This movie would have really popped in the late 80’s, early 90’s. That was the sweet spot when cartoons seemed poised to launch toys, and other things for kids to get excited about. Lunchboxes, junk food, comics, whatever. The Tiger’s Apprentice is actually based on a concept that could have launched a kids TV show, and sold some toys. there’s a lot of potential when your heroes are representative of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac. So, each kid would want to collect their own favorite hero. Totally possible. I had the four Ninja Turtles, but there were all these side-character mutants too. And then they started releasing other versions of the turtles, so they were themed. I’m telling you, send this movie back to 1990, and it’ll be a huge hit.
But, sadly it’s a Paramount Plus streaming exclusive, so your kids barely know it exists. The film does have audio description, and I didn’t have a problem with it. This is a little above Paw Patrol in terms of a target demo, and the audio description reflects that it hopes to get that 7-12 group, instead of the kids watching shows that can also help them learn.
The plot isn’t anything amazing, but the voice cast is a who’s who of Asian talent, with Henry Goulding, Lucy Liu, Sandra Oh, <="" note="" to="" cast.="" don’t="" somehow.="" sherry="" seemed="" was="" alter="" be="" direction="" his="" funny.="" lee="" that="" greta="" yang,="" cola,="" who="" cares.="" me="" jo="" let="" they="" coming="" put="" koy,="" he="" a="" directorial="" about="" off="" like="" gay,="" worried="" try="" p="" so="" were="" the="" voice="" out="">
This is OK. Not remarkable, but your kids will enjoy this. It is possible that they might even enjoy it more than Kung Fu Panda 4, which tried to diminish the franchise by not paying the actors who voice the Furious Five to come back. Here, we’ve got an onslaught of talent, and a similar theme.
Check it out if you like this genre, or if you need something to watch with the kids.
Final Grade: B-
