Sick & Watchman and Karate Kid Reviews

Jennie was sick yesterday. Had to come home from work. When I came home we watched the rest of Watchmen, which we've been watching for about a month now (yes it took us that long to get through the movie) and we watched all of the new Karate Kid.

My thoughts on Watchmen, considering I read the comic book? There was something missing. Not sure what. But in the end it just didn't hit me like I was hit in the comic book. Just powerful. But the movie wasn't. Visually stunning, all that stuff... but... just lacked the emotional impact of the comic book. Not sure I can say anything else about it.

On the Karate Kid. I had read a review on this movie by Orson Scott Card, which was, in my opinion, an odd review. He seemed to really like it. I'll include a link HERE. So I was influenced by his review, but MY review came to a different conclusion.

I could not escape nostalgia. This movie was good, but it wasn't the first one, and there isn't much more I can say than that. Card was able to separate the two, and I think that he watched the first Karate Kid when he was older than I was, enabled him to overlook it's flaws. For me it's still a great movie that brought me back to that time when I was a kid and really FELT the movie. I was blind to it's shortcomings.

So I just couldn't escape nostalgia watching this new one. Sure Jaden Smith was good, great vehicle for the child star, etc, but in the end he didn't convince me. I just didn't feel the same angst from him or from the setting. Poor Ralph Macchio just got my sympathy way more than little Jaden. When he cried to his Mom, I HATE IT HERE (meaning in China) I just didn't feel it. He didn't convince me in that scene that it was really that bad. I'm sure it was, but it didn't really get me.

And when he convinced Mr. Han (played by Jackie Chan, who did a great job) to heal his leg so he could go back out and fight, I didn't believe it either.

Oh well, the movie was good. It just had the first movie to compare it too, and in that battle, at least for me, it didn't win. It did have some good parts, but it's not better than the first one. Sorry.