It seems like Remake Century right now! Hollywood has been turning to rebooting old franchises, rather than creating new ones, for a number of years now it would seem. Most of the time it’s a bad idea, but in the case of The Karate Kid, it is far from a bad idea. The original is one of those movies that has entered into pop culture history, providing a generation with the belief that ‘wax-on wax-off’ techniques will make you a master karate artist and that sweeping the leg truly is the worst thing you could morally do. Such powerful themes.

This new one, however, throws away the cheese-factor and injects a more serious tone. Dre Parker (played by Will Smith’s son, Jaden) and his mother move from Detroit to Beijing to start a new life (much to the angst of young Dre). When Dre develops a crush on a girl at school, the jealous Cheng (not impressed that his crush has returned her affection to the newcomer Dre) proceeds to beat the poo out of Dre. The beatings and humiliation continue until one day the maintenance man at Dre’s building steps in to protect the young boy. It is revealed he is a kung fu master, and agrees to train Dre in the art. In order to stop the bullying, Dre and Cheng agree to fight in a tournament. It’s classic Karate Kid action all over again, without the 80s cheese. If you’re not sold yet, wait for (arguably) the best bit: Dre’s teacher, the maintenance man, is Jackie Chan. The 80s was awesome, but Jackie Chan is beyond awesome.

Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and David Spade star in this comedy about five friends and former teammates who reunite years later to honour the passing of their childhood basketball coach. With their wives (Salma Hayek, Maria Bello and Maya Rudolph) and kids in tow, they spend the Fourth of July holiday weekend together at the lake house where they celebrated their championship years earlier. Picking up where they left off, they discover why growing older doesn’t mean growing up.

Sandler basically plays himself in the guise of a successful Hollywood agent with a gorgeous, fashion designer wife (Hayek) and brat kids who have everything, including a Chinese nanny Rita (Di Quon) who is instructed to say she is an exchange student. His pals play his pals (so not much of a stretch) and each of their families (or quirks) are milked for all they’re worth. Especially James’s onscreen wife (Bello) who is still breast feeding their 4 year old son.

The jokes are the type that you’d expect from a typical Adam Sandler movie. And given the premise is that you don’t really have to grow up it isn’t all that unexpected. But they all look like they’re having a good time and that feeling is infectious. Admit it, you still laugh at farts.