I’ll admit: I’m a geek. And geeks tend to love things like Lost, Battlestar Galactica, and the original The Karate Kid from 1984. I hum “You’re the Best Around” anytime I see Ralph Macchio on bad reality TV, and once—just once—tried to catch a fly with chopsticks. So did I watch the remake of The Karate Kid with impartiality? Hells no. Did I enjoy it? Thankfully, yes.

The ’80s film franchise has seen its young hero (Macchio) battle SoCal high school punks in a karate tournament, travel to Okinawa with his sensei Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), even morph into a girl (Hilary Swank in one of her earlier roles). But its latest incarnation is nearly a scene-for-scene remake of the original, now with Jaden Smith, aka Little Will, starring as the fish out of water who moves to Beijing with his single mother (Taraji P. Henson) and learns karate to defend himself against school bullies. Except he’s actually studying kung fu. Details, details. The kid can kick higher than a Rockette, so who cares?

The biggest difference is that Jaden’s Dre Parker is only 12—not an angsty teen like Macchio’s Daniel LaRusso. And though his inherited fresh prince comes out when he tries to charm a lovely lady classmate, he’s still a tiny thing taking after mom Jada, the kind of tween hero who leaves his clothing on the floor and seems that much more vulnerable to a literal throw-down on the playground by his “show no mercy” schoolmates (with even nastier moves than the Cobra Kai). You fear for him—and you cheer for him. It works.

Karate Kid fans will also appreciate the reverence screenwriter Christopher Murphey and director Harald Zwart have for the elements that made the original a cult classic: a well-developed relationship between student and teacher; a lovable mentor/maintenance man played here by Jackie Chan, who’s less high-flying goofball, more tortured soul in one of my favorite acting turns by him to date. (Note: There’s at least one classic Jackie Chan fight scene.) Plus: training montages in idyllic places like on the Great Wall; a quasi-believable replacement for “wax on, wax off”; a bad-guy kung fu instructor who spouts aggro-mantras in Mandarin that still seem to translate to “Finish him!”; and a final fight scene with a quality soundtrack. They falter when they use CGI—the kids are talented fighters on their own without performance-enhancing dubs—but it’s not enough to turn a Karate Kid lover into a hater. And if the wildly cheering 13-year-olds sitting in front of me were any indication, there might be a new generation of geeks in the making.

The Karate Kid opens nationwide June 11.