O Aprendiz do Tigre

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.

This movie had so much potential: it had actual writing as base material, it had a great cast, the animation team was decent and it was released in a period of not much happening. It could have been like a new (old) Pixar movie release. Instead, it was a lazy, formulaic, brain dead production, more focused on making female characters look cool and superior than actually telling a story.

I have not read the book, but from the synopsis, it was completely different from the film. Also, it features the most rancid clichés ever: the boy who doesn't know who he is because someone sheltered him, but he's totally special because of his blood, with a wonderful all knowing mentor that dies just before they impart their wisdom and the adolescent American who can't stop and think for a single minute, doing dumb thing after dumb thing, but with a lot of people around him to tell him it wasn't his fault and finding excuses for him, because feelings.

The ending was the worst part, though. After failing miserably in doing ANYTHING, the hero finds in himself - without any effort, really - the one thing he has to do to defeat the evil overpowered opponent. A stroke of luck, followed by a lot of boasting about how he saved the day.

The story was beyond childish. Just think for any amount of time at anything in the film and it either makes no sense or it completely invalidates what it supposedly indicating. The cast was criminally underused. There are basically four characters with actual roles, Michelle Yeoh stealing the show, even with the sorry dialogue they gave her, with the others having a few lines each. I think Patrick Gallagher just says something about slobbering shower, once! The pacing was all over the place, with everything either feeling rushed or glacial. Even the editing, which should be quite fixed and done before any other work starts in animation, was poor.

I had to end the review because I felt like I had to remove stars the more I thought about it. They just appropriated (badly) elements of Chinese culture, turned them into a show even 7 year-olds would probably find nonsensical, then released them as a feature film that cost 300 million dollars. How is that even possible?

Bottom line: stupid.

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.

Here's The 4K Lowedown on "Tiger's Apprentice" (PG - 2024 - Paramount+)

Genre: Animated/Family

My Score: 6.7 Cast=8 Acting=5 Trailer=7 Ending=7 Story=7 Visuals=7 Direct=5 Sounds=7 Genre=7 Sub-genre=7

After the death of his grandmother, a Chinese American boy has to be apprenticed to the talking tiger Mr. Hu and learn ancient magic to become the new guardian of the phoenix.

"Your grandmother was a guardian...sworn to protect humanity." I liked this, but it was not well written. It was like Wish Drago and Kung Fu Panda had a baby but it was born in captivity. This movie plays better to a younger audience...with its colorful animation and simple dialogue. But unfortunately, animals born in captivity are generally not as exciting as those in the wild. If you have a season pass to the Paramount+ Zoo though, this is worth seeing.

Tom is being bullied at school for being a freak. From the beginning it is clear he is no ordinary teenager. Off course, there was the opening of his grandmother fighting fantastical creatures, so yeah, it was pretty obvious.

And then one day Hu turns up at his Grandmother's, and soon after all hell breaks loose as they are being attacked by the same creatures we saw in the opening. Tom's grandmother is once again fighting off the creatures with all she's got, while Hu turns into a tiger.

Turns out Loo, the main antagonist, is after a Phoenix the grandmother wears around her neck. When the grandmother gave the Phoenix to Tom to guard and protect, I couldn't understand why she believed him to be capable of the task, especially since he had no knowledge of the stone or his past before this task was bestowed upon him.

Apparently the Phoenix was used to create humanity, and now Loo wants it to destroy humanity. Nothing is told of the origins of the Phoenix and the story itself wasn't all that well explained or justified. Loo came across as a villain purely for the sake of being a villain. I also didn't find Tom all too believable as the protagonist. Hu, on the other hand, would have been a far better prospect to protect the Phoenix. Only, I found him inconsistent. At times he was a great fighter, and at times he wasn't. He also seemed to randomly shapeshift into a tiger, for whatever reason. It made me wonder whether he was actually able to control his abilities.

We meet some of the other family members, who are all mystical or magical - dare I say - creatures, each with their own abilities. Together they fight the war against Loo and her army of creatures.

'The Tiger's Apprentice' is like an animated film on steroids. I mean this film bombards the viewer with so much going on at once that it was hard to follow the action. I found it overdone. Being an animated film, the intended demographic is kids no doubt, but I'm just wondering if kids will be able to understand this story?

This is a beautifully animated movie and worth seeing, but I doubt very much I will bother watching it again.