Guest Blogger: Maranda 1

The Karate Kid would be a good example of a character driven movie. This movie really shows the hardships of a young adult’s life and how you have to deal with the situations you can’t always control. For Dre, a fatherless 12 years old boy who struggles to become a strong man for himself and his mother. Thankfully Dre encountered Mr. Han, which is their handyman and later becomes Dre’s karate teacher. Dre has to move from Detroit to China with his mother, and struggles with understanding their language and getting to know his surroundings. At first he thinks that he doesn’t fit in there and makes things hard for himself and later realizes what he can do to fix it. So Dre turned to Mr. Han to help him learn how to fight so that he could get back at the kids who beat him up and show them that he’s not scared. Mr. Han lost his son due to a car accident and Dre doesn’t have a father figure in his life, so they seem to fit together as friends very well and it’s almost as if they replace those empty holes in their lives. Dre is a young boy and struggles to learn karate and Mr. Han trains him so hard that Dre wants to just give up, but Mr. Han won’t let him. Soon Dre’s mom realizes what’s going on with Dre and Mr. Han and becomes proud of them and glad that they found each other. I think Dre is a strong young boy and proves that anyone, including himself can do whatever they choose if they set their mind to it which is an important message the movie sends out to us. I agree with the critics when they say that “story proceeds, as it must, with Dre slowly softening the heart of Mr. Han, who saves him from a beating by Cheng and agrees to teach him the secrets of fighting”. They don’t necessarily want to show their emotions about each other but ends up that they do anyways. The Karate Kid really is worth your time and money, and is one of my favorite movies.