A sweet, naïve dog named Hank (voiced by Michael Cena) who dreams of becoming a samurai finds himself in a town full of cats who can’t stand him because…well…he’s a dog, in the kid-friendly animated movie Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank.
Inspired by Mel Brooks’ 1974 film Blazing Saddles and co-written by the iconic actor, the film begins with Hank tricked by Ika Chu (voiced by animal advocate Ricky Gervais) into believing he’s been made the new samurai by The Shogun (voiced by Mel Brooks). Ika Chu informs Hank he’s now the hero of a small town named Kakamucho in desperate need of a samurai to protect them from intruders. What Hank doesn’t know is that Ika Chu secretly wants to drive out the town’s cats so he can demolish their village and expand his palace.
Hank happily agrees and travels to the town only to find the citizens – all cats – immediately hate him just because he’s a dog.
Without anywhere else to go and desperate to become a true samurai, Hank turns to Jimbo (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), an overweight cynical cat who was once a real samurai. At first reluctant but eventually won over by the idea of brutally training Hank, Jimbo takes Hank under his tail and begins to train him to be a true samurai.
Full of slapstick and adolescent humor, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank is an animated re-tooling of Brooks’ film Blazing Saddles seemingly mixed with elements of the Kung Fu Panda trilogy. Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near as creative or entertaining as those films. The movie lacks any real heart or originality.
The voice cast is strong, with Ricky Gervais stealing every scene as the voice of the true villain Ika Chu. Gervais has great comedic timing and portrays Ika Chu as a sneaky, backstabbing kitty cat who loves only himself and detests everyone else.
Samuel L. Jackson IS Samuel L. Jackson as the voice of Jimbo, the once mighty samurai who now is a big, lazy, depressed cat who needs to help Hank so he can once again become who he was meant to be…a hero. Jackson uses retooled lines from some of his other films, such as Pulp Fiction and Snakes on a Plane, which is sure to entertain the adults while going right over the heads of the kids in the audience.
The computer animation looks good but isn’t anything moviegoers haven’t seen already. The biggest drawback is that there’s zero effort to try to do anything new or original. The story, jokes, characters…it’s all been done better and bigger before.
Still, with slapstick action, some likable characters, and juvenile jokes, Paramount Pictures’ Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank is a mildly entertaining adventure that should provide both kids and adults a little escapist summer fun.
GRADE: B-
MPAA Rating: PG for some language, rude and suggestive humor, action, and violence
Running Time: 1 hour 37 minutes
Release Date: July 15, 2022
Directed By: Mark Koetsier, Chris Bailey, and Rob Minkoff
