Saw this last week, and I enjoyed it. Jaden is Will Smith Jr. in terms of acting style, but hopefully as he gets older he will come into himself a little more and step out of daddy's shadow. It was clear that he took the role really seriously though, which I appreciated.
I didn't really spend a lot of time comparing it to the old one, because there was enough that made it different, certain conflicts and subtexts were more apparent, and kept it interesting on it's own merit. Interestingly, seeing this film actually made me think about the original differently--and I think that means something.
And I like his cornrows. As Sen said: he's a kid, he's doing his thing, and he can do what he wants (and what his parents will allow
) with his hair.