Hey everyone and welcome back to a brand new review! This time, I will be taking a look at the latest film from Dreamworks Animation that is also an adaptation of an immensely popular children’s book series, Dog Man! This is the second time where the studio has adapted one of author, Dev Pilkey’s work after 2017’s Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie. I myself, am a big fan of that film as I find it to be a hilarious and visually inventive family film, and was thus looking forward in seeing more of Pilkey’s sense of humor on the big screen. While I’ve never read any of the Dog Man books, I am definitely aware of them, having seen them prominently displayed in book stores and fairs and always thought they looked really cute. So, this is my proper introduction to the property and just judging from the trailers, I was expecting a wacky fun ride. Was this movie able to succeed in that regard? Let’s jump right in and see if this is was a good dog or not!
We jump right into the action as we are introduced to famed cop, Officer Knight, and his highly intelligent dog, Greg. The two are on patrol one day in the city of Ohkay City, when the villainous orange cat, Petey, attacks, planting a bomb at an abandoned warehouse. Despite their best efforts, the bomb goes off, severely injuring both of them in the process. In order to save them, some surgeons then decide to attach Greg’s head to Knight’s body, which creates a human-dog hybrid that is officially called Dog Man by the city. Dog Man then becomes a hero to the city, stopping crime and acting as an endearing presence to the citizens, even if the Chief of police can be frustrated by his lack of following orders sometimes. Petey becomes quickly annoyed by this new hero and decides to take matters into his own hands, coming up with a diabolical plan involving cloning himself. Wacky shenanigans then ensue!
One of the main reasons I felt Captain Underpants succeeded so well, was that I felt it did a very good job in capturing Pilkey’s self aware sense of humor and working as a fast paced, laugh a minute comedy. Director/writer, Peter Hastings is fortunately able to achieve something similar with Dog Man. This is one of those movies whose main aim is throw as many jokes at the audience as possible, which can be exhausting if done poorly, but I felt the comedy was very consistent throughout with the majority of it landing and oftentimes making me laugh out loud. I can tell Hastings had a great time coming up with all of the inventive visual gags and amusing jokes that can range from simple yet relatable (Dog related humor, portrayal of parenting, etc.) to bonkers fourth wall breaking. It reminded me a lot of Captain Underpants in that regard, and honestly I feel like this was one cranks up the insanity even further which I can admire and get behind. The pacing is appropriately fast, yet the film actually knows when to slow down a bit sometimes and actually take some time to spend moments with the characters.
There is a surprising amount of heart to the proceedings with there being some moments that do manage to get across some emotion that landed harder than I would’ve expected. I particularly liked how the films tackles the themes of abandonment and how each it affects each of the primary characters and how they choose to respond to it. It added to the proceedings and made the film work not just on a comedy level but also on a character one making the audience actually care about what goes down in the film. That being said while the film is well paced, the story is fairly scattershot, often jumping from place to place in a way that can distract from the focus at times. This is most evident where there does come a point where things start to become less about Dog Man and more about Petey to the point where it essentially becomes his film. Honestly though that didn’t bother me too much considering that I do like what was done in that regard, even if there are time where some focus could’ve benefitted the overall structure.
Another winning aspect of Captain Underpants was its unique animation style that attempted to emulate the feel of the books and was fairly noteworthy at the time for being a bit more stylized than the average computer animated feature. With Dog Man, something similar is being achieved, except this time even more stylized and with the scale being bigger. The art direction is very much in line with Pilkey’s illustrations and is very fun to look at with all of the amusing character designs and solid background work that is often strewn with various jokes and even serves as a big obstacle later on (makes sense if you’ve seen the movie). The movements are also very impressive, being able to succeed in showing off a lot of energy that makes the comedic situations all the more successful in execution with the use of a lower frame rate being utilized well in order to capture the sketchiness of the books. It is one of those movies that is computer animated, but has a hand drawn feel to it, which is always I style I find fun to watch unfold.
I was also highly entertained by the various action sequences that Dog Man finds himself into which are handled in a very kinetic manner but never become incomprehensible with a lot of the chase sequences having the feeling of going on a rollercoaster ride and I found the designs of the various gadgets Petey has made to be very creative. There’s also a variety of action too which prevents the proceedings from getting repetitive and I’ll admit even I wasn’t expecting the lengths to which things would get, especially when we get to the climax. Adding to all of this is Tom Howe’s score which perfectly captures the wacky mood of the film, while even being effective when things start to get more emotional. Oh and while it is extremely hard to top what Weird Al Yankovic did with the awesomeness that is the Captain Underpants theme song, Yung Gravy’s Supa Good, is still quite enjoyable in its own right.
When it comes to the title character himself, I found Dog Man to be a very lovable protagonist who has intellect even if he can’t help but let his dog tendencies get the best of him. Despite never uttering any dialogue, Peter Hastings is able to do a great job of giving vocals to him, being able to convey emotions and feelings just through dog noises. The set up is also solid to the point where when Officer Knight and Greg go through the surgery, one does end up being sympathetic to Dog Man when his life changes completely and he becomes alone. This is a common thread between the primary characters with Petey and his clone, Li’l Petey, also facing similar issues. I found the former to not only be a very funny villain whose villainous antics provide some solid laughs, but he ends up being one with quite a bit of depth as someone cynical about the world and has a hard time viewing things in a positive life because of how he was brought up in life. It helps that Pete Davidson gives in a very good vocal performance that manages to nail all of these different aspects of the character. As for Li’l Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon giving a very adorable performance) I also found him endearing as a child learning about life though his relationships with both Petey and Dog Man. There are some genuinely moving interactions between him and them that add to the heart of the feature and I was very fond of a moment at the climax where he decides to resolve something his own way.
The rest of the supporting cast is also quite enjoyable and play their parts as well even if they don’t get quite as much focus. Lil Rel Howery is a lot of fun as Chief, whose short temperedness and annoyance with Dog Man is very fun, but even with that, I like that deep down he still cares for him. Same goes for Isla Fisher as Sarah Hatoff, a news reporter who is invested in what Dog Man is doing and she serves as a solid comedic source (as does her camera man, Seamus, voice by Billy Boyd) but also ends up playing an important role in the development of the characters down the line. There are also other various colorful characters such as Petey’s bored assistant, Butler (Poppy Liu), or the angry and constantly berating Mayor (Cheri Oteri) that manage to leave a good sized impression, adding to the comedic mayhem. Then there’s the other villain of the plot, Flippy the Fish, voiced by Ricky Gervais, who is a fish that became evil with telekinesis and whose sole purpose is to be evil no matter what. While slightly shoved into the story, he is still an entertaining presence that is responsible for a lot of the delightful stuff that goes down in the third act.
Overall, Dog Man is a delightful comedic adventure that managed to put a big smile on my face throughout its runtime. It can be a bit scattershot in regards to story and structure and some of the shifts in focus are a bit jarring at first, but it more than makes up for that with a fast pacing that never gets old, hilarious jokes that land consistently, a surprising amount of heart, wonderful animation, and some enjoyable characters to follow. This is honestly pretty close to Captain Underpants for me in regards to quality and is willing to go even further than that film did in regards to balls to the walls insanity. Fans of the books and Pilkey’s work are bound to be satisfied and families should have a fun time as well. It is yet another winning feature from the people over at Dreamworks Animation and while the ship has likely sailed in regards to a Captain Underpants follow up getting made, I personally hope Dog Man gets a chance to come back to show off more tricks!
Side Note: Before the movie there is a Bad Guys short titled The Bad Guys: Little Lies and Alibis that plays that concerns the titular characters having to get to their payroll before it is too late. It is a hilarious short that contains what one loves about the movie with the animation quality being fantastic and the voice actors reprising their roles very well. Excellent comedic timing and moves at a breakneck pace. Should satisfy fans of the franchise, and makes me even more excited for one The Bad Guys 2 comes out in August!
Rating: A-
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