Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 25, 2023

Wait, hold on, pause, or better said, paws. This isn't some Kung Fu Panda sequel or spin-off? It certainly looks like that, but outward appearances can be deceiving. No, this is not Kung Fu Panda, not from world or story and certainly not in humor, heart, story, characterization, and so on and so forth. Paws of Fury is, rather, a derivative quasi-knock-off with some original ideas but little that conveys that the movie actually has a soul. Self-aware to a fault, too mature for the kids, too silly for adults, and lacking draw beyond a decent little core premise, the movie is a flat and flavorless animation that just begs the audience to put in any of the three Kung Fu Panda films again for a repeat, and much more enjoyable, experience.

Ika Chu (voiced by Ricky Gervais) rules over a plentifully large kingdom inhabited entirely by cats, but he wants more. He wants to swallow up the nearby village of Kakamucho by forcing its residents out through intimidation and violence spearheaded by his trusted ally Ohga (voiced by George Takei). The town's samurai protector flees and is replaced by Hank (voiced by Michael Cera), who is a dog that was previously scheduled for execution. Desperate for any protection, the cat residents of Kakamucho decide to allow Hank to serve as their samurai guardian. Hank is trained by the wise Jimbo (Samuel L. Jackson) but nevertheless faces a monumental task of protecting the village from Ika Chu's overwhelming power and determination.

Paws of Fury is obviously influenced by the classic Samurai films of yore which are present and accounted for in visuals, style, and thematic motifs, here given a more family-friendly story and cadence. The film's sole focus seems to be on its own self-awareness, often to the detriment of its accessibility to kids who won’t get the references to the genre greats. But that’s OK. One of the film’s best assets is simply its production design and animation renderings which streamline classic Samurai settings with colorful adornments and populated by feline characters of various shapes and sizes. It’s fun to look at, and adults who know the Samurai genre will appreciate what is obviously careful consideration of genre tropes and generally appealing blends of modern sensibilities and throwback elements, but the rest of the movie is far too off-kilter to make a fully satisfying venture. Kids might enjoy the movement and the colors and the characters, but unlike Kung Fu Panda this film is emotionally vacant and dramatically unsatisfying.

The animation is excellent, as one would expect in this day and age, and the film blends complex animation with easy and accessible visuals that are welcoming but not strictly lifelike. It's colorful, fun, and well capable of delivering the sort of visual treat experience younger audience demand these days. The voice acting is fairly soulless, sad to say, for a film packed with such big name stars. Part of that is the result of a script that's less focused on characters and more focused on the self-aware antics; they are more vessels for that dialogue than they are hearts and centers for their characters, but the core voice work is certainly good enough to carry the plot forward and support the wonderful animation on display.

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Paramount's Blu-ray release of Paws of Fury delivers a typically excellent 1080p transfer fans have come to expect from new animation films. The image is unsurprisingly clean and efficient, texturally stout, and overall visually robust. The image presents complex animation details with ease, revealing character fur, clothing structures, and natural world details with just about all of the clarity and definition inherent to the original animation; there's practically no stone unturned and one would be hard-pressed to imagine a hypothetical UHD offering a significantly sharper or crisper image. Colors are likewise very good, even within the SDR realm. They are bright, bold, complex, and never disappoint. The level of vividness, depth, and overall agreeability are second to none, bolstered only by excellent blacks and crisp whites. There are no source or encode issue of note. This is a gorgeous presentation from Paramount.

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Dolby Atmos soundtrack musters up just about all the activity one could want, minus a little more force at the low end. While bass is not anemic, it could certainly stand to be cranked up a bit. Otherwise, everything here is in fine shape. Surround activity is excellent, with increased extension in the surround back and overhead channels to really draw the listener into the movie's world. Whether subtle atmosphere or high intensity action, the expert feel for precision placement, seamless directionality, and lifelike depth and detail are second to none. Musical engagement is fluid and clear with fine front end spacing and excellent balance to surround extension. Dialogue is pure with clear definition from the broad vocal range of the cast, holding firm to a natural front-center placement.

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank contains a few extras standard to this type of movie. No DVD copy is included. However, Paramount has bundled in a digital copy voucher. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• Cool Cats and One Hot Dog! (1080p, 9:02): Exploring characters, plot details, the voice cast, and more.
• In the Drawing Room with Director Rob Minkoff (1080p, 19:02): Director/Producer Rob Minkoff reveals how to draw Hank and Jimbo.
• Giving Voice to Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (1080p, 8:07): Exploring the voice acting work in the film.

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank had massive potential as a genre-blending and style mixing classic, but as it is the film is merely watchable, dragged down by too much self-aware content, tepid voice work, and not much of a story. The shell is there, but the heart is not. Paramount's Blu-ray does deliver high yield video and audio paired with a few extras. Fans of the film should be pleased with this package.