Hitting theaters this weekend, Dog Man is a wacky and entertaining – and surprisingly sweet – animated adventure.
After a freak accident leaves imbecilic cop Officer Knight (Peter Hastings) and his intelligent dog/best friend Greg the Dog both injured beyond saving, their nurses devise a novel solution: Greg’s head is sewn to Knight’s body to form a new super cop: Dog Man.
Dog Man doggedly pursues and repeatedly catches his criminal nemesis, Petey (Pete Davidson), the world’s evilest cat, but the wily feline felon always manages to break out of prison and wreak more havoc. Petey clones himself in order to double his efficiency, but accidentally ends up with a sweet kitten instead – essentially a younger version of himself – in a wrinkle that will set all three characters on an new uncharted course.
Dog Man is the creation of author-cartoonist Dav Pilkey, also known for kid-lit works like Captain Underpants, which has also had an animated film adaptation (and from which Dog Man is spun off). Like Captain Underpants, the Dog Man character comes from a series of popular books of disputable educational value – the in-story creations of fourth graders George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who create goofy comic books about these characters, full of spelling and grammar mistakes befitting their age level.
Unlike the Captain Underpants movie, the new adaptation of Dog Man omits the layer of boy creators from its narrative, and just does a straightforward adaptation of their creation. The movie is a blast, and stands on its own, but I feel it loses a bit of context with the excision of the wraparound. Perhaps this decision was an effort to not tie the film to Captain Underpants and present it as a new property, or to manage its length, but the books are so intrinsically tied together that the movie feels just a little bit off.
Despite that, the film does work as a standalone and is a ton of fun with plenty of humor. It can also be surprisingly poignant in its approach to emotional beats. Officer Knight’s girlfriend abandons him after his accident, leaving him in a despondent state – as Dog Man, it’s the double loss of a girlfriend and master, from a happy trio to going solo.
Another surprisingly mature concept is that Petey is reunited with his deadbeat dad, whose neglect informs the villain’s origin story. Most versions of this story would shoehorn in a reconciliation, but Dog Man takes a more honest view: his dad (Stephen Root) is still the same old scumbag, and uninterested in mending their relationship. Some people don’t change.
Since Dog Man can’t speak, it’s his cast of supporting characters whose dialogue carries the exposition. The movie features a fun lineup including Dog Man’s police chief (Lil Rel Howery), spunky reporter Sarah Hatoff (Isla Fisher) and her thickly accented cameraman Seamus (Billy Boyd), evil mastermind Flippy the Fish (Ricky Gervais), and – in a small role likely to expand in sequels – the hulking Big Jim (Brian Hopkins).
I have no real complaints with Dog Man, which is pretty much a perfect movie for kids and families. It’s both better and deeper than anyone would guess from the ludicrous title or concept, and I was genuinely surprised at how much I was moved by its unexpected well of empathy. A hilarious and silly adventure that also treasures compassion and stresses forgiveness.
For what it’s worth, my son was already a big fan of the Dog Man books and very much looking forward to the movie, and gives it his enthusiastic 5 stars.
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