“The Tiger’s Apprentice,” Raman Hui’s Modern Spin on Chinese Mythology

Funny, predictable, and full of familiar tropes, such as sacrificing for our loved ones, becoming an unexpected heir to great power, and how working together is stronger than working alone, Paramount+’s “The Tiger’s Apprentice” is a visually entertaining and modernized take on the Chinese zodiac and Chinese mythology. The PG-rated animated film is wholesome fare and a fun way to spend 84 minutes with your family. 

Based on Laurence Yep’s popular children’s book series of the same name, “The Tiger’s Apprentice” is a coming-of-age movie following 15-year-old Chinese American Tom Lee (Brandon Soo Hoo) after he learns he’s the last descendant of the Guardians, a lineage of magical protectors. As a Guardian, Tom is trained by a Zodiac tiger warrior named Hu (Henry Golding) to protect the world from Loo (Michelle Yeoh), an evil force who wants to use magic and destroy humanity. Not only must Tom quickly master his new powers even as he begrudgingly accepts that the bedtime stories his grandmother told him were true, he must somehow unite the rest of the 12 Zodiac animal warriors to fight Loo and her “yaoguai” demon minions.

Having It All: Celebrity Voices, Range of Character, Dialogue

“The Tiger’s Apprentice” is a solid family flick, and the quality of animation is particularly notable. I really dug the look of the characters — especially Mistral (Sandra Oh), the dragon warrior in her human form, and Tom’s new friend Rav (Leah Lewis). The animation style feels modern and real, the details of the food, San Francisco, and Chinatown all popping.  

Director Raman Hui, who got his start in animation, told me that they wanted to try for a little bit of a painting look, adding shading and painting textures, as well as offsetting it slightly to look less like a picture. “We don’t want it to be too cartoony, because the story itself asks for something in between cartoony and realistic,” said Hui, worrying that overexaggeration would weaken the message of the story. “[Tom] has to still have some kind of emotions and reality in it, so you feel like this thing [that] hits him is real.”

However, some of the characters like Sydney (Bowen Yang) could be more outlandish due to the nature of their character. “Bowen’s voice, when you put into a rat, you can have more fun. You can stretch it more, you can be more crazy,” said Hui. “But at the end, you feel like even though the animals are talking and the kid is facing serious problems, at the same time, you feel like they’re in the same world.”

The movie is stacked full of Asian and Asian American celebrity voice actors. Beyond Yeoh and the other previously mentioned actors, the cast practically reads like a who’s who of Asian American stars over the past few decades, with Lucy Liu, Jo Koy, and Greta Lee, just to name a few. Due to the sheer number of big names, many voices were unable to get as much screen time as others, but rest assured, the voice acting is solid and works with the animation to great effect. 

In fact, my favorite aspect of “The Tiger’s Apprentice” is the snappy dialogue between the characters. The banter shines and it’s particularly lovely and healing for me to see that same sort of lively, casual, loving conversation between Tom and his grandmother (Kheng Hua Tan). While intergenerational relationships are often characterized as full of misunderstanding and rife with conflict — especially when it comes to Asian Americans — Tom and Mrs. Lee are at ease with one another, even when they disagree. The obvious and physically affectionate love is evident and not what we see in stereotypical depictions of love in an Asian immigrant family.

This same sort of ease and intimacy also permeate all the other relationships — even if characters are gruff or not cuddly in personality. It makes my cold, dark heart happy to see warmth, tenderness, and gentle self-deprecating humor as the norm instead of the more caustic, sarcastic, and barbed interactions we can often see in “edgy” material. Though difficulties and light angst are present, overall, the mood of the movie is light and optimistic. 

Animating the Details — from The Fight Scenes to The Music 

Not only do the characters and relationships stand out, the action and fight scenes are exciting and clever. The movie uses the surrounding environments, physical attributes and limitations of the Zodiac animal warrior and human forms, and surprising elements of magic, all to great synergistic effect.

Hui explained that first, they worked with a previsualization team where the artists set up the camera and blocking to have a sense of where the characters are going to move and how the camera will follow. 

“Once we have that figured out in animation, we use that as a base and then we do the move that we think is going to work with the camera,” he said, revealing how fun it is to get a sense of action. “We can do anything we want in animation. They can float in the air a little bit longer. They can land sharp or they can land soft. It’s all under control so it’s much easier than getting a real actor to do that.”

Moreover, the soundtrack is fantastic. The music by 88rising is cool and fresh, lending a newness to the depictions of Chinatown we may have grown used to seeing in other movies and shows. Hui explained how they had been in talks with 88rising from very early on and really liked their work and music. 

“We felt it was a great fit,” he added, saying they wanted something hip and modern, since you easily go to that old, traditional Chinese music when you talk about San Francisco’s Chinatown. “We didn’t want to go that route. We wanted something more contemporary and [that] also felt young because it’s a story about a teenager.” 

I also loved the interspersed Cantonese and Mandarin (plus, the non-Chinese-speaking actors were surprisingly decent at their pronunciations) and how proper Chinese pronunciation is used for comedic effect. The trouble Tom had in saying some words properly was totally relatable. 

“It was tough to get the ‘fa shu’ (magic) recording because everyone says it a little differently,” explained Hui as he discussed the difficulty of getting the non-Chinese-speaking actors to say the Chinese words correctly. “Sometimes it’s fun because we wanted Brandon, Tom’s character, to say it wrong so the other characters can make fun of him. And sometimes he said it right, and we’re like, ‘No, that’s too correct. You should say it more not right.’” 

“The Tiger’s Apprentice” is a Funny and Light Take

Overall, “The Tiger’s Apprentice” is a good choice for family movie night. However, near the back half of the movie, the pacing feels off, like it’s too fast. As a result of this, it occasionally feels like a proof of concept and backdoor pilot; to tell the truth, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are hopes to create a television series spinoff in the future. 

Also, the movie’s lightness of tone is what works against the movie in its moments of danger. I never got the sense of any true peril. While I know that this genre almost always has a happy ending and a good resolution for the heroes, the happy ending still has to feel earned. We never really find out the background of Tom’s family and the Guardian lineage or any real backstory about the Zodiac warriors. There also doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason for the villain Loo’s actions, and a lot of the climax felt rushed. 

The stakes never feel real and, as a result, I was never fully invested in the outcome because it was a foregone conclusion. Regardless, I enjoyed “The Tiger’s Apprentice” far more than I had anticipated, and the humor and love were exactly what I needed. 

Hui summed up best why, in the end, “The Tiger’s Apprentice” appealed to me. “When you see [Tom] actually grow from ‘I don’t believe in all this’ to ‘I’m accepting this, I understand, and now I’m willing to do whatever needs to be done.’ That’s the great part: seeing a teenager grow in that little period of time in the movie.” Mrs. Lee and Tiger Hu would be proud.

“The Tiger’s Apprentice” can be streamed exclusively on Paramount+ on February 2, 2024. Check out the trailer here.

Image credits: Paramount+