Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Synopsis
Earnest but simpleminded Hank heads to the land of cats to become a samurai, and promptly gets involved with all sorts of flagitious feline machinations! Would the easygoing pooch be able to overcome racial prejudice, political conspiracies, and rampaging ninja cats to become a true swordsman? Would Hank’s journey to true warriorhood provide redemption for his mentor, the sour-faced ex-samurai Jimbo?
Snappy Review
I made a boo-boo with this animated comedy. A first-ever too.
Too caught up with too many things, I didn’t pay much attention when I bought the ticket yesterday. In fact, I only decided to watch because I’ve been seeing all these positive reviews for Paws of Fury, on my WordPress feed since last week. Or rather, the headers for positive reviews.
Down to Shaw Lido, I then went. While waiting for the show to start, I tried to remember everything I knew about Krypto the Superdog. After which Krypto promptly came onto the screen and in a truly surreal moment, I wondered: What the what? They are now showing the trailer for the movie, right before the movie?
… …
I got mixed up, you see. I thought I would be watching the dog comedy DC League of Super-Pets. I didn’t know I bought a ticket for a CAT movie.
(What the mother father cocker spaniel is happening?!? Is age getting to me?!?)
But all ended up great. Paws is enthusiastically absurd, often, a little too much, but as a lighthearted, mindless, swashbuckling comedy, I seriously find it hard to say the movie doesn’t work.
Much of the appeal, of course, stems from the master-disciple, cat-dog duo voiced by Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Cera. Clearly inspired by Jackson and Cera’s screen personas, the misadventures of the duo exhibit a naturalism that tickles, trite as their whole formula might feel to some. Whenever the two miss, the endless antics and nonsense of the supporting cast promptly step in to compensate.
Admittedly, everything becomes a bit of an overkill toward the end. But, oh well, I watched this on a rainy Wednesday afternoon. I seriously don’t see too much of a reason to complain.
As for what I didn’t find a reason to like, it would be the indecision over whether to be a child’s adventure or pop culture parody. I can see what the producers are aiming for, but the pop culture puns often feel incongruous, despite most of them being at least capable of drawing a chuckle from me. A case of trying to appeal to too many audiences at the same time?
To paraphrase IGN’s review, these moments are not just grounded in the story. They are so random, with the humour minimal in effectiveness. A less wide net would have provided for a more memorable albeit less outrageous story.
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