The Karate Kid Gives His Blessing To Remake

The original Karate Kid, Ralph Macchio, has mixed emotions about the new version of the 1984 film that made him a teen pinup.

“You know you’re not the young guy anymore,” the actor, 47, told OK! earlier this week at the Ray-Ban Visionary Awards at the Sundance Film Festival.

“But it’s a privilege that they’re remaking something you did,” he says of the movie, starring Will Smith and and Jada Pinkett Smith's son Jaden Smith, 10 — star of the Pursuit of Happyness — and martial arts legend Jackie Chan, 54, as Mr. Miyagi.

Jaden Smith will be “fantastic,” says Ralph, who went on to make two sequels and dozens more movies.

But a word of advice: “Be good at it because the role is special to me. Embrace it!”