Is Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank safe for kids? Is Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank OK for kids? Read the Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Review | Safe for Kids?, an honest parents guide and full mom movie review of the all-new Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon animated dog and cat film starring Michael Cera. No spoilers! #PawsofFury May contain commissioned links.
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Review | Safe for Kids? Parents Guide
Wait a doggone minute! Paramount has an animated film out this summer too?! That’s a cat of a different color.
In case you didn’t hear, Pixar and Illumination aren’t the only kids movie franchises taking advantage of wide open movie theaters this summer. Quietly releasing Paws of Fury after a flurry of Sonic 2 promotion, Paramount/Nickelodeon are teaming up in 2022 for a new, stand alone animated film for the dogs…and cats.
Is Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank safe for kids? In this Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Review | Safe for Kids? Parents Guide, I’m talking visuals, the story, a full PG rating parents guide breakdown for violence/suspense, language and adult themes, and sharing whether this Paramount/Nickelodeon animated film is a fun summer flick for families or a B-movie you need to skip. A no spoiler parent movie review – is Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank kid friendly? What child age is recommended to watch Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank?
But is this dog and cat infested movie as good as the Disney and Universal options for families this summer? Or is this film a “ruff” knock-off of a beloved DreamWorks franchise?
The Visuals
Don’t go in expecting Sonic the Hedgehog CGI level. Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank animation is not exactly at the high 2022 technology standards when it comes to family summer movies. Paws of Fury is more of a Netflix animated series equivalent than a blockbuster kid movie powerhouse on the big movie screen. However, Paramount certainly invests enough detail, color and interest on the screen to keep young kids engaged.
The Story
It’s a dog, surrounded by cats, learning to become a samurai. A hard-on-his-luck hound Hank played by Michael Cera (“Arrested Development“) teams up with Samuel L. Jackson (“Avengers: Endgame“) to take on ruthless villain Ricky Gervais (“The Office“) in the underdog samurai movie of 2022. With an all-star voice cast including Mel Brooks, George Takei, Aasif Mandvi, Gabriel Iglesias, Djimon Hounsou, Michelle Yeoh, Kylie Kuioka, and Cathy Shim, Paramount Pictures is hoping that this Kung Fu story with a twist will entice families to fall in love with an animated underdog as we make our way back to the movie theaters this summer.
But does the story premise sound a little familiar to you too? Yeah, I know. Certainly feeling along the same lines as a popular DreamWorks Kung Fu Panda franchise, Paramount Pictures uses a screen of crude toilet humor to cover up their grasping at straws (aka familiar kid movie tropes) in the hopes that no one notices. But going into Paws of Fury with low expectations has it’s perks.
With themes of friendship, teamwork, stereotyping, bullying and acceptance, along with some familiar pop culture Easter Eggs, the Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank underdog story slowly grew on me. A surprising departure from the usual Disney or Illumination movie plot, I found myself laughing more than I thought I would, smiling more than I thought I would, and dare I say – enjoying the movie more than I thought I would?
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank PG Rating Explained
Is Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank safe for kids? It’s no secret that I am highly skeptical of all MPAA ratings, especially the PG ones. As we know, not all PG ratings are the same. As a parent, it’s been rather heartbreaking to witness how movie ratings have shifted over the years with no more G-rated movies.
With film ratings unpredictable these days, even PG ratings oscillating between Turning Red intense to Christopher Robin calm, there’s a wide age range between 0-12 years old for parents to consider. Having fully disclosed parent guidelines can help determine if a movie is family friendly – and safe for the whole family to watch together this summer.
Why is Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank rated PG? In this Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Review | Safe for Kids, this Paramount animated film has a PG age rating for “some language, rude and suggestive humor, action and violence.” Is Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank safe for kids? Should parents be worried about taking their kids to see another questionable crude humor PG rated Paramount animated movie? Let’s breakdown that MPAA rating for parents in this Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Parents Guide.
Violence. Overall cartoon violence is rampant in Paws of Fury. Multiple use of weapons including guns, samurai swords, arrows, and knives are used on screen. Hand to hand fighting including face blows are common. No gore or blood, however there is an implied off-screen execution (with screaming), weapons piercing parts of the body for an overall humorous result. Multiple references to the words “kill,” “death,” and “dead” are said throughout the movie.
Language. Swear words and bad language were actually very mild for Paws of Fury, with a visual “Holy *@!?” and “poop” written on the screen, “it doesn’t suck,” “Doggone it,” “dang it,” “oh my gosh,” and swear word substitutions for popular phrases including “what the mother father cocker spaniel” and “what the fuzz,” and “butt,” to mild insults including “dork,” “idiot,” “dummies,” “dumb,” “stupid,” “twit” and “loser.” The name of the town is ‘Kakamucho,’ said over and over, about 20 times throughout the film. The town may stay with your child post-screening.
Adult Themes. The toilet humor is endless in Paws of Fury, and honestly got old and uncomfortable fast. Multiple butt cheeks in skimpy clothing, farts, burps, poop, toilets, potty references, doggy doo, “poop” written on screen, suggestion to pee on floor, visual of animal turning around and zipping up pants, and suggestive lines like “your mom wanted to throw me a bone,” and inferences to spade and neutering. Topless cats in only skimpy bottoms (including an attempt to cover up in the shower), inferred full clothing removal (nothing seen), and a kiss on the cheek round out the heavy suggestive adult themes. But you know that there’s more.
Multiple alcohol references are used throughout the movie, including characters acting drunk and stumbling, drinking from martini glasses, making alcohol from a chemistry-like set up, nightclub dancing and atmosphere, and inference to gambling.
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Age Rating for Kids
With a runtime of 1 hour 37 minutes, Paws of Fury is the right length for a children’s movie. With plenty of kid-driven comedy, action and a simple story plot, kids will enjoy an animated film that caters to all of the farts, toilets and laughs that this Kung Fu spoof movie brings this summer. Made for kids (with plenty of over-kids-heads crude humor for adult fans as well), Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank is a family film that mildly surprises families with a departure from the usual run-of-a-muck summer flick.
Paws of Fury; The Legend of Hank is most like a B-list Kung Fu Panda and Blazing Saddles knock-off animated movie, with hints of Shrek.
This Paramount animated film has a PG age rating for “some language, rude and suggestive humor, action and violence” by the MPAA.
There is one post credits scene – though I’m honestly scratching my head as to why it was added. But, it’s there.
Based on my Paws of Fury parents guide and mom review above, this parent movie reviewer would not recommend Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank to kids younger than the age of 4-5 years old.
Considering the full PG rating breakdown above, this parent movie reviewer would not recommend Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank to kids younger than the age of 4-5 years old. Paws of Fury is a movie catering to the little dog and cat lovers. But the insertion of lots of crude humor (fairly equivalent to the new Minions: The Rise of Gru release), new characters and unknown Paramount movie track record, parents may be concerned if this labeled movie for kids is really worth the investment over other more popular, more familiar releases this summer.
I recommend parents to prescreen this Paws of Fury film for all questionable adult themes and crude humor for your kids. But with overall mild language, cartoon-like violence and raining cats and dogs, this animated film may be off the radar for your summer movie bucket list – but may actually be entertaining.
The Overall
The moral of the story is – if you go into a B-list Kung Fu Panda/Blazing Saddles knock-off animated movie with low expectations, you come out shrugging your shoulders, saying “hmm, that wasn’t so bad.” A departure from the predictable Disney•Pixar or Illumination/Universal summer movie options, Paramount surprises families with an all-star cast, plenty of laughs, and ALL of the doggone cats and dogs – adding up to a slightly more than mediocre animated film for the summer.
Not exactly the award-winning story with heartstring pull feels, but I expected Paws of Fury to be a little more “bark than bite.” But go figure, it wasn’t as “ruff” as these review jokes.
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Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank pounces into theaters on Friday, July 15, 2022. Will your family be watching the new Paramount Pictures animated film?
I was invited to a special movie screening in exchange for this Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Review | Safe for Kids? Parents Guide. All photos courtesy of Paramount. Be sure to follow Raising Whasians for more movie updates, celebrity interviews, entertainment and behind-the-scenes info!
Charles says
This is not a B-list Kung Fu Panda knock off. This an animated remake of the the great Mel Brooks movie Blazing Saddles. If you are going to critique a movie at least know what movie the film is based on, and if you haven’t seen the movie Blazing Saddles then I suggest that you view it and then you will know what I am referring to.