Fourteen years ago, a children’s movie masterpiece came out called Kung Fu Panda. It blended two things that kid love together, martial arts and animals, especially big fluffy ones. It was a big hit, so much so, that like all good things, they turned it into a mediocre franchise, and they started to pump out the movies, so that they could rake in the revenue, not too much different than Despicable Me and the subsequent Minions movies. If you get the kids hooked on one good one, no matter how bad the rest are, the kids will want to go back. Kids movies are money-making machines, but Paws of Furry did not reach that level of good, and hopefully it will not be back.
Paws of Fury is the story of Hank, a dog living in a world full of cats, he went on a long journey, that was skipped over, to arrive in the shogun world of cats, but the age-old problem still exists, cats and dogs do not get along. So he was arrested, and he was about to be executed, but Ika Chu decides to spare him, and he makes Hank, a “samurai.” There is a town, Kakamucho, that Ika Chu wants to get rid of, and they need a Samurai. Hank is the perfect choice because he is incompetent, so he does a poor job of defending the city. There is one problem with the plan, and that is Jimbo, a washed-up drunk Samurai, who just hangs out in the dojo doing nothing, until Hank shows up. Jimbo gets a second life, and he returns to his Samurai ways.
Ika Chu does not give up, and he keeps throwing things at the town. One of his last attempts involves being nice to Hank, and while Hank is gone, he has the village ransacked and burned, so everyone turns on Hank when he returns, and before the ransacking, Jimbo returns to his drinking, so he cannot save the town. When the town was burned, the thieves took one of Hank’s and Jimbo’s friend as a captive, so they team up, and they rebuild their relationships, and they go into a final battle against Ika Chu and his forces.
Before we get into anymore on the movie, I would be remise, to not touch on the short that occurred before the film. So Pixar is known not only for their great movies, but also for their shorts, and Nickelodeon decided that they would put a short into this film to pump up one of their kids shows, but this was the worst idea ever. The show was the Big Nate Show, and the short might have been the worst thing I have ever seen. It starts out with a crew of kids making a YouTube type video on making ice cream, and then they all pass out, and there is a massive hamster, that is one of their pets. The hamster starts talking about how, what we initially think is a he, is upset. So the hamster sits on one of the boys and starts talking, then the it makes a gross farting noise, and two what initially seem like poop pellets pop out, but they are baby hamsters, and then this continues in mass, and the whole thing is gross. Not only is it gross, but it is also incredibly poorly done. The animation is terrible, especially for the massive hamster. I do not walk out of movies, especially not in the movie short, but if there was ever a reason to walk out of a theater, and never return to one again before the actual movie even starts, this would be it.
This movie did have some good parts to it, and that came mainly from their flurry of jokes. It had to be close to every five lines in the movie was some kind of joke. None of them really got huge laughs out of me or the audience of mostly children. To be honest, I think I was doing more laughing than anyone there. The better description would be snigger, it would get a light ha, from me, and then it would be over. To be fair to them though, their one liner hit rate was high. It seemed like a large amount of the jokes were going over the heads of the kids there, and the jokes that landed for the kids did not land for me usually. One joke that was good, that took me too long to get, was the name of the town, Kakamucho. In Spanish this would translate to lots of poop, and on the sign where it says population 240, the kids make it say poop 240, a quality jab.
There were times where it did seem a little mature for a kid’s movie. The biggest reason for saying this was the reoccurrence of drunk Jimbo. When he was first introduced, he clearly had a drinking problem. He was drinking, stumbling, and slurring, and this might go over some kids’ heads, but it seemed like a lot, especially that they mentioned it multiple times in the movie, and they went back to it again later in the film. Also the majority of the film, they completely disregarded voices that came from children, they were constantly pushed aside for that of the adults, and specifically the voices that came from male adults. Not the best message to send, but they did try to remediate it at the end by making one of the little kittens a Samurai. Another was the use of weapons and their safety. There was a scene in the movie, where they are using the newfound technology of guns, and they are pointing the guns in the face of each other like it is nothing, and kids do not know better.
One of the comments I saw about this movie was that the animations was not that great for 2022, and I would have to agree. One of the most glaring aspects of this criticism comes from the eyebrows of Ika Chu. They were excessive, but they almost looked like they were floating off his face, they looked like they were CGIed on an animation, and if something is animated, it should be easy to make something look well put together, but it did not look that way. I mentioned Kung Fu Panda, and it seems like the animation in 2008 was just as good as this movie. Oddly enough, in the closing scene, they did a rotating zoom out, and it was like the they paid twice as much for the animation of the closing shot as they did for the whole movie, it looked that much better as they ended.
There were a couple of other things that bothered me about this movie. The first area was the overly self-awareness of the film. They mention the run time of the film multiple times. There are also some asides where the characters are talking to the audience as an aside, but they do not work at all, and they also have a scene where the character falls into the audience, and it is beyond idiotic. The other problem comes with their lack of timeline. They seem to be in shogun Samurai times, but they are constantly making references to other things that are in the future. Then mention things like Hank should be a lapdog, so where are the people in the universe, there seemed to be no continuity of any sort.
This was not a bad movie per say, but it was a kid’s movie, and it was only one hundred minutes, including the short at the beginning. The bad thing is that it felt like it took 30 minutes longer than the Minions Rise of Gru to finish, but it was only ten minutes longer. The Minions movie provoked fewer but harder laughs, and this one provoked more often sniggers, so which is really better is hard to tell, but I think because I had higher hopes for a dog movie, that Minions Rise of Gru was slightly better than this. The voice actors did also help to bolster this film, Michael Cera as Hank, and Samuel L. Jackson as Jimbo were both great. Animated movies usually do a good job of casting. The next big, animated film to come out is Super Pets, and as a huge Krypto fan growing up, I have high expectations. I do not think I would recommend seeing this film, even if you have kids, because they do not set the best example for kids. I give it 2.5 stars, but maybe closer to 2 stars.
Other Movies This Week:
The Grand Budapest Hotel: A solid Wes Anderson movie, that fits into his mold well. It is always a good use of movie watching time to watch a Wes Anderson film.
Fresh: A woman who hates dating apps, finds a man to fall in love with at the grocery store, and it is too good to be true. Next thing she knows, she is locked in a basement, and the guy is selling body parts for some serious cash. Watch this on HULU, it is great!
New Rankings:
Paws of Fury: 2.5 Stars
The Grand Budapest Hotel: 3.5 Stars
Fresh: 4 Stars
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