Earlier this year Paramount+ introduced fans to the magical world of The Tiger’s Apprentice, which brought the popular novels from Laurence Yep’s hit series to life on the small screen. While the film introduces us to a lovable and insanely cool roster of Zodiac Warriors and a delightfully evil villain, there is one relationship at the core of this story that makes it all work. That happens to be the ever-evolving father-son dynamic between a teenager named Tom (played by Brandon Soo Hoo) and a Zodiac-powered Tiger named Hu (played by Henry Golding), and ComicBook.com had the chance to speak to Brandon Soo Hoo all about the film, what he loved most about that dynamic, and more.
While the action is bigger than life and features a host of magical creatures in the mix (including a truly delightful Rat named Sidney), the film is very much focused on the idea of family and the variety of ways families can form. That mix of ideas is part of what drew Hoo to the film in the first place.
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“You know what, kind of like what you were saying. It’s surprising. It’s a movie about, a large part of it is talking animals, but it’s a surprising amount of humanity in there too. It’s a very human story,” Hoo said. “Actually what surprised me is how real and how raw the story gets. It hit me on so many levels. Not only was the relationship with the grandmother something that I really related to with my own, and then the story with Hu.”
“I found a lot of parts there where it’s just two, a young man and his father figure, just coming up. At first there’s a bit of friction there because that’s just how those dynamics go, but you see that trust and that love between them building and that relationship building. It’s like I feel like there’s a lot of parallels there with my own life. It really pulled me into the script,” Hoo said.
The film begins with a thrilling action sequence that shows what the Zodiac Warriors are capable of, but the film hits in the quiet moments as well, including one particular scene between Tom and Hu that manages to be one of the most powerful moments in the film with just a few words of dialogue.
“It’s when we’re finally processing a really emotional part of the story, that I’m not going to spoil it for whoever didn’t see it, but there’s an emotional part of the story and we finally, after a lot of bickering, a lot of high action and intense scenes, we have this quiet moment where we can both come together and see eye to eye on something,” Hoo said. “And we’re like, You know what? We can put our differences aside for this.’ It’s like you really feel like that’s the beginning of their camaraderie forming, and I think that was actually one of my favorite scenes. I felt chills just watching it, and being able to perform it was really special.”
Tom goes on quite the journey throughout the course of the film, but Hu does as well, as both have to learn how to live without someone they both loved and learn to lean on each other. “He has such a really cool arc and such a cool journey, where he learns to approach things from maybe a different angle. He learns to really appreciate his community and his family, and to watch his journey of this lonely, orphaned kid to someone that really has a team, or that’s what he’s trying to have, I think it’s a really powerful moment,” Hoo said.
By the way, this movie is beautiful, featuring a fun and slick art style that absolutely pops with color at every turn. This is tenfold when the Zodiac Warriors are on screen, but there are also several key moments where the art style transforms into an almost living painting. Coupled with the heart at its center and the bombastic action, there’s something here for just about everyone.
“Oh, yeah. It’s such a great family movie, man. I think it’s a movie where you could all sit together with your kids or your parents, and I think it’s a great movie just to bring everyone together and to feel really, really warm and to share that with each other,” Hoo said. “Also, some of the artwork in the scenes I thought was pretty fantastic. The scenes like the dream sequences when I’m talking to the goddess Nu Kua, or some of the scenes where I’m interacting with the phoenix, those were beautifully, beautifully done. They switch up the medium a little bit and they do a great job.”
The Tiger’s Apprentice is now available to stream on Paramount+.
What did you think of The Tiger’s Apprentice? Let me know on Threads @mattaguilarcb!
