" Kung Fu. I'm not sure if the producers, directors, or writers caught this, but... Karate and Kung Fu aren't the same thing. Karate is OKINAWAN/JAPANESE and Kung Fu is CHINESE. Have you ever called a Japanese person, Chinese? Yeah... I bet the guy didn't react too well, did he? Now imagine insulting a man's way of life also. Imagine mixing a Muslim for a Jew. This is basically what this movie is doing.

I heard it argued that the marketers just wanted to make a quick buck using the name and the actors/actresses to score some movie sales. Well, that's logical, but wouldn't it be just as financially sound to call the movie Kung Fu Kid? The target audience that would have tuned in for Karate Kid purposes, would still very likely be made interested and then you also seem to create something new that is somewhat standalone from Karate Kid, but close enough for the link of "kid" to apply. People like new and original, so such a name as "Kung Fu Kid" would have been a NEW franchise, even though its based off of something old. This all while keeping from insulting anyones lifestyle or nationality.

On a side note however, the idiots for this movie, likely realized that the name for the movie was a blunder. As they've already changed the official trailer (which can be seen here), eliminating the Jackie Chan "Real Kung Fu" statement.

So I guess, the next logical question is, "will I be seeing the movie?" Sure. Just because the marketing department failed (IMO) doesn't mean the movie can't be a good "Kung Fu" movie. Though I can confidently say I won't be buying it in theaters... I'll wait for it to hit DVD or cable... because I refuse to make such insulting pockets richer. And that's my final fantasy... until next time.