When I was first introduced to the world of English movies in the eighties, for many months I had only one name in my limited cinematic vocabulary and that was the name of the impeccable, ultimate and unique phenomenon called JACKIE CHAN. For many years I kept on watching (and still do) all his funny and action packed movies and had a lot of fun seeing them again and again. I loved the gifted charm, magic and positivity on this man’s face, which even today fills me with new spirit of life and adventure. His persona is completely different from anyone else in the whole world of cinema and that’s what brings him great respect and admiration from movie makers living all over the world.
Coming to his latest release “The Karate Kid”, I would firstly like to clear that this is not any kind of review of this enjoyable movie. These few paragraphs are simply written as an urge to all the cinema lovers in the world who have young kids below the age of 15 in their families. In simple words, if you want your kids to see something good, something precious (other than the routine cartoons and animations), then here is a movie which will not only entertain them with its worth watching content, but will also teach them a few must-learn lessons of life which would in turn help them to lead a better life in their future.
The film is a masterpiece in a different sense as its one of those few rare movies based on child psychology. It bares the ugly truth of the current generation which can only take WINNING in great spirits and doesn’t want to think of LOSING at all. The greatest merit of the screenplay is that it has a teacher who teaches his boy just to fight in the right way and never teaches him only to win. Whenever the kid asks him about the WIN, his answer is that winning and losing is not of any importance, but the thing which is more important is, that how you learn and how you fight in the right manner with your opponent. Certainly a precious lesson to learn, for all the contests we have to fight in our short span of life.
Also known as THE KUNG FU KID, this two hours plus flick starts with a cultural exchange sequence leading to some typical in-school scenes involving racial bullying. But after its first hour, the script opens up with many valuable chapters on the screen dealing with the real martial art and its inner message of meditation and peace. Though the movie revolves around the story of the young kid (brilliantly played by Will Smith's Kid, Jaden Smith) and his fight for his self-pride, but still the actual hero of the film remains the unmatchable Jackie Chan.
However, you don’t get to see the famous fun loving, jumping and falling Jackie Chan here for a change. THE KARATE KID has got a new and different Jackie, who is intelligent, calm and cool yet tough to deal with as a fighter. He is there as the Father Figure to the child who trains him how to fight both in the KUNG FU and in LIFE.
But here along with talking about the movie, my main concern is that the young ones, who are just new to world of cinema, need to be introduced to this LIVING LEGEND named JACKIE CHAN as a must. And what else would be better than this new release featuring a kid of their own age as a fighter.
To be precise, JACKIE is not only an actor or celebrity to write praises for. In real terms, he is a life teaching GURU who teaches everyone, how to take life as fun and how to live it as an adventure to the best of your ability till your last breath. And his mode of teaching remains his immensely enjoyable movies fresh as ever.
So just take your kids to see “The Karate Kid” and introduce them to this LIVE and ROCKING, rock star called JACKIE CHAN.
(The film reminded me of my first Life Teacher in the eighties, who introduced me to the world of Jackie Chan and also gave me many precious lessons of life, I am still working on. He was not any old age person as usual, but only a few years elder friend who was destined to live a short life. Remembered the time spent with him again, while watching “The Karate Kid”..............along with fondly missing, the only angel of my being who left us very early in this long path of life, but still lives on and will always live in our loving memories forever. May their souls rest in peace in the heavenly abode!)
Cheers to Them!
