Samouraï Academy

If you're wondering where the title "Paws of Fury" comes from, then you're not a Bruce Lee fan. Arguably Bruce Lee's best movie was 1972's "Fist of Fury." Since then there's been "Blind Fury," "Balls of Fury," and now "Paws of Fury."

In a land where everyone was cats, an evil governor named Ika Chu (Ricky Gervais) wanted to make a huge impression on the Shogun (Mel Brooks) during his visit. To do that he wanted to totally eliminate a small village. He had to make sure that in eliminating the village he was not implicated. His hopes were that by providing the village a terrible samurai (because it was his duty to provide the village with a samurai) he could then use a secret army of samurai to lay waste to the village with little resistance.

For the job of samurai he chose Hank (Michael Cera), a dog who was on his way to being executed because no dogs were allowed in that land.

Hank didn't know the first thing about being a samurai. In fact, he'd come to that land to learn how to be a samurai. Ika Chu saw his plan's success in Hank. He would let him go free to be the samurai of the village.

Hank found a teacher in Jimbo (Samuel L. Jackson), though Jimbo was very reluctant to take on the teacher role. Jimbo would have to train Hank enough in order for him to save the village from the impending attack that Ika Chu would send.

"Paws of Fury" falls into the plot category of about 80% of animations: embracing differences. With Hank being the only dog in the land, everyone hated him and wanted him gone or dead. The unfortunate lesson of this animation is that Hank had to prove himself worthy of being embraced. In other words, if he couldn't help the town, then the town would go on hating him simply because he was a dog.

That's not to say that the movie wasn't good or entertaining. It was funny and had its moments. You could see Mel Brooks' mark on the movie with the characters frequently breaking the fourth wall. For instance, I know that the movie was only 85 minutes because Jimbo mentioned that they only had a total of 85 minutes to get the job done.

Rounding out the stars who lent their voices were George Takei, Gabriel Iglesias, Aasif Mandvi, Djimon Hounsou, and Michelle Yeoh. "Paws of Fury" isn't going to knock your socks off, but it will easily entertain you and your kids.

... to the point of stupidity. Really.

No, it is not a "ripoff of kung fu panda." China and Japan are actually different places with different cultures.

This was also not someone "ripping off" Mel Brooks. He directed it! He's in it! And the role he plays is the same one he plays in Blazing Saddles.

Because it IS Blazing Saddles. The writers of the original are even credited. Given how many American Westerns were redone Samurai movies, it's a pretty established pattern.

It's definitely got some tongue-in-cheek references. It has some jokes that (as Mel Brooks movies do) push the line. But it tells a good story and has solid voice acting, so I'm not sure where some of the complaints are coming from.

I was surprised to see that the Minions outdrew this movie by over 3-1 average per theater so I went to see for myself. Unfortunately, it's a bit stale and uneven. The jokes are Mel Brook-ish and dated so I'm not sure if the kids get it. A few childish tantrums scenes that could have been better written really didn't add to the movie. Storyline execution aside, the voices were good. Samuel, Ricky and George (when given a chance) Ricky were standouts. Sorry for the low rating but Bob's Burgers and The Minions really raised the bar so if you know going in that this movie is a notch below, you'll be OK as your expectations will be met. It's still a nice time out.

I sat down to watch the 2022 animated movie "Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank" with my 12 year old son here in 2022, without ever having heard about the movie. So I didn't know what I was in for, aside from it being an animated samurai movie of sorts.

The storyline in "Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank", as written by Ed Stone, Nate Hopper, Mel Brooks, Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor and Alan Uger, was fairly okay. I mean, I was adequately entertained by the storyline.

The animation and art style in "Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank" was good, and that definitely carried the movie a great long way. As did the impressive voice acting ensemble, with the likes of Michael Cera, Samuel L. Jackson, Ricky Gervais, Mel Brooks, George Takei, Gabriel Iglesias, Djimon Hounsou and even the legendary Michelle Yeoh.

This 2022 animated movie was watchable and enjoyable enough for what it was, but there are far more impressive and enjoyable animated movies out there, recent ones as well. And I doubt that I will ever return to watch "Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank" a second time. And while there were a fair amount of more mature jokes and references, then the overall feel of the animated movie is that aimed for a younger audience.

My rating of directors Chris Bailey, Mark Koetsier and Rob Minkoff's "Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank" lands on a five out of ten stars.

In a land of cats who live in a state similar to Feudal Japan, feudal lord Ika Chu (Ricky Gervais) seeks destroy the village of Kakamucho as he considers it an eyesore. After orchestrating a raid by bandits that scares away Kakamucho's samurai, the townspeople send a request to the Shogun (Mel Brooks) requesting another Samurai. Ika Chu is ordered by the Shogun to send a replacement samurai and decides to send Hank (Michael Cera) a bumbling dog who is scheduled for trespassing in the land to be executed as Kakamucho's new samurai. Hank having always aspired to be a samurai eagerly accepts the position as an alterative to execution, but once in Kakamucho finds its residents less than hospitable towards dogs. Now with the help of a disgraced former samurai named Jimbo (Samuel L. Jackson), Hank trains in the ways of the Samurai as Ika Chu plots the town's demise.

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank began life under the title of Blazing Samurai and was spearheaded by Sony Pictures Founder Yair Landau. Originally intended to be about a black samurai in Feudal era Japan with comedian Chris Rock named as a potential co-producer until eventually being retooled to having more of a "funny animal" spin. The movie was noted for its continuous stop/start production cycle with production initially announced in 2014 with a projected 2015 release date by Open Road Films, but due to issues with distribution problems, animation providers, and at one point attempts at "crowdsourcing" the animation by "paying" individuals in exposure (seriously) the movie ended up coming out 8 years after it was announced. Usually when an animated film goes through that level of production and release hell it's usually not a good sign (see Foodfight! For example). With Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, the end result isn't a trainwreck or anything, but it's also very middle of the road and is a rehash of one of the most quoted and beloved comedies of all time.

While Paws of Fury sidesteps the edgier aspects of the Richard Pryor co-scripted Blazing Saddles, people who are familiar with Blazing Saddles will pick up on the similarities from the first scene as the opening credits (which are very stylish) have a song titled "Blazing Samurai" in what's an obvious leftover from when this film was titled as such. However despite Paws of Fury following the same simple plot of the original film, Paws of Fury only plays maybe 40% of its scenes for parody while the remaining 60% are played for legitimate pathos so the movie exists in this weird space where it's being quite glib about storytelling tropes like montages, flashbacks, and other such forth wall breaks made by the characters, but then it also plays parts of the story for drama which seems to miss the point of the original film. While it's not unthinkable that Blazing Saddles plot could've worked played straight (especially since it was essentially a stock western plot designed as a joke machine) even taking Blazing Saddles out of the equation there's been other films that have done this sort of thing better such as the Kung Fu Panda films or even Rango which also featured an ill equipped protector of a small town. There are some things that do work in this movie however. Samuel L. Jackson voices Jimbo who's the equivalent of Gene Wilder's Jim the Waco Kid from the original, and he does bring a lot of energy to his part and gets the lion's share of the laughs from this movie. Ricky Gervais is also pretty amusing playing the equivalent of Harvey Korman's Hedley LaMarr and does get some good moments, even if he has to utter some stupid lines like a joke about a giant toilet called "The Super Bowl". The animation is okay, yes I've seen better but I've also seen far worse and considering this was finished remotely under COVD protocols it's probably better looking than it has any right to be.

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank survived nearly a decade of production limbo only to be met with a resounding "meh". There's nothing the movie really does wrong and I supposed if the kids have worn out their Kung Fu Panda movies this might fit the bill for entertainment, but for anyone else it's just a really mediocre film that reminds you periodically of a comedy classic with the same plot, same jokes, and mostly the same characters to the point where if you have seen Blazing Saddles there's not really much here you didn't see originally.