Cinematic Torture

I came home from a hard day of work to learn the tragic, horrific news that Jaden Smith [Will's son] has been cast to star in a "re-imagining" of the Karate Kid.

...

Okay, first - I don't understand the obsession of Hollywood with remakes or "re-imaginings." Recently at work, we were discussing the trend of Hollywood completely avoiding original material anymore. There was a recent Top 10 list of the Most Anticipated Films of 2009 and I believe 8 out of the 10 were either prequels, sequels, or in some other way based on already created material including Transformers 2, Wolverine, Harry Potter, etc. Now, while I have no problem with adapting good material, there's got to be room in there for original work as well.

Second - some things don't need to be redone. Do we really need a new Karate Kid series? Aren't our memories of the first one good enough? If you want to base something loosely off it, fine. But is it really necessary to just flat out rip it off?

And don't get me started on nepotism. Has Jaden Smith even acted in a non-Will Smith movie? Where the hell is Jake Lloyd? That kid looked like he could take a convincing ass kicking by some Cobra Kai.

It's not going to be the same - it's not going to be anywhere near the same and in the end, we'll have another collective outcry of late 20-early 30 year olds screaming about their childhoods being raped.

Ahhh, Hollywood. You're a cruel mistress.