Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank – A Dated Animated Tale

The story behind the production of Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, originally entitled Blazing Samurai, has been a tumultuous one to say the least. Its story has evolved over the years with countless writers, directors, and producers coming and leaving as has distributors and animation studios. Originally set for release back in 2017 with its original title, the film and script was reworked with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting production. Acquired by Paramount back in January, the film is now upon us. With all that being said, how does the film fare after all of that? The final product does feel like something from 2017 if not even further back. Not only is the writing incredibly dated but the film is also blatantly derivative of countless other better animated children’s films. While the level of animation may not be the best either, at the end of the day, the one thing that really matters is whether or not it will hit the right spot with the audiences who matter. Though the film is sure to hit the spot with children, its appeal is likely to not go beyond that which could make it somewhat tiresome for older audiences.

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank follows an outcast dog named Hank (Cera) with dreams of becoming a samurai whose search would soon find himself in a world full of cats and a town looking for a protector. Meanwhile, a ridiculous villain named Ika Chu (Gervais) had plans to eliminate the town and its people. Thrust into the role of town samurai, Hank clearly still had a lot to learn in order to do the job therefore he needed training. Luckily he found someone in the form of a teacher named Jimbo (Jackson) who reluctantly agreed to train him. In a world hostile to dogs, acceptance was going to be a challenge. While that journey will absolutely not come as much of a surprise to anyone, it was still somewhat fun to watch. Though Hank and Jimbo are unimpressive characters individually, it is their dynamic that truly makes the film. The dialog overall may be rough at times but they were at least fun to watch together. Chu, on the other hand, was a run-of-the-mill comedically-ridiculous villain whose over-the-top nature is intended to be humorous for younger audiences. Be it Gervais or the material, the character simply did not work before snowballing from there.

The structure of the story should ultimately not come as that much of a surprise to audiences either. Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank is predictable to a tee as it pulls heavily from countless other children’s animated films. Also a remake of 1974’s Blazing Saddles, using cats and dogs instead of white or Black people, the parallels are there (Mel Brooks voices The Shogun and he and Richard Pryor are credited as screenwriters of this film), however, they are likely to just go over the heads of younger audiences. Another element that doesn’t work is its insistence on meta commentary. While present in the film that inspired it, it doesn’t work here as it feels forced and is unfunny. Despite all of this, the film still has some exciting moments and fun characters but in the end, it’s not enough to overlook everything else, including mediocre animation. In defense of that, perhaps it would have worked better had the film been released in 2017 as intended.

The best part of Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, was of course its performances, specifically Cera and Jackson and their dynamic as Hank and Jimbo, elevating the material with their chemistry. It’s a shame that the film didn’t tap into it enough. When it came to the other performances, Gervais included, the generic nature of it all was just so utterly unimpressive as a result of the subpar material from a surprisingly large number of credited writers. As a whole, they all still come off as paycheck performances.

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank is middle fare that does enough to get by. Maybe it will play off better at home as the film feels more like a straight-to-video release than a theatrical one.

still courtesy of Paramount Pictures

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.