That’s Auntertainment! Episode 54: Mel Brooks and ‘History of the World, Part II’

May 21, 2023

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Special Delivery (CREDIT: Hulu/Screenshot)

If you’ve ever been studying history and wondered, “When will then be now?,” the answer is “Soon,” as Jeff, Aunt Beth, and returning guest Steven Grade discuss the career of Mel Brooks and the Hulu miniseries History of the World, Part II.

Doggone It, ‘Paws of Fury’ Insists That You Laugh at Its Self-Aware Samurai Animals

July 13, 2022

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Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies)

Starring: Michael Cera, Samuel L. Jackson, Ricky Gervais, Aasif Mandvi, Djimon Hounsou, Mel Brooks, Gabriel Iglesias, George Takei, Michelle Yeoh, Kylie Kuioka

Directors: Rob Minkoff, Mark Koetsier, Chris Bailey

Running Time: 97 Minutes

Rating: PG for The Type of Shenanigans You’d Expect in a Place Named “Kakamucho”

Release Date: July 15, 2022 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: What if feudal Japan had been populated entirely by anthropomorphic cats? Do you think that dogs would be allowed to visit? Of course not, right! And those pooches certainly couldn’t be samurai in this scenario, now could they? But what Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank dares to ask is: what if they could? And that’s how eager beagle Hank (Michael Cera) finds himself under the tutelage of reclusive sensei Jimbo (Samuel L. Jackson) in the village of Kakamucho. But it’s all a setup! You see, Hank was given the assignment of village samurai by the sneaky Ika Chu (Ricky Gervais) as a ploy to lay waste to the land. But this is an animated Nickelodeon movie, so we can rest easy knowing that the doggo and the kindhearted kitties are going to rally together in the end.

What Made an Impression?: Paws of Fury delivers all the typical slapstick gags and generally silly vibes of your average talking animal movie. But it distinguishes itself with a thorough strain of meta humor, as characters assure us that the running time is long enough to fit in the big finale and the action of a major set piece spills out into a virtual theater. At first, I thought those gags were all just done to honor the presence of Mel Brooks, who voices Shogun, the leader of Kakamucho. But then when I saw the late Richard Pryor’s name listed in the “Story By” credits (alongside Brooks and a few others), I realized it ran deeper than that.

As it turns out, Paws of Fury has had quite the winding pre-production history. Loosely inspired by Brooks’ indelible 1974 western sendup Blazing Saddles, it was originally known as Blazing Samurai before it arrived in its more generic cats-versus-dog setup, though the fourth wall breaking still remains. That made this thirtysomething viewer perfectly happy, but I wondered if any of the kiddos were picking up on those riffs. It’s not like they needed to, as there are also plenty of scatological jokes and bright colors to keep them otherwise occupied. But hey, I first fell in love with Brooks and his ilk when I was in this movie’s target age group. So yeah, Paws of Fury isn’t exactly revolutionizing anything the way that Saddles did, but it might just point some budding comedy nerds in the right direction.

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank is Recommended If You Like: Various shades of red and orange, Kid-friendly versions of sophisticated humor, George Takei shamelessly saying “Oh my” as often as possible

Grade: 3 out of 5 Blades

This Is a Movie Review: ‘Leap!’ Can Only Inspire Aspiring Ballerinas If They’re Unfamiliar with the Uncanny Valley

August 22, 2017

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This review was originally posted on News Cult in August 2017.

Starring: Elle Fanning, Nat Wolff, Carly Rae Jepsen, Maddie Ziegler, Kate McKinnon, Mel Brooks

Directors: Éric Summer and Éric Warin

Running Time: 89 Minutes

Rating: PG for Lightly Disturbing Stage Motherhood

Release Date: August 25, 2017

Hey guys, I know there are a lot of terrible things going on in the world that we need to be worried about, but there is yet one more thing I need to alert you about. Apparently the French are not so keen about orphans joining their prestigious ballet companies. Luckily, an animated movie now exists to inspire aspiring ballerinas to keep their heads up no matter where they are from! That movie is Leap!, but alas, its cookie-cutter CG animation, far from inspirational itself, is instead liable to call to mind the most bizarre cartoon you only discover in your most desperate Netflix binges. Oh well, at least it gives us an excuse to start a campaign to get Carly Rae Jepsen a Best Original Song Oscar.

The plot is the same as any inspirational animated kids movie: a misfit tries to sneak her way into the big time, where she must withstand the arrogance of the gatekeepers and the ruthlessness of her rivals, but she stands just enough of a chance for success, thanks to her own boundless gumption and a somewhat mysterious mentor figure who finds the room in her heart to train her. The whole affair is kind-spirited enough that even the most morally lacking characters in the ballet world are easily redeemed by the end. If you are an aspiring ballerina yourself, or have one in your life, you may derive value from watching Leap! For everyone else, the whole endeavor may be too disorienting to have any demonstrable results.

Leap! is an international co-production with two French directors, and accordingly it often has a vibe of being lost in translation. Characters respond to each other with lines that do not quite make sense. Dialogue is often offscreen, frequently resulting in a weird sensation in which the words sound simultaneously nearby and far away. These are the sorts of uncanny valley effects that slightly subpar CG animation always runs the risk of featuring. At least the conclusion is a satisfying reprieve from all that: as Jepsen’s sublimely buoyant “Cut to the Feeling” cuts in during the credits, it is like a marvelous return to the real world.

Leap! is Recommended If You Like: Ice Princess, Hallucinating from Inexplicably Weird Animation, Carly Rae Jepsen completism

Grade: 2.25 out of 5 Depressed Elephants