Thursday, July 1, 2010

Team LaRusso or Team Parker: a Karate Kid Showdown

Should Daniel LaRusso and Dre Parker face one another, who would win the fight?



After rewatching 1984 original Karate Kid last night, it was relieving that some of the dialogue remained unchanged but here's the run down of the differences between the two movies.



Daniel LaRusso moved from Newark, New Jersey to Reseda, L.A.
Dre Parker moved from Detroit to Beijing, China.

Point for Dre Parker

There's a little bit of a language barrier between Dre Parker and the locals along with greater cultural differences, making it more difficult to fit in.

Daniel LaRusso learned Karate.
Dre Parker learned Kung Fu.

Point for Daniel LaRusso

Self-explanatory. The "Karate" Kid.

Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi got to know each other prior to training Karate.
Dre Parker did not.

Point to Daniel LaRusso

Makes for a good film; it introduces the depth of both characters to the audience. To Dre Parker, Mr. Han was non-existent and rather irrelevant until he was just about to receive another beating.

Daniel LaRusso was around 16 years old, seeing as he had gotten a drivers license.
Dre Parker was 12.
Considering the slight romantic touch to the story,

Point to Daniel LaRusso

Dre Parker, along with his classmates, were simply too young.

Daniel LaRusso and Ali's parents had almost no interaction with the exception of meeting one another as the pair were about to leave for a date and they had already judged him because he was downtown, she was uptown.
Dre Parker had gone and written an apology letter, in the hopes that Mei Ying's father would allow he and Mei Ying to remain friends after she almost missed her violin recital because of him.

Point to Dre Parker

I bow down to Jaden Smith. After living in Hong Kong for almost 17 years, I have yet to master the Chinese Language, be it Mandarin or Cantonese. But the point is Dre Parker and Mei Ying's father had at least interacted one another


On a different note, the cinematoghrapy of the 2010 version, with respect to the tournament scenes, displayed the gravity of the situation where a the opponent delivers a blow, breaking his leg. This gives the audience time to sympathize with Dre Parker, which would deliberately push them to the edge of their seat as they watch him try to pull himself back up. In the 1984 original, Daniel got up too fast for the viewers to fell all of those emotions.

Point to Dre Parker

To conclude, we have a tie.

Daniel LaRusso: 3
Dre Parker: 3

We can go on forever, comparing the two movies, but I'll leave the rest to you. What comes down to it is both movies weave in their own direction, both having their ups and downs, yet both worth watching.

So are you Team LaRusso or Team Parker?

[I'm definitely Team LaRusso, Parker's got quite an attitude. Put me in a room with him, you mught need to get the coroner]

I'd love to know what you think of the remake, what you liked or didn't like. Vent if you must.

- Messer Girl

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