The Karate Kid (James Horner)

(2010)

A remake of the 1984 film of the same name, 2010’s The Karate Kid stars Jaden Smith, though it deviates from the original by changing karate to kung-fu and changing the primary location to China instead of Los Angeles, and its title is therefore an insult to karate, aside from being misleading.  Expectations for the film’s music can’t have particularly high, particularly given that Justin Bieber’s “Never Say Never” had been declared the film’s official song.  The score was originally to be composed by Atli Orvarsson, one of the members of Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control music empire.  Orvarsson was dismissed from the film, reportedly without recording any new material, and, in one of the most unlikely scoring assignments in a while, veteran James Horner, having enjoyed huge success with his superb score to Avatar the previous year, stepped in.

Whilst the film does take place in China, you might have a difficult job believing it doesn’t actually take place on Pandora if you listen to the score without/before watching the film.  Self-referencing has always been a common occurrence in Horner’s film scores, but here, it is done to a quite ridiculous degree.  Horner that Avatar was the biggest and most difficult job he had ever undertaken, saying “I’ll have to recover from that and get my head out of Avatar”.  Seemingly, when the time came to score The Karate Kid, he hadn’t had long enough to do so.

All that said though, the score to The Karate Kid remains one of the best 10 scores written during 2010. The first track on the album, “Leaving Detroit”, introduces the score’s primary theme on trumpet, and it is given a fully orchestral rendition in “From Master to Student to Master”.  It’s great theme, despite being just a slightly modified version of Horner’s love theme from Avatar.  The second track introduces the first hints of Chinese music into the score, though again, the opening percussion elements are near identical to certain ones from Avatar.  “The Forbidden City” introduces a lovely new string theme.  Electronics come to more prominence in the action music in such tracks as “Backstreet Beating” and “Han’s Kung Fu”.  The latter cue in particular is likely to remind listeners of the music of Hans Zimmer, though it’s unlikely it would actually be mistaken for his music, since you can clearly tell what is electronic and what is orchestral.

The love theme is given a lovely piano performance in “Mei Ying’s Kiss”; there is of course little that Horner enjoys more than scoring a love story.  Electronic choirs is another of his favourite instrumentations, and, though I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the way he uses it in several of his scores (especially Titanic), it can’t be denied it works well here.

“Journey to the Spiritual Mountain” is one of the best tracks on the album, opening with a playful orchestral outburst.  It also features the shakuhachi (what would a Horner score be without one of the them?), and at eight minutes, is the album’s second longest track; like the on screen scenery, the music also goes on a journey.  The ten minute long “From Master to Student Master” is probably the album’s best track, especially the fully orchestral parts that are featured from around 6 minutes in until the end, following some tender, piano prominent music heard earlier on in the track.  The album concludes with “Final Contest”, a percussion heavy piece cumulating in a heroic, bloated rendition of the score’s main theme.

So in the end, how good is the score for The Karate Kid?  Very good is the answer, and it easily merits a recommendation for Horner fans, though if you already own the score to Avatar you may be wasting your money.  The fact is that whilst Horner’s self-referencing has at least on prior occasions repackaged older ideas into new forms, The Karate Kid fails to do so, and shows that unless Horner does start coming up with some new ideas on future projects, his music will rapidly become worthy of ridicule.

Purchase from Amazon (UK)

Purchase from Amazon: CD* | Download (USA)

*CD is manufactured on demand by Amazon

Track Listing

1. Leaving Detroit (2:55)

2. Looking for Mr. Han (1:29)

3. Kung Fu Heaven (1:19)

4. I Want to Go Home/The Forbidden City (4:29)

5. The Lunchroom (2:29)

6. Backstreet Beating (3:34)

7. Han’s Kung Fu (1:39)

8. Ancient Chinese Medicine (1:26)

9. Beijing Valentine (1:34)

10. Mei Ying’s Kiss (3:23)

11. Jacket On, Jacket Off (2:32)

12. Journey to the Spiritual Mountain (8:49)

13. Hard Training (1:21)

14. All Work and No Play (1:41)

15. From Master to Student to Master (10:33)

16. Dre’s Gift and Apology (3:07)

17. Tournament Time (5:09)

18. Final Contest (6:48)

Total Time: 64:12

Credits

Music Composed and Conducted by James Horner

Orchestrated by James Horner and J.A.C. Redford

Performed by The Hollywood Studio Symphony

Produced by James Horner and Simon Rhodes

Awards

None

Insert Notes

Contains no information about the score or film.

All artwork and images are Copyright © Madison Gate Records