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How is it that a mockbuster of Puss in Boots managed to capture the spirit and humor of a Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon more than the 2018 reboot? While Chop Kick Panda and Tappy Toes are the more widely known of Renegade Animation's Gaiam-contracted rip-offs, A Furry Tail has flown under the radar outside of the stray review or RalphTheMovieMaker showing his acute lack of animation knowledge that one time.

That's really a shame though, because this is actually the best of the bunch, being consistently funny, having faster pacing, and possessing the most appealing art-style. I was skeptical at first since I really don't like fairytale parodies (outside of Shrek and Fractured Fairy Tales, funnily enough). If even Tex Avery couldn't make them funny to me, surely this one was doomed from the start. I'm happy to admit I was wrong, though. If Chop Kick Panda and Tappy Toes were like good Animaniacs episodes, this is like a Pinky and the Brain segment.

STORY & WRITING:

I don't think I need to go into depth with the story as it's a twist on the Charles Perrault version of Puss in Boots. Or at least according to the movie it is. I never read it so I'll just take their word for it. All you need to know is that Puss in Boots is imprisoned and must be freed by his three blind mice friends in time to fight the evil sorcerer Dracul. As always with these movies, the comedy is the selling point.

To be blunt, this movie is quotable as hell. Like, detach this script completely from the context of it being a mockbuster and tell me it's not funny. More so than the other two movies, this one I just can't understand the performative hatred towards.

The wordplay, the puns, and just the way characters talk in general simply ooze Jay Ward in a way that I feel like I'm crazy when I see the scant few reviews of this try to act like it's the mockbuster equivalent of Family Guy. Just some examples:

• "Listen, my trois petite frère, I have something I must confess!" "You need us to get a minister?"
• "All three of you; the collective 'you'." "Well, what is it, Puss?" "Go ahead, you can tell us!" "The collective 'us'!"
• "Blimey! Who does that blighter think he is, eh? Henry the bloody 8th?!"
• "Bonjour! Welcome to my petite chateau, or as I affectionately call it: 'Hell in one square foot'."
• "It's as if he knows that I know... And now I'm afraid that he may know that I know that he knows! Or worse, he may know that I know that he knows that I know!... Who knows?!"
• "There you go, Your Highness." "I'm afraid I don't have any ink." "I'm sure the blood on the tip will do." "Oh, quite nicely."
• "We have visitor coming tomorrow." "A visitor? Who?" "An unwelcome caller with malicious intent." "The Avon lady?"

-"Not for all the shillings in the world!" "Uh, that's a lot of shillings." "It's just a figure of speech. I'd feed him to the wolves for half a pound."

It's not even just a small few funny moments, either; the movie's dialogue is consistently this sharp. I could easily list double as many good lines or scenes as I already have here. Not only that, but the cast is also very likable. They play off each other well, they have charming personalities, and pretty much everyone steals every scene they're in.

ANIMATION:

This has the best animation and art-style of the Renegade Animation mockbusters in my opinion. Yeah, sure, there are some stiff-looking scenes (especially that sword-fight) but even that is made more appealing by the improvements they've made to the tweening. It takes the bounciness and effective posing of Tappy Toes while taking the less action-heavy approach of Chop Kick Panda so as not to make the limited animation a liability. Outside of those few blemishes, it could honestly pass for TV-quality animation.

The art-style and character designs are extremely reminiscent of a Jay Ward cartoon (think Rocky and Bullwinkle, George of the Jungle, etc.), having those signature cartoonish proportions and bodies being composed of visible shapes. King John and Dracul are the most obvious examples of this, with the former looking like a character straight out of Fractured Fairy Tales with his big nose and oval-shaped head and the latter having the typical hunched-over position with angular shapes that are associated with classic cartoon villains like Snidely Whiplash.

Dare I say I'd have rather have this art-style for the Jay Ward cartoon reboots? It's like a more technically polished version his art-style while also not too similar to be a complete knock-off. This movie really knocked it out of the park with that aspect. Also, while I preferred the backgrounds of Chop Kick Panda and Tappy Toes, the backgrounds in A Furry Tail are another nice love-letter to Jay Ward, as well, being deliberately drawn childishly with colors going outside the lines to simulate a storybook aesthetic.

Again, this isn't just a superficial reference; there are neat little things such as the sun and moon popping upwards in certain scenes or the storybook opening of the movie using designs flatly colored in a manner similar to the backgrounds themselves. It all comes together cohesively to form utterly charming visuals.

CONCLUSION:

100% worth your time, especially if you're like me and love Jay Ward cartoons. Even ignoring obsessions, this is just a great short movie in general. Good writing, fun characters, charming aesthetic. There are infinitely worse ways to spend 40 minutes of your life than watching a good old Fractured Fairy Tales-inspired romp if you ask me.

This is another mockbuster that people either act like the worst thing ever or quickly become bored of when it turns out to not be as entertainingly bad as they thought it would be.

I rolled my eyes when YouTube critics did so for Chop Kick Panda because it was obvious people were nitpicking for the sake of filling time for their "THE KUNG FU PANDA FROM YOUR WORST DREAMS!!1!" videos while downplaying the positives. For once, I can actually relate to such a knee-jerk reaction. I was one of those people too.

This movie was my first introduction to the world of Renegade Animation mockbusters and as such, it left the biggest impression on me. The first time I watched it was finding it for free on Amazon Prime and watching the cobbled-together trailer. Since I didn't want to pay money to watch Happy Feet, I was going to riff on this movie to pass the night.

At first, I immediately started to make fun of the dialogue. Then it changed to being "this is actually OK, I guess." Then it turned to laughing at some of the jokes. Then, being completely sold on the entire thing. Imagine the whiplash between my preconceived ideas and the fact that this was a genuinely funny and entertaining movie.

STORY & WRITING:

Like Chop Kick Panda, this is a very comedy-oriented movie so the plot is simple to make way for the jokes. It sees two skua birds named Buddy and Lou attempting to care for a penguin chick they stole, who they name Pingo, with really nothing in common with Happy Feet or its sequel outside of a tap-dancing penguin. Unlike Chop Kick Panda, however, there are a larger amount of heartwarming moments that are balanced with the humor.

In fact, the joke-to-story ratio is fairly even in comparison, with Chop Kick Panda getting a bit too exposition heavy towards its middle portion. It also really feels like they found their way with the humor after Chop Kick Panda, featuring more clever wordplay, cultural references, character banter, and even meta jokes.

Tappy Toes can be downright hilarious at times. During the very first scene, there is a parody of a nature documentary that has a narrator drawing over the skuas trying to steal a penguin's egg, culminating in a fourth wall break that has them unable to move due to being trapped under said drawings.

Dialogue is frequently laden with sarcastic wit, with characters playing off of each other's personalities well ("You're acting strange." "I always act strange." "...Point taken." / "If anybody sees us consorting with the enemy, we'll be the laughingstock of the entire bird community!" "We already are." "Yeah, well, now they'll be laughing even harder!").

There is a pessimistic penguin named Ozzie whose constant opposition to his wife Gerty's optimism is a frequent source of laughs ("Look at him, Ozzie, he even looks like you!" "They all look like me. We all look like each other."). One of the antagonists, a hermit crab named Gabby, even performs a reference to the Merchant of Venice when his minion, a sea lion named Thrasher, revels in his supposed death.

The humor really enhances these character dynamics, with the skuas and Pingo as well as Gabby and Thrasher being absolute standouts in terms of the sheer charm this movie exudes.

One of the things that holds the movie back, however, is the pacing and climax. At first, it seems like it's going well with the movie introducing three different POVs (the skuas and Pingo, the penguin colony, and the antagonists). With this being a little over 40 minutes long, you might think that each POV would get roughly 10-ish minutes of screen-time before the climax that brings everyone together, but the movie actually gives Pingo his own POV during the middle point and has him interacting with a new character named Bella.

The skuas only reappear towards the climax. In addition to this, the penguin colony scenes can sometimes drag on for too long, meaning that the screentime that two of the main characters get is very minimal in the long run. The climax was pretty rushed as well, with the skuas having to make up for not being in roughly half of the film and the conflict being resolved in a fairly anticlimactic manner.

ANIMATION:

In some regards, I feel like the movement might be just a little bit better in Chop Kick Panda. That film was better at hiding how limited the animation was, with less scenes where there are extreme motions such as running or dancing like this one. While I don't fault the movie for trying to show more motion, it can result in some scenes looking awkward such as a scene towards the beginning where Gerty is dropped by the skuas, having an oddly subdued reaction. The animation for when she looks for them in a hole in the ground looked very janky as well.

Still, when it comes to posing, this movie is another step forward, with it being easy to tell the tone and intent of a scene just by looking at the characters. The tweening also looks less rigid than Chop Kick Panda, with more bounciness to movements, which helps it look less boring to look at.

The art-style is a much needed improvement over Chop Kick Panda, which had flatly-colored characters with no black outlines. While not bad, it didn't do anything to stand out either. Tappy Toes, on the other hand, features a nice compromise in which the vast majority of the characters have black outlines with accessories being comprised of flat colors.

Character designs also have more unique and varied proportions, as well, looking distinctive enough to stand out. Not only does this enhance the look of the characters themselves, it helps contrast the flat-looking, but detailed backgrounds as well.

CONCLUSION:

If you're looking for something to entertain yourself to 40 minutes, Tappy Toes is another genuinely good Renegade Animation mockbuster to look out for. A lot of the jokes feel like they could be in an Animaniacs episode with how smart they are and there are some really fun character dynamics, especially with the antagonists.

Pacing and climax issues aside, this is worth watching in my opinion. Just remember, if someone asks if you if you want to watch Happy Feet Two, tell them that the much-superior Tappy Toes exists, instead.

Whenever you search the term "mockbuster" online, you are guaranteed to see numerous blog posts, countless YouTube reviews, and a myriad of meme reviews of the notorious Video Brinquedo and Spark Plug Entertainment's animated rip-offs. And for good reason. All of their movies have bland plots, insipid writing, ridiculous animation, and above all repulsive art-styles that immediately turn you away from them.

Then there's Chop Kick Panda. People are almost eager to lump it in with the likes of Ratatoing, A Car's Life, and Plan Bee. Just look at all of the reviews and reaction videos about this being a super-bad and abysmal movie. Others may have been introduced to this by I Hate Everything's "Not DreamWorks Collection" video, where it was decided that it was just a super-mediocre Flash cartoon instead. Whether you just watched videos of some YouTuber ranting about it or hate-watched it yourself, you'll probably come to the conclusion that this is just a so-so children's comedy similar to Johnny Test or something, complete with lazy animation and banal writing.

Thing is, Chop Kick Panda isn't any of these things. In fact, the writing is closer to an episode of Animaniacs or Rocky and Bullwinkle than anything else. So why all the hyperbolic hate or exasperated sighs? I have a theory, but I'll present it after the review.

STORY & WRITING:

The story of the movie is unsurprisingly simple and admittedly derivative of Kung Fu Panda (Renegade Animation was contracted by Gaiam to create a mockbuster, after all), with an incompetent panda wanting to prove himself as a mighty warrior in addition to a macguffin with supposedly limitless power and a blank document. Getting past that, however, is all just superficial similarities. It's a basic "dad lies to his son because he's embarrassed of his job, but ends up proving himself in the end" sort of deal. And you know what? It works.

People may be disappointed that the movie doesn't even attempt at having a grander story but at the end of a day, it's a comedy movie and most comedies intentionally have simple plots so they can focus on the jokes. And as luck would have it, the humor is this movie's best asset.

If I had to describe this movie's comedy, I'd say it's very reminiscent of a Jay Ward cartoon; a lot of quick wordplay, snarky dialogue, and in general having a self-aware, witty tone to it. This is primarily seen through the characters Bali and Slade, who have some great scenes together where the latter is trying his damndest to work with the former's brand of navel-gazing stupidity, but truthfully almost every scene has some gems ("Shouldn't you be in the gifted class?"). Still, Bali alone just might have one of the best jokes in the entire movie: "Why'd I ever leave jolly old England? The pubs, the royal palaces, the White Cliffs of Dover... the pubs."

One criticism I do have, though, is that the movie gets very exposition-heavy towards the middle, which slows things down significantly. Though the same smart writing is present throughout the movie, the middle is pretty boring because Zibo is honestly not that strong of a protagonist to carry it alone. I do have to commend the movie for being oddly cultured, though. It actually pronounces the word "karate" correctly and made me aware of the different names for rock-paper-scissors worldwide.

ANIMATION:

The animation itself isn't half-bad, using some decent tweening and effective poses that, while looking a bit stiff at times, is still visually-fit enough to be an actual TV show. It's certainly above Johnny Test. My problem is with the art-style which looks flat, sterile, and a little too bland for my liking.

While the character designs themselves are fine, the style they are animated in makes the movie look too generic to stand out from a visual perspective and may actually contribute to the "boring" moniker that people often ascribe to it. The backgrounds, however, work in their simplicity and are really charming to look at. I just think it would be better if they were contrasted with black outlines around the characters, instead of them both being flat.

Conclusion:

So to wrap this up, I'll answer the question: "If you think Chop Kick Panda is actually a good movie, reminiscent of animated comedies people typically really like, why are there so many videos trashing it or calling it 'painfully mediocre'?" If I had to guess, it's because, to most of the people making these critique videos, the worse the quality of the movie, the more enjoyment they get out of it.

After all, they're not watching Chop Kick Panda to assess its quality, its quality is already assumed to be very bad and they're just there to riff on it. So when they go into the movie and realize that it's trying actually be good, they have to work with attempting to mock some actually clever jokes, harping on some of the duds, or just making fun of the animation because these reviews need to fill 30 minutes somehow.

However, if you look past all of that, you'll find a pretty good animated comedy on your hands. It may not be the best of the best, but hey, Renegade Animation has two other surprisingly-good mockbusters to look out for and they've much improved on the formula Chop Kick Panda laid out for them.