Tiger’s Apprentice, The

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details of classification and consumer advice lines for Tiger’s Apprentice, The
• a review of Tiger’s Apprentice, The completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 9 April 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare or disturb children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie’s message

A synopsis of the story

Raised by his grandmother Mrs Lee (voice of Kheng Hua Tan), Tom (voice of Brandon Soo Hoo) has no idea about his heritage or about the fact that a magical world exists and is very much intertwined with his own. Everything that his grandmother has done has been to protect him from Loo (voice of Michelle Yeoh), a malevolent woman who wants the powerful phoenix necklace that contains forces able to destroy the Earth if it falls into the wrong hands – a necklace Mrs Lee has spent a lifetime guarding. When Tom unintentionally causes a bully to fly into the ceiling, and when he removes a bunch of talismans from the wall of their home, he enables Loo to track them. When Mrs Lee sacrifices herself to save Tom and the necklace, Tom finds himself the reluctant apprentice of Mr Hu, (voice of Henry Golding) who is also a Tiger and one of the 12 (Zodiac) Guardian Warriors. As Tom battles with guilt and grief over the death of his grandmother, and tries to come to terms with the new, magical world he has been thrust into, he begins to develop his own powers and he tries to take on Loo alone, only to lose the necklace and lead many of the other Zodiac Warriors into a trap. Can Tom find a way to stop Loo and free the Zodiac Warriors or will the mortal world be darkened and destroyed?

Good versus evil; Death of a loved one; Bullying; Magical forces; Monsters.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

• One monster is hit by a truck, another is bashed into the side of a car, yet another is caught under a wheel, and a bunch of them slam into the back of a car.
• Zodiac animals punch, kick, ram and hit a group of monsters.
• Tom is repeatedly punched, hit and shoved into a stack of lockers. He is shown with a prominent black eye and bruising.
• Tom shoves a guy off of him and the guy is flung up to the ceiling where he gets stuck on something and dangles from his underwear while students film him.
• Mrs Lee shoves Tom away as Loo enters their home.
• Hu battles monster-like creatures whilst trying to keep Tom safe.
• Mrs Lee and Loo battle each other with magic blasting from their hands.
• Monsters grab at Tom and Hu with their claws. They dig deeply into Hu’s shoulder.
• Tom falls off a roof and Hu catches him as he falls into a dumpster.
• Mrs Lee rips up the floorboards by magic and slams them into Loo.
• Mrs Lee can see that she is about to lose the battle, she throws her necklace to Tom and causes an explosion that destroys her surroundings and ends her life.
• A rat is roughly captured and forced to transform into its human self.
• Three monsters come to destroy Hu, Tom and a rat.
• A dragon wraps her body around a monster and destroys it by squeezing so hard that it explodes.
• Tom nearly takes his eye out by going over a fence and landing with his face millimetres from a sharp thorn.
• Tom slashes at bushes with a sword and terrifies a squirrel.
• A character is blasted into a wall.
• Tom is told of the night, when he was a baby, when Hu was almost killed and how his grandmother gave a bit of herself to save him.
• A character hits Loo with a skateboard.
• Monsters blast out of a street and they are attacked by Zodiac Warriors. One is hit by a character with a rolling pin, another is hit with a skateboard, and a dragon blasts all the monsters.
• The Zodiac Warriors are sucked into, and trapped in, Loo’s umbrella.
• Tom fights Loo, kicking her in the face while an army of dark monsters races up the side of a building towards them.
• People are turned into stone as their souls are sucked out of them.
• Loo tells Tom that she didn’t kill him when he was a baby and she holds him out over a building so that he can watch millions of people die.
• The Zodiac Warriors are set free and they race up the side of the building towards Tom, blasting monsters out of the way as they go.
• Loo is thrown into the air, kicked in the face and head-butted.
• Loo tells Tom that he will die fighting, just like his grandmother did.
• Loo breaks apart as the souls go back to the people who were turned to stone.
• Tom falls off the roof of a tall building and Hu grabs him, trying to buffer the fall as he lands.
• Tom appears to be past saving, so Hu implores a magical phoenix to take part of his soul and give it to Tom so that he can survive. Tom awakens to find that Hu has lost his colour but saved his life.

Material that may scare or disturb children

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

• Creepy, black monsters with glowing eyes chase a baby and a grandmother as they flee. More monsters join in the chase, flying through the air after them as the grandmother takes evasive manoeuvres. These menacing monsters appear throughout the film.

• Nothing further noted.

Product placement

• None noted.

Sexual references

• None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

• None noted.

Use of substances

• None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

• Heck
• Crap
• Furball
• Dumb
• Freak
• Crazy
• Loser
• Sucked.

In a nutshell

The Tiger’s Apprentice is an animated fantasy adventure based on the novel by Laurence Yap. The film features an all-star cast but the storyline feels familiar and very predictable. Likely to be most enjoyed by older children and fans of the book.

The main messages from this movie are to know your worth, to believe in yourself and to never, ever give up.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• Courage
• Teamwork
• Determination
• Helpfulness
• Compassion.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

• Being tolerant of others and any traditions or customs that you may not understand.
• Going off alone to tackle a problem that can only be solved with assistance.
• Using violence and coercion to get what you want.