Die Legende des Tigers

Nowadays we rarely see something new, yeah stories about the end of the world is like mainstream now and isn't going away Sooner than later, bare witness that when I saw this animations trailer I was like okay maybe it will be worth my time as it is coming from a studio like paramount like seriously who wouldn't be hyped but honestly I forgot to keep my sweaty fingers crossed until I had to jump in and realize that God forgive my trespassing for this mediocrity won't just cut it, if I were to compare it to something like kung-fu panda then am guessing someone out there might understand how bad this is, it wasn't my intention for comparing but i just had to make an understanding out of this boring nothing catchy just animation for a 5 year old cause i couldn't enjoy nothing.

It's 2009 Hong Kong. Mrs. Lee and her baby grandson Tom are being chased by yaoguai. They are saved by the 12 Chinese Zodiac. Tom is the chosen one. It's 15 years later in San Francisco. Tom is now a bullied high school kid. His grandmother had kept his powers a secret. They are attacked by the wicked magician Loo who is after his Phoenix stone. The 12 Zodiac gather to protect the boy.

The story is pretty simple as in good versus evil. There is a thing to get. There is the boy savior. The difference is mostly the Chinese culture. I would use more generalized English terms for some of these Chinese things. I would definitely give some of the Zodiac better powers. For example, the rooster crows in the sunrise. Why not have him throw off rays of sunlight? Instead, he's throwing feathers like darts. The pig rolls in mud. Why not give him earth power or throwing around mud? It seems random that the monkey can shrink things. The monkey should be super-smart. So on and so on. Finally, it's a French animation company and they are at least a generation behind. The surface work and the designs are all a little off. It's lesser animation.

A woman wants a "Phoenix" egg McGuffin (because she is "bad"), and twelve Zodiac human-animals need to protect it's new Guarding. That's it! The characters are introduced, they fight and the movie ends.

While it has some good environmental and visual effects, the contrast between the overly-designed characters with the lack of personality or likeability, is really noticeable.. As if all their effort was put into making the trailer first! And the rest is a rather-shallow-production that lacks in everything non-visual. There's also a lack of world building, flat and boring voice acting (not to mention the boring dialogue), generic action, rushed development, uninteresting story (with some very slow parts), poor music choices.. and constant slow-motion shots.

Sadly, I don't think this offers anything at all as a movie.

I thought this movie was decent. The visuals were nice. I liked the textures and the character designs were pretty good. It's designed off the newer age 3D animation, and I think it's pleasant visually.

Plot is generic, and has a lot of tropes, but they move past them quick enough that it doesn't drag.

The music brought me out of the film. It's just a lot of pop culture music, it wasn't annoying, but it didn't fit. I think they were trying to make it feel like the character's music choice, but it really stuck out. Like at a sad scene you just have him crying, and some rapper is in the background going "ey yo", killed the vibe, but was very funny.

All the characters are underdeveloped, but they aren't unlikable. I enjoyed what bits we saw from the zodiacs. I think the 12 have potential to be a fun cast of characters if given the time flesh them out. Loved their designs.

Overall, put this on if you want a simple pretty movie and like a movie with shapeshifters. Honestly, the movie should've been about the zodiacs.

The Tiger's Apprentice is a mediocre book adaptation where it had good opportunities, but was not exactly as good as I would expect. It does have the right tools to be a good film with the direction the movie is going for with the respectable Chinese representation, decent animation, and action scenes being the best part. But it ended up being an easily forgettable film with a disappointingly dull and rushed story, weak looking human characters, and pretty bland characters. I know not everyone will have Paramount Plus and I agree that their exclusives aren't that great. So I won't see any rush to watch this one. I have never read the book, so I'll just say that maybe those that have read it may be interested in this. It is disappointing that Paramount is not releasing original animated films in theaters, but this one does feel like it fits for streaming.