The Karate Kid (Music from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack to the 2010 film The Karate Kid, directed by Harald Zwart and starred Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, which is a remake of the 1984 film of the same name and the fifth film in The Karate Kid franchise. The album featured 18 tracks composed by James Horner and released through Madison Gate Records on June 15, 2010.
Development Zwart hired Icelandic composer Atli Örvarsson to contribute music for the film but was replaced by James Horner in March 2010. After his completion on Avatar (2009), Horner recorded the musical score at the Sony Scoring Stage and utilized ethnic instrumentation from China due to the film's setting and incorporated East Asian musical elements throughout the score. The film's official theme song "Never Say Never", performed by Justin Bieber and Smith and released as a single on June 8, was not included in the soundtrack. The album was released through Madison Gate Records on June 15, 2010.
Reception Thomas Glorieuz of Maintitles wrote "Like the film, the music is nothing like The Karate Kid of Bill Conti, but it wins its own battles easily enough, this due to James Horner's never failing spirit." Filmtracks.com wrote "If Horner had explored original thematic ideas for The Karate Kid, it would easily be a four-star score." Pete Simons of Synchrotones described the score as "playful" and "colorful".
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from CD liner notes.
Composer – James Horner Producer – James Horner, Simon Rhodes Synth programming – Ian Underwood Arrangements – Simon Franglen Digital recordist – Kevin Globerman Recording and mixing – Simon Rhodes Score editor – Michael Bauer Supervising score editor – Jim Henrikson Music supervisor – Pilar McCurry Album co-ordinator – Tim Ahlering Scoring co-ordinator – Sylvia Wells
Orchestra Orchestra – The Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestration – J.A.C. Redford, James Horner Conductor – James Horner Contractor – Peter Rotter, Sandy de Crescent Concertmaster – Clayton Haslop Music preparation – Bob Bornstein, Emmett Estren
Instrumentation Bass – Bruce Morgenthaler, Christian Kollgaard, David Parmeter, Drew D. Dembowski, Edward Meares, Nico Carmine Abondolo, Oscar Hidalgo, Susan Ranney, Michael Valerio Bassoon – Kenneth Munday, Michael R. O'Donovan Cello – Andrew T. Shulman, Antony Cooke, Armen Ksajikian, Cecelia Tsan, Dennis Karmazyn, George Kim Scholes, John Walz, Paula Hochhalter, Steve Erdody, Timothy Landauer Clarinet – Ralph Williams, Gary S. Bovyer Flute – Geraldine Rotella, David Shostac Harp – Marcia Dickstein, Jo Ann Turovsky Horn – Brian D. O'Connor, Daniel P. Kelley, David Duke, Jenny L. Kim, Mark L. Adams, Richard Todd, Steven Becknell, James W. Thatcher Oboe – Leslie H. Reed, Barbara Northcutt Percussion – Gregory Goodall, Michael Fisher, Peter Limonick, Robert Zimmitti Piano – Gloria Cheng, Ian Underwood, Randy Kerber Timpani – Donald J. Williams Trombone – Alexander Iles, Andrew Thomas Malloy, Robert Sanders, William Booth Trumpet – Jon Lewis, Timothy G. Morrison, David Washburn Tuba – Doug Tornquist Viola – Andrew Duckles, Brian Dembow, Darrin McCann, David F. Walther, Jennie Hansen, Matthew Funes, Robert A. Brophy, Shawn Mann, Steven Gordon, Victoria Miskolczy, Pamela Goldsmith Violin – Alan Grunfeld, Alex Shlifer, Ana Landauer, Anatoly Rosinsky, Belinda Broughton, Bruce Dukov, David Ewart, Endre Granat, Eric J. Hosler, Galina Golovin, Haim Shtrum, Jacqueline Brand, James F. Sitterly, Katia Popov, Kenneth Yerke, Kevin Connolly, Mark Robertson, Miran Kojian, Natalie Leggett, Phillip Levy, Radu Pieptea, Rafael Rishik, Rebecca Bunnell, Roberto Cani, Roger Wilkie, Ron Clark, Shalini Vijayan, Sungil Lee, Vladimir Polimatidi, Julie Ann Giganto
See also "Never Say Never", the film's original theme song, performed by Justin Bieber and Jaden Smith
References