Wax On, Wax Off

I still remember the original Karate Kid movie. I loved that movie. Even though the acting in the original wasn't stellar by any stretch, the morals of the story were impactful. And I'm always a sucker for the good vs. evil sagas where the good guy pulls it out in the end.

Today, the kids and I went to my nephew, Tallin's, baptism and then over to Mike & Shari's for brunch. Everything about the morning was wonderful - the baptism, the smile on Tallin's face, the commaraderie of family, the delicious food afterwards. It was a perfect way to kick off our weekend.

About thirty minutes after we got home, our long lost husband and father returned from his Camp Geronimo week. Everything went great, he said, and all the boys really enjoyed themselves. Ryan had fun, too, but he would have loved it more had they ordered up some 70 degree weather. Instead, they had a lot of heat. Still, it was all good. He ran into so many friends and acquaintances up there. The camp is huge - capacity for 600 and it was almost full.

Anyway, the kids and I decided Friday night that we wanted to go see The Karate Kid this weekend. We debated on going Friday, but then decided that Ryan would probably like to go too. We're glad that we waited for Dad. It was a great show with powerful messages for our kids (and us) and such a fun afternoon spending it all together - just the six of us. Even though the flick was long - two hours and twenty minutes - it didn't seem too long and all the kids did so great. I kept peeking down the row and they were totally engrossed in the film and the bags of popcorn. I sat by Rowan, so I had to do a little translating in those parts when the dialogue was all Chinese with subtitles. I wanted to make sure she understood what the evil Kung Fu coach was wrongly trying to instill in his students so she could comprehend the full drama.

"No weakness. No pain. No mercy!"

"I don't want him beat. I want him broken."

"We show no mercy when our enemy is down. Finish the job!"

She already knew the black dressed master was bad just by his actions.

My kids winced when the star, Dre Parker, was taking his bullying from the school kids trained by this bad dude. And so did we. Man, that was hard to watch. You just wanted to jump into the screen and give the poor kid a hand. But he was tough and he wasn't a quitter.

Even though this remake had some marked differences from the 1980's original that I remember so well, the theme and lessons and morals were still the same.

There was no "wax on, wax off" analogy, but another equally good one with the pupil's jacket. I smiled wide when his instructor made the connection for the frustrated boy and helped him see that all his practice and repetition in obedience had taught him far more than he'd imagined. I loved that the boy worked and trained hard. I loved that his coach taught humility and peace. I loved that he didn't give up. I loved that his enemies saw "the light" in the end.

And I loved that after the movie when Ryan and Easton came out of the restroom, Easton was in full Kung Fu mode doing his punching and kicking as he walked down the hall. So funny. As we finished off our evening eating Rubios together, Rowan also made us all laugh as she stood up near the end of dinner and started into her newly learned Kung Fu moves right there by the table. We all laughed when she accidently "kung fu'd" the table.

Good flick. Go see it. Take the kids.