A long time ago, in a land where the only things available in high def were Schwarzenegger’s guns, a film was made about a boy who learned karate to stop being bullied. It was 1984 and everyone was being bullied, so a film about a kid learning karate just made sense.

It starred Ralph Macchio, who had a face that you could believe would attract bullying types. Pat Morita (who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role) played Mr Miyagi – Yoda to Macchio’s Daniel-son Skywalker, as he taught him the ways of the karate.

It was an uplifting tale that was really just a teen version of Rocky; which is understandable considering it was also directed by that knock-out film’s director John G. Avildsen.

And now it’s back, but not quite as we know it.

At some point in nearly every child’s life, they have to deal with some kind of upheaval. It could be anything from moving from small school to big school, to finding your dad naked in bed with your maths teacher Mr Fobbs. For 12-year old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith), he finds himself on a plane with his mum (Taraji P. Henson) on their way to start a new life in Beijing, China.

He makes a new friend quick enough, in the musically talented Mei Ying (Wen Wen Han). Unfortunately for Dre, a crowd that she hangs with takes an instant dislike to him. Cue a butt-kicking. All is not lost however, when he meets the maintenance man to his building Mr Han (Jackie Chan). Han is not only handy with changing light fittings, he also knows a bit about fighting. He agrees to help train Dre for a big competition, where he will have the chance to confront his nemesis and put an end to his bully once and for all.

Hey Jaden, have you ever seen a grown man naked?

And so goes this reboot of The Karate Kid. The thing is, there’s not a high chop in sight. Despite having the word ‘karate’ in the film’s title, the fighting discipline that Smith’s character is actually taught is kung-fu. The producers may have thought that it wasn’t that big a deal, but think about it, that’s like going to see a film called The Terminator and watching a mime in silver paint do a robot dance for 90 minutes. Maybe Chan just doesn’t know enough about karate? But if that was the case, couldn’t he just, well, y’know, pretend? That’s what actors do normally anyway, don’t they?

Despite the glaring mistake, this new version plays out fairly similar to the original. Transposing the action to China certainly makes it prettier, although with so many people speaking English, the point of Dre being a fish out of water is far less dramatic than it should have been.

But just as he did when he starred alongside his old man in 2006’s The Pursuit of Happyness Jaden Smith once again steals the show. The youngster certainly knows how to tap into his characters, giving them a remarkably balanced and truthful quality. He shows no signs of being over confident in this role, giving Dre just the right amount of genuine vulnerability to display.

He also doesn’t put a kung-fu foot wrong when it comes to interacting with his co-stars; his relationship with Henson for instance, is one that has a truly natural son and mother quality about it.

There’s also something rather humbling about Chan’s performance. You can tell that it’s a role he’s taken very seriously, as he concentrates more on proper acting rather than his usual fighting shtick. Perhaps though, he may well have taken the role a tad too seriously, as there’s certainly less humour between student and master in this version, which is sadly missing.

Ultimately, this version of The Karate Kid is a passable rehash of the original, albeit a rather pointless one. Not only won’t it do young Smith’s career any harm though, he also got to learn Karate. And by ‘karate’ we obviously mean kung fu. Morita’s no doubt doing Kin Geris in his grave.