Ever hear the argument that political correctness has gone so screwy that you couldn’t make a Mel Brooks movie today? Well, outside of how much of a chode point-of-view that is to begin (and how the existence of films like Jojo Rabbit pretty much defeat that line of reasoning), it is at least partially correct in this film’s case. Originally titled Blazing Samurai, this loose remake of Brooks’ Blazing Saddles (to the point where all five of Saddles’ co-writers are credited on this) has been in numerous states of production and release limbo for several years. And we’re not just talking about the COVID shuffle either; this thing has been batting around since 2010.
Considering my lengthy history with sub-par animated films starring talking animals, and how much I respect Brooks’ work on the original, I’ll admit that I wasn’t all that enthused about this film even in its early stages with that crack of sumo cat teaser poster. It finally seeing release after spending so long percolating must have been a massive relief for all parties involved, and I certainly get that (any film that makes it all the way from conception to public release is nothing short of a miracle if you know anything about the industry), but how does that translate into the viewing experience? Well… it’s kinda complicated.
Let’s get into exactly how much of Blazing Saddles survived the adaptation process here. The setting and genre have been shifted from the Wild West to feudal Japan, which is actually a sensible decision considering the back-and-forth influences between the Western and samurai genres. But underneath that aesthetics swap, the story is surprisingly similar: A protector is sent to a small town by a ruler, not because they’re expected to actually protect it, but because the ruler is banking on the town’s prejudices to keep them busy among themselves while the town gets razed. Yeah, they actually maintain the racial commentary of the original, swapping out race for a town full of cats being given a dog as their new samurai.
Not only that, but Brooks’ style of spoof filmmaking is reasonably intact here as well. From the moment a bunch of characters crash into the film’s logo after the opening credits, it’s clear that there will be a lot of fourth-wall breaks to be found here. What’s more, rather than resembling the more recent attempts at film spoofs, it directly follows the Brooks and Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker method where jokes are followed up on rather than the non-sequitur mish-mash found in a Seltzerberg flick. It makes the comedy feel more substantial, as silly as it consistently is, and it hits harder as a result. I’d even argue that some of the bits, like when two of the cats argue about what a car is, are genuinely clever in their wordplay.
Now, don’t get it twisted; this is still a family-friendly take on the material, and there’s still quite a bit that gets left behind by sheer necessity. While it opens with the kind of racism deconstruction that makes Brooks’ satire effective to this day (basically, racism is stupid, and basing your interactions with others on stupid things is funny), that aspect of the setting and characters becomes an afterthought rather quickly. After a while, the hostility faced by Michael Cera’s Hank, the dog samurai in question, is more the result of him being a bumbling fool than anything to do with his species. Its relative age as a production might excuse how kid-gloves the commentary is on that front, but considering Zootopia was made in the time this took to be finished, there is precedent for even a kids film to have more teeth than this.
The same goes for the spoof subversion as well. For every moment when Hank pokes at the genre’s tropes, like pulling out a film projector for character flashbacks or bringing up when a specific plot beat is happening, there are several others that just… happen without comment. As bizarre as this film is on a pure production level, with the kind of high-concept background that seems designed to confuse film historians decades from now, it is remarkably tame and basic as its own creation. It’s a familiar martial arts setup with Hank learning under disgraced samurai Jimbo (Samuel L. Jackson), standard hero’s journey stuff, and while the animation and acting are mostly pretty decent (save for Ricky Gervais’ frankly annoying delivery as the foppish villain), there’s not much here that is particularly unique. And I’m not saying that because of its connection to Blazing Saddles; I say that because of its connection to just about any kid-friendly animated action flick to come out in the last two decades.
So… yeah, like I said, this is even more complicated than its history would let on. Both as a modern animated film, and as a family-friendly take on a particularly scathing pisstake of American racism, this works surprisingly well and even earns some respect for what it manages to get right. But it would’ve turned out much better if it had leaned harder into those strengths, rather than succumbing to generic action tropes and good-but-nothing-special production values.
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