“The Karate Kid,” the remake of the 1984 film of the same name, opened last week and with it, a star is born. That would be Jaden Smith, the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. He’s charming, cute, instantly likeable and you want to root for him, even in a movie that has a running time of two hours and twenty minutes – but more on that later.

Jaden plays Dre Parker, a fatherless 12-year old who lives with his upbeat mother Sherry (Taraji P. Henson) in Detroit. Today’s economic woes force mom to transfer to Beijing, China for work with her son. The quiet Dre doesn’t seem interested at first and when he arrives; he is thrust into finding his way when his mom asks him to find the maintenance man, Mr. Han, played by Jackie Chan. While roaming the streets near their apartment, Dre finds love - with an adorable, young violinist Meiying (Wenwen Han) practicing in the playground - and hate – with a bully, Cheng (Zhenwei Wang) who’s a young kung fu “master” and doesn’t appreciate Dre’s attention towards the same girl. Dre becomes fearful at school after repeated attempts by the gang of bullies and, in a nod to the movie, Mr. Han saves the day and starts Dre on his path to self-defense and courage. Under Han’s wise and patient tutelage, Dre slowly develops his kung fu skills. Of course, there’s a kung fu showdown at a tournament that pits Dre against a show “no mercy” opponent.

There are many obvious and subtle traces the young Smith shares with his famous dad, but his screen presence mostly stands out as his strength (as he showed in his feature debut along side his dad in “The Pursuit of Happyness.”) The role requires less showy moments and Jaden’s quite introspective nature comes across nicely and credibly, and his emotional outbursts are deep and impressive. It’s just not a performance that is varied. Chan steps out of his normal casting with a role of the melancholy-stricken maintenance man and is very effective and moving. The other two young co-stars do a fine job. Henson’s character is the least developed and it is especially obvious when Sherry finally realizes how brutal the sport can be as she notices for the first time when her son is being pummeled to tears as he collapses at the tournament. Filmed on location in China, “The Karate Kid” gives an appreciation (and probably a cultural lesson) for life in China. It shows how similar (at least) the big cities of the world, are. The nods to the original film are fun to find. The main problem with film is that it is too long. You’ll root for Dre until the last frame, but you will want him

to find his way in less time. “The Karate Kid” is MPAA-rated PG; some material may not be suitable for children; includes bullying, martial arts action, violence and some mild language.