PAWS OF FURY: The Legend of Hank
*CUT TO THE CHASE*NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy
The film opens with the legend of the “Blazing Samurai.” The town of Kakamucho is inhabited by cats, but other cat bandits terrorize the citizens. It is said that the samurai will become the hero they need to bring peace to the town.
The warlord Ika Chu (Ricky Gervais) commands an army of cat bandits to do his bidding, alongside his general Ohga (George Takei). He wants to expand his palace and empire before the Shogun (Mel Brooks) arrives, but he needs the cats of Kakamucho to evacuate. He sends his bandits out into town to cause chaos.
Kakamucho’s inhabitants include local cats Chuck (Gabriel Iglesias) and Ichiro (Aasif Mandvi), as well as an aspiring little samurai kitten named Emiko (Kylie Kiuoka) and her mother Yuki (Michelle Yeoh). The Shogun learns of what is going on and communicates with Ika Chu about sending a samurai to protect the citizens of Kakamucho.
Ika Chu goes to his dungeon where he is keeping a dog named Hank (Michael Cera), who was captured for crossing the border and because cats hate dogs. Ika Chu appoints him as samurai with the hopes that the cats in Kakamucho will tear him apart, allowing Ika Chu to arrest them all and to leave room for him to get rid of the town.
As expected, Hank receives a cold greeting from the cats in town, who not only dislike him for being a dog, but also doubt his capabilities as a samurai. He later meets a fat former samurai named Jimbo (Samuel L. Jackson), who spends his time drunk off catnip. Realizing that Jimbo is capable of teaching him something, Hank asks him to help train him to become a samurai. Although Jimbo initially refuses, Hank ends up convincing him to do so.
Hank and Jimbo go through a training montage where Hank proves to be clumsy in his efforts to become a samurai. Meanwhile, Ika Chu sends out a large cat called Sumo (Djimon Hounsou) to attack Kakamucho. Sumo causes some destruction, which forces Hank into action. While he gets thrown around, Emiko attempts to get in on the action. Ultimately, Jimbo helps Hank take Sumo down when he throws an edamame pod into Sumo’s mouth, giving Hank an opportunity to knock him down. This helps boost Hank’s status as a heroic figure.
Hank and Jimbo grow closer as friends, leading to Jimbo telling Hank about why he quit being a samurai after he failed at his job. Hank later receives an invitation from Ika Chu to attend a big party in his honor. Jimbo advises Hank against going, but he has started to let his newfound fame and glory go to his head, causing an argument between them.
Hank goes to the party, where all the cats were paid by Ika Chu to pretend to be excited for him. While this happens, the bandits invade Kakamucho and trash the place, leaving a trail of devastation everywhere. They also capture Sumo and take him back to Ika Chu’s palace. When Hank returns, everyone looks at him with shame and disappointment for not being there when they needed him. Hank realizes his failure and prepares to leave Kakamucho. However, he looks at some origami made for him by Emiko, and he chooses to remain a hero.
Jimbo tries to break into Ika Chu’s palace to free Sumo. Hank arrives to help, and Sumo is grateful to both of them. Once it is known that Sumo has broken out, Ika Chu’s thugs go after the heroes. Jimbo gets Hank and Sumo out and stays behind to fight off the villains, seemingly sacrificing himself in the process.
Ika Chu then rounds up an army with Ohga to storm Kakamucho and take everyone out by force. Hank then rounds up the citizens in an attempt to fight back and defend themselves. They create paper copies of themselves and leave them in town while the raiders invade the place and try to cause more destruction. When they realize they’ve been duped, Hank sets off a series of explosives to take out the villains. The citizens then proceed to fight the raiders, just before the Shogun arrives. Ohga then blabs Ika Chu’s whole plan to him, causing the villain to flee, but Hank chases after him.
Hank and Ika Chu duel in the palace after Ika Chu literally breaks the fourth wall to get through a movie theater and back to his palace. The two fight on top of Ika Chu’s giant jade toilet. Hank is joined by Jimbo (obviously still alive) and Ohga tries to help Ika Chu. The two fall into the toilet, causing it to overflow and send a wave toward Kakamucho. Hank gets the cats to dig a hole to divert the water. Three kittens get swept up by the current, so the citizens, now joined by Ohga, put in a team effort to rescue them.
After the town is saved, Hank is seen as a hero again, and the Shogun offers to make him a full-time samurai. Hank is thankful but thinks he is not quite ready, so he passes the honor down to Emiko. Hank and Jimbo resume their training and continue being friends.
After the credits, Ika Chu is in prison and talks about whether or not he will show up in a potential sequel.
The town of Kakamucho is populated by cats, and the warlord Ika Chu wants to get rid of them to expand his palace. Under the suggestion of the Shogun, he sends a dog named Hank to be the town's new samurai, thinking the cats will tear him apart and give Ika Chu reason to remove the cats from the area. Although Hank does get a negative reception at first, he starts training to become a real samurai under the tutelage of Jimbo, a former samurai who now spends his days drinking catnip.
Hank and Jimbo become friends, but Ika Chu makes multiple attempts to cause Hank to fail. Ika Chu eventually sends an army of raiders to Kakamucho, forcing Hank to round up the citizens to fight back. After a battle, Hank fights Ika Chu, and a large wave of water comes toward Kakamucho as a result of Ika Chu's giant jade toilet. Hank works with the citizens to divert the water and save the town.
The Shogun offers to make Hank a full-time samurai, but he thinks he still has more to learn from Jimbo, so he passes the honor down to Emiko, a little cat who also dreams of being a samurai. Hank and Jimbo resume their training and friendship, and Ika Chu is imprisoned.