Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank

A hard-on-his-luck hound finds himself in a town full of cats in need of a hero to defend them from a ruthless villain's wicked plot to wipe their village off the map. With help from a reluctant mentor, our underdog must assume the role of town samurai and team up with the villagers to save the day.

  • Released: 2022-07-14
  • Runtime: 97 minutes
  • Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
  • Stars: Michael Cera, Samuel L. Jackson, Mel Brooks, Djimon Hounsou, George Takei, Ricky Gervais, Michelle Yeoh, Gabriel Iglesias, Aasif Mandvi, Kylie Kuioka, Cathy Shim, Stephen Apostolina, Kirk Baily, Steve Blum, Ranjani Brow, William Calvert, David Chen, Miles Clark, Seth Clark, Matt Corboy, Jeff Fischer, Jason Griffith, Larry Herron, Bridget Hoffman, Rif Hutton, Ashley Lambert, Lex Lang, Terence Mathews, Tom McGrath, Scott Menville, David Michie, Rob Minkoff, Zoe Minkoff, Edie Mirman, Juan Pacheco, Michelle Ruff, Warren Sroka, Kelly Stables, Jaquita Ta'le, Arianna Trames, Floyd Van Buskirk, Kirk Wise, Matthew Wolf, Michelle Yeoh
  • Director: Rob Minkoff, Mark Koetsier, Chris Bailey, Chris Bailey
 Comments
  • losifer-48419 - 14 October 2023
    Someone told Mel Brooks he couldn't do Blazing Saddles today....
    So, I think what happened was that someone told Mel Brooks that he couldn't get away with doing Blazing Saddles today; and he said Hold My Beer. Then I assume the bet got more and more outlandish requirements like, you've gotta get Samuel L. Jackson in it, and make it kid friendly; but you've got to do these same jokes! I enjoyed it, and all the Blazing Saddles flashbacks that came with it. That movie will always have a special place in my heart because in high school, on the last day of school, a teacher had decided he didn't ever want to teach again I guess, and the way he ensured that was putting in a VHS copy of Blazing Saddles and just leaving campus; never to return.
  • michaelsiphone - 27 November 2022
    TIME TO MARK SOME TERRITORY
    TIME TO MARK SOME TERRITORY

    Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank is a 2022 computer-animated martial arts comedy film directed by Rob Minkoff, Mark Koetsier, and Chris Bailey (in Koetsier and Bailey's feature directorial debut) 🐶

    It's good 🙂 I'd recommend it if you like this genre 👍🏼

    A fun, fast paced movie for the whole family...

    A hard-on-his-luck hound finds himself in a town full of cats in need of a hero to defend them from a ruthless villain's wicked plot to wipe their village off the map. With help from a reluctant mentor, our underdog must assume the role of town samurai and team up with the villagers to save the day.
  • goshamorrell - 1 September 2022
    Kids will adore this film.
    Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, for all intents and purposes, is a Mel Brooks movie. Not an actual one, written and directed by comedy legend Brooks, but one that emulates Brooks' style, tone, and gags while also referencing Brooks' own movies. To clarify, Brooks himself is involved with Paws of Fury, as the voice of the Shogun, and the movie itself is more or less a reworked version of Blazing Saddles (it was even titled Blazing Samurai at one point in its development), so this is the closest thing you'll get to an actual Mel Brooks film here in 2022. Paws of Fury is a touch clumsy, a bit hacky, and not exactly an animated treat for the eyes. The story is tired and many of the jokes fall flat. All that aside, it's still good for a chuckle or two if not only because Mel Brooks' entire M. O. is to throw a hundred jokes at the wall in the hope 30 of them will stick. So the humor here, in this simple story of a hapless dog, Hank (Michael Cera), being made the protector of a cat village, is literally forced through the lens of Brooks as if every potential guffaw was born of a "What would Mel do?" philosophy. Paws of Fury's bizarre existence and inspired goofiness allows it to eke out a soft victory in the crowded realm of derivative animation. The hero's journey aspect is rote and the meta elements are exhausting but there's a glow behind it all that shines as a reverent beacon for Mel Brooks in what might be the last of this particular type of film. If an outside trip to see a feature-length cartoon is in your near future. Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank is a crass cyclone of jokes and japes that lovingly (also strangely) presents itself as a Mel Brooks movie remake, with Brooks' blessing and participation. This unique quality helps distinguish the project, even though the gags will elicit more eye-rolls than laughs.
  • ayoreinf - 9 August 2022
    Let's speak about originality
    In recent years I've said more than once that I no longer rate originality so very high. I don't mean that being original has hurt any movie, but for me - having a good story and good characters is way more important. Not to mention good acting. We've got all three boxes checked in this one. Yes many of the cross references will be missed by the kids but on the other hand will be like super sweet Easter eggs for the older viewers and who said they shouldn't get their treats in a so called "kids' movie".

    Every single voice actor in the original English version is spot on, with the leads shining through. And every second Mel Brooks's character is on screen is a feast for his fans. He's simply shooting cross references like an ace gun slinger. If you can't get these maybe you should look out Blazing Saddles, and most of his other great comedies in my personal book they're still fun to watch.

    And regarding originality - Howard Hawks made Rio Bravo on 1959, on 1966, seven years later he took the same story made some necessary changes and made El Dorado. Both had John Wayne at the lead collecting an unlikely ensemble of no good losers to fight off a gang of outlaws. If the great Howard Hawks could do it after seven years, Mel Brooks can make a cartoon version of his old classic that saw the light of day 48 years ago. If only so the younger generation gets to see his work.