Tuesday, September 3, 2013
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Plot
12-year-old Dre Parker and his mother Sherry move from Detroit to Beijing after getting a job transfer. Dre develops a crush on a young violinist, Mei Ying, who reciprocates his attention, but Cheng, a rebellious kung fu prodigy whose family is close to Mei Ying's, attempts to keep them apart by beating Dre, and later bullies him at school. During the attack, Mr. Han comes to Dre's aid, revealing himself as a kung fu master.
After Han mends Dre's injuries using fire cupping, Dre asks if Mr. Han could teach him kung fu. Han refuses, but meets Cheng's teacher, Master Li, to make peace. Li, who teaches his students to show no mercy to their enemies, challenges Dre to a fight with Cheng. Li tells Han that if Dre does not show up during the tournament he will personally bring pain to Han and Dre.
Dre is shocked when Han tells him that he will fight in a kung fu tournament. Han promises to teach Dre "real" kung fu. Han begins training Dre, Han emphasizes that the movements Dre is learning apply to life in general, and that serenity and maturity, not punches and power, are the true keys to mastering the martial arts.
As Dre's friendship with Mei Ying continues, Dre persuades Mei Ying to cut school for a day of fun, but when she is nearly late for her violin audition which was brought forward a day without their knowledge, her parents deem him a bad influence and forbid her from spending more time with him. Han assists Dre in reading a note of apology to Mei Ying's father in Chinese; he accepts and promises that Mei Ying will attend the tournament to support Dre.
At the tournament, the under-confident Dre is slow to achieve parity with his opponents, but soon begins beating them and advances to the semifinals, as does Cheng, who violently finishes off his opponents. Dre comes up against Liang, badly injured.
Despite Han's insistence that he has earned respect for his performance, Dre convinces Han to mend his leg by using fire cupping in order to continue. Dre returns to the arena, facing Cheng. Dre delivers impressive blows, but Cheng counters with a strike to Dre's injured leg. Dre struggles to get up, and attempts the reflection technique to manipulate Cheng into changing his attack stance. Cheng charges Dre, but Dre flips and catches Cheng with a kick to his head, winning the tournament along with the respect of Cheng and his classmates. Cheng instead of the presenter awards Dre the trophy, and the Fighting Dragon students bow to Mr. Han.
Cast
- Jaden Smith as Dre Parker (德瑞帕克 Déruì Pàkè). A young boy from Detroit, Michigan who is bullied by a kung fu student, and must learn to stand up to him.
- Jackie Chan as Mr. Han (S: 韩先生, T: 韓先生, P: Hán Xiānsheng) the maintenance man who teaches Dre kung fu.
- Taraji P. Henson as Sherry Parker (雪莉帕克 Xuělì Pàkè), Dre's mother. She is very protective of Dre.
- Wenwen Han as Meiying (美莹 Měiyíng, Chen Meiying[6]), Dre's crush who quickly befriends him.
- Zhenwei Wang as Cheng (陆伟程 Lù Wěichéng[6][7]), the main antagonist and student of Master Li.
- Yu Rongguang as Master Li (李师傅 Lǐ-shīfu, Li Quanhe[6]), a Kung Fu teacher who instructs his students to be merciless towards their enemies.
- Ming Xu as Bao
- Ji Wang as Mrs.Po (博太太 Bó Tàitai), the principal of Dre's new school.
- Shijia Lü as Liang (梁子浩 Liáng Zǐhào), a classmate of Cheng's who is instructed by Master Li to cripple Dre during the tournament.
- Yi Zhao as Zhuang
- Tess Liu as History teacher
- Harry Van Gorkum as Music instructor
- Bowen Sheng as himself
- Luke Carberry as Harry (哈里 Hālǐ), a boy who also befriends Dre.
- Cameron Hillman as Mark
- JP Nguyen as Wing Chun practitioner on Wing Chun Dummy
- Sarah Beckley as one of the students on the excursion
- James Haobijam as one of the students
