New on DVD: The new 'Karate Kid,' 'Nightmare'

THE KARATE KID (PG) 3.5 stars

PLOT The new "Karate Kid" brings fresh life and perspective to the classic tale of perseverance and cross-generational friendship. As Dre Parker, who with his mother, Sherry (Taraji P. Henson), has just moved to Beijing, Jaden Smith brings a soulful, searching sense of vulnerability to a kid who comes under attack from bullies on his first day in town. After a particularly brutal beat-down, Dre is defended by his apartment house caretaker, a quiet introvert named Mr. Han (Jackie Chan).

LIST PRICES DVD: $28.96; Blu-ray: $34.95

EXTRAS Making-of and learn Chinese language featurettes; and "Never Say Never" music video, with Smith and Justin Bieber.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (R) 2 stars

PLOT Jackie Earle Haley assumes the Freddy persona made iconic in eight previous "Nightmare" movies by, as this movie makes abundantly clear, the irreplaceable Robert Englund. The basic story line remains the same: A bunch of teens in a cozy suburb called Springwood start having simultaneous bad dreams about the same homicidal dude, dreams in which some of them are viciously murdered, and some of them wind up dead in real life.

LIST PRICES DVD: $28.98; Blu-ray: $35.99

EXTRAS "Freddy Krueger Reborn," how this reinvention of a classic pays homage to the original and gives fans a wicked new scare.

- The Washington Post