The reimagined cartoon version of Blazing Saddles is better than it looks
There’s no denying that the world’s children are yet again in the grips of Minions-mania, with Minions: The Rise of Gru already ranking among the highest global grossers of the year. Compared to this global juggernaut, or to the expensive productions typically offered by Disney and Pixar, the new Nickelodeon-branded animated film Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank looks like a direct-to-video leftover from 2005, like an off-brand combo ripoff of Zootopia and Kung Fu Panda. It’s a surprise to see it playing in movie theaters at all. Yet this cheap, dumb cartoon does offer something this summer’s other family animation offerings have largely avoided: a barrage of actual jokes.
It’s not thatThe Rise of Gru has loftier aims than making its target audience laugh. But its success reveals just how thoroughly Illumination, its parent studio, has managed to shift expectations about what constitutes comedy in a children’s film. On its surface, Rise of Gru looks like an heir to the inspired anarchy of old Looney Tunes, and it has a few moments that hit those heights. But for the most part, the Illumination brand of comedy involves mashing together silly behavior, filler lines that sarcastically comment on the action without making an actual joke, and goofy poses. Why do the Minions take kung fu lessons at one point in The Rise of Gru? For the same reason that so many animated movies end with dance parties: Because kids like it when cartoon characters bust familiar moves.
There’s nothing wrong with occupying children for 90 minutes. Yet there is something welcome and soothing about the way Paws of Fury links together puns, sight gags, one-liners, and self-referential spoofs. Even if some of them — many, even! — induce groans in
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