Director: Peter Hastings
Writer: Peter Hastings, Dav Pikey
Stars: Pete Davidson, Poppy Liu, Lil Rel Howery
Synopsis: Dog Man, half dog and half man, he is sworn to protect and serve as he doggedly pursues the feline supervillain Petey the Cat.
Dav Pilkey published the final Captain Underpants book in 2015, ending the series’ twelve-book run, which lasted almost twenty years. These children’s books were interactive action graphic novels every kid had to get when the Scholastic Book Fair came into town. The end of the series was followed by a commercially and critically successful Captain Underpants film in 2017 and a TV show that ran for 3 seasons, which was also positively reviewed. However, when it came to the bookshelves, something was missing when Captain Underpants was taken off. Luckily, Pilkey didn’t make fans of the style wait long as Dogman released only a year after the end of Captain Underpants run and, in only 9 years, the spin-off series has surpassed its predecessor with 13 books being released and is already finding a home on the big screen.
The film Dog Man is the origin story for the media-proclaimed “Supa cop.” After an explosion injured police officer Knight and his sidekick and K9 best friend Greg in opposite ways, two surgeons decide to combine the only usable parts of the two—Knight’s body and Greg’s head—to create Dog Man—a police officer with the body of a human and the head and brain of a dog.
Told in breakneck pace, Dog Man, while energetically fun, sadly doesn’t live up to Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie. Truthfully, this film was more of what I believed the original Captain Underpants movie would be – one that felt like the ever-popular graphic novels were transformed onto the screen. Captain Underpants effectively launched a successful television show because the film did more than just what the novels gave them; there was an expansion into the lore and characters while keeping the same whimsical sense. In the case of Dog Man, the whimsy along with bizarre language, pacing, and story felt too abundant at times, and many of the qualities that make the books such an easy and exciting read became lost in translation.
That’s because, for the novel, the audience can go at their own pace. The film’s beginning flies by so quickly that there isn’t enough time to breathe and take in what is happening. Dog Man is attempting to catch his arch-nemesis Petey (Pete Davidson), an orange cat whose goal is to be as evil as possible and the same cat who caused the explosion creating Dog Man. Told through montages of Petey being caught, escaping Cat Jail, and repeating, these scenes zip by with no time to engage, or even enjoy, much of the hilarity that primarily works. Many of the side characters, such as Chief (Lil Rey Howery), Sarah Hatoff (Isla Fisher), and Mayor (Cheri Oteri), provide enjoyable dialogue of people dealing with this bizarre situation, and many of these characters have some sort of goal that is made apparent and provide depth to the story. However, Dog Man and Petey’s duels, which should be the film’s high point, feel stale, and while kids may enjoy the chaos of the two rivals’ feuds, it can become exhausting over time.
It isn’t until Petey’s attempt at cloning himself, only to make a child version of himself that takes 18 years to grow into an actual clone, that the film slows down. When Li’l Petey (Petey’s clone voiced by Lucas Hopkins Calderone) is introduced, the audience can finally breathe; the pacing slows drastically, and the plot regains structure. Li’l Petey ruins Petey’s plan to revive a dead telekinetic fish named Flippy (Ricky Gervais), who Petey ultimately abandons in the street. Dog Man saves Li’l Petey from death and brings him home, teaching him how to enjoy life and what it offers.
When Flippy is successfully brought back to life and sets out to destroy all do-gooders, there is reflection in both Dog Man and Petey as they must work together, causing both to discover what matters to them most in order to defeat the evil fish and his army of buildings brought to life. While there is an attempt at an emotional climax involving fatherhood and the search for the beauty of life, the characters themselves weren’t fleshed out or interesting enough to make these moments work on anything more than surface level, which, as stated earlier, is because this film isn’t much more than the book brought to the screen. This isn’t meant to be a knock for Pilkey’s vision; it’s just that what he creates on paper doesn’t translate perfectly to the big screen. Why Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie worked as well as it did was because it adapted the source material and made it into something that worked for all audiences, whether you were a fan or not. Unfortunately, Dog Man’s case, there is not much that an average movie-goer can connect with overall.
On the other hand, like Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, the animation here uses exciting 3D characters, and the 2D book aesthetic utilizes every visual space. At the very least, Peter Hastings accomplishes bringing Dav Pilkey’s graphic novels to life. Even if the film may be disorganized at points, visually, there is something worth looking at, and for fans of the franchise, something that feels familiar. Even someone new to the franchise’s zaniness should be able to engage visually, even if the story doesn’t connect.
This is why, even though there is a lack of visual focus that would make you believe a dog actually made the film, Dog Man still finds a way to be, at times, enjoyable. The animation is as engaging as the books are, keeping Dav Pilkey’s vision front and center, and once Li’l Petey is introduced, the film story finds a modicum of structure. However, the shallow story can accentuate some of the overzealousness visually, causing audiences to feel exhausted only part way into the film. It’s an enjoyable time for kids, but unless you are familiar with or are a fan of the franchise, this might be one to keep in the doghouse.
