While everyone in the world is dreading the remake of The Karate Kid, I have learned new information today that has me at least a little excited: the redo will retain the original title, despite the fact that it will be set in China and involve kung fu, not karate. Why is this exciting? Because it reminds me of my favorite bad movie, Bob Clark’s The Karate Dog, of course (check out this clip for martial arts insanity featuring a talking pooch and Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight). Despite the title of that atrocious family film, the canine protagonist was a master of kung fu.
Okay, so the news that the remake won’t actually be titled Kung Fu Kidisn’t really that cool. In fact, it’s annoying and potentially racist. But if Will Smith, as producer, can slip in some sort of reference to that other mistakenly titled movie, either by casting Voight or (please, please, please) giving Jackie Chan’s Mr. Miyagi Mr. Han a pet named Cho-Cho (with or without the voice of Chevy Chase), I might actually decide to see it. At least on YouTube, anyway, which is the only place I’ve watched scenes from Karate Dog.
In case you’re interested in anything pertaining to this Karate Kid remake — instead of seeking out more Karate Dog clips, that is — Clint Morris at Moviehole shares the exclusive synopsis details today. And reactions (i.e. complaints) from the blogosphere can be found after the jump:
After being rumored in September ‘07, a Karate Kid remake starring Will Smith’s son Jaden has finally been confirmed by Variety. Was this the longest period between a leak and a legit announcement? Considering the rumor had been followed by news that the elder Smith denied the project and the casting, there was probably just a lot of ironing to do on their deal to bring back the franchise, the latest of which will be set and filmed primarily in China (not Japan??).
Only 14 movies have been submitted for consideration for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, which means there will again be only 3 nominees. Those titles eligible include this past weekend’s box office winner, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, as well as Pixar’s Wall-E and the better-be-recognized Waltz with Bashir.
Back in February, I was almost completely against Kung Fu Panda, the latest from DreamWorks Animation, which opens in theaters tomorrow. And while I’m still not too interested in seeing it, I’ve grown a little more appreciation for Jack Black than I had while writing my review of the trailer. Yeah, he actually made me laugh in that brilliantTropic Thunder viral video made for the MTV Movie Awards.
Plus, I have to give Kung Fu Panda credit for not being as bad as Karate Dog, a 2004 made-for-TV movie from Bob Clark (A Christmas Story) featuring a talking dog voiced by Chevy Chase and a campy villain played by Oscar-winner Jon Voight. Think it couldn’t be that bad? Check out the fight sequence above. And then check out the trailer, which exposes the ripping off of a classic WB ‘toon (One Froggy Evening) and a classic French play (Cyrano de Bergerac).
Its worst offense, though, is its title. Talk about racism, or at least Orientalism, or simply lazy Hollywood ignorance. Despite being set in Chinatown and having a dog that practices the Chinese martial art of Kung Fu, they went with a title that refers to the Japanese martial art of Karate, which has nothing to do with the movie. But I guess it sounds like The Karate Kid, so it made sense to whomever was in charge.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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While everyone in the world is dreading the remake of 
