The Tiger’s Apprentice follows young Tom who, after his grandmother dies, has to rise up to protect a Phoenix egg with the help of mystical animal warriors. With a surprisingly stacked cast including Henry Golding, Lucy Liu, Sandrah Oh, Greta Lee, and Michelle Yeoh, The Tiger’s Apprentice moves at a break-neck pace and leaves a lot to be desired.
This movie, based on the 2003 novel of the same name, apparently went through development hell. It was first meant to be a series for Cartoon Network in 2010 but that never happened. It was then picked up by Paramount Pictures in 2019 but between delays from COVID and directing changes, the movie finally came out this year. Apparently, there was a lot of mistreatment of staff and overall it seemed like a real mess behind the scenes, However, casting took place in 2020 and they were able to bring in some incredible talent.
I did not like much of this movie in all honesty. The cast is good but the writing is quite bad. I don’t want to kill this movie for it because I imagine it’s for kids, but it is painfully atrocious if you’re not the target audience. The animation is not attractive, although some fights are visually appealing. With all the hell this went through just to be made, it doesn’t surprise me how cheap this looks 90% of the time.
The pace of this movie legitimately would be pulled over on the highway. The movie is the extreme version of showing and not telling. The movie starts with a high-action set piece followed by another high-action scene not too long after. The movie is only like 70 minutes long, which makes me feel like reading the novel is a prerequisite to watching this. There is no character development or really any depth to any character because there is just no time.
The humor might work for kids, which is the only reason I can think of watching this movie. It is very quippy and quick. There are themes of learning who you are and responsibility which parents would love their kids to learn.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Tiger’s Apprentice is a kids movie. The movie itself is very colorful and I think the quick pace works well for younger audiences. I can’t see much reason why anyone without kids to seek this movie out, however.
2/5
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