Dog Man
review by Bobby Blakey
Author and illustrator Dav Pilkey has already had one of his creations hit the big screen with 2017’s Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie. Next up is his popular spin-off canine crime-fighter Dog Man that took theaters by storm to much success featuring the voices of Lil Rel Howery, Pete Davidson, Isla Fisher, Poppy Liu, Stephen Root, Billy Boyd, and Ricky Gervais from director Peter Hastings. Could this film succeed in bringing Pilkey’s popular canine/human hybrid to life or will it be a cop not worth putting on the force?
Dog Man follows faithful police dog and his human police officer owner who are injured on the job and when a harebrained surgery fuses the two of them together and Dog Man is born! As he embraces his new identity and strives to impress his Chief, Dog Man must stop the villainous Petey the Cat from cloning himself and creating an evil kitten, doubling his evil abilities. The story takes a turn when the kitten forges an unexpected bond with Dog Man and in the process, they discover the power of family to bring even the most hostile foes together.
For those not in the know this film is based on the comic within the universe of Captain Underpants. The comic was created by kids George and Harold from the Captain Underpants story and then was spun off into its own book series. So now you know the connection to it but is it worth checking out. The answer is most definitely. Although these are clearly for the younger audiences, I find Captain Underpants hilarious and had high hopes for this film and it delivers in all its chaotic hilarious fun.
The story is dumb and makes for the perfect superhero like tale for you to get
into and just let it happen. If you can let yourself just embrace the cast of eccentric and over the top characters wrapped in this silly story then you are in for a great time. It knows that it’s silly and fully embraces it to make for a crime adventure that is hilarious for all ages. Every character is fun to watch and brings their own persona to the mix thanks to some great voice work by the cast and unique awesome animation.
I love the look of the film that brings a bright vibrant visual treat to the senses as well as a chaotic nature that will keep you focused trying to see every detail and creations debuting on the screen. It starts as a small story and gets bigger and bigger until the massive over the top final act thqat is straight out of something in a comic book in the best way possible. Through all the silly insanity there is plenty of heart, laughs, and lessons making it a fun film worth checking out whether you are a fan of Captain Underpants or not.
In addition to the film this release features bonus content including deleted & extended scenes, commentary, how to draw featurettes and behind the scenes featurettes taking fans behind the scenes. Join the adventure and grab your copy of Dog Man available now on digital, Blu-ray and DVD from Universal and Dreamworks.