‘Dog Man’ should entertain any age that’s looking for some hyperactive silliness

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Part dog. Part man. All cop.

Synopsis

In Ohkay City, police Officer Knight (Peter Hastings) and his trusty dog Greg are constantly trying to apprehend Petey (Pete Davidson), a feline supervillain and self-proclaimed “world’s most evilest cat”. When one of his bombs takes Officer Knight and Greg out, Petey believes he’s defeated his enemies.

However, this victory is short-lived as Knight’s body and Greg’s head have survived the explosion, giving the doctors the bright idea to sew Greg’s head onto Officer Knight’s body! This experiment creates Dog Man, a new “supa cop” who begins cleaning up the streets. With his nemesis reborn, Petey hatches all sorts of evil schemes to defeat Dog Man and take over the world.

My thoughts

When I was a kid in the 90s, Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants books were all the rage. They were the perfect product of their time to appeal to millennial children like me, with a sarcastic attitude, irreverent toilet humor, and crude artwork. There was a wit to it all, though, and I definitely credit Pilkey, like I do Nickelodeon, for shaping the off-kilter sense of humor I have today.

As all people do, I grew up and thus grew out of the whole Captain Underpants thing. I do have nostalgia for the books, which I was surprised to find out were still somewhat around, albeit in spin-off form now with Dog Man. Even if my tastes may have refined as I’ve aged, the childish sensibilities of my humor remain. I’m always down to indulge in some silly nonsense purely for the sake of it.

The Dog Man cometh

Silly nonsense purely for the sake of it is Dav Pilkey’s whole approach to his Captain Underpants universe. Kids love silly nonsense, and he understands that, knowing exactly how to appeal to their sensibilities. The characters in his works wear immaturity on their sleeves, nearly every line of dialogue containing a tinge of sarcasm. Simple, childish fun is the name of Pilkey’s game, which extends to Dog Man.

Dog Man acts as a comic book within the Captain Underpants universe written by 10-year-old characters George Beard and Harold Hutchins. So, this isn’t just a story made by adults for kids, but a story that’s made by adults and telling it through the mindset of 10-year-olds. From beginning to end, everything about this feels like something some goofy kids would actually come up with.

Take the general premise of sewing a dog’s head to a man’s body, for example. It’s an incredibly absurd concept that only a kid, or at least the adults who are children at heart, would conjure up. On paper, it seems grotesque, but when applied to this movie’s logic, it’s perfectly in line with the rest of the madness that inhabits this world. Throw all reason out the window and go along for the ride.

The animation style these Captain Underpants movies employ is able to uniquely capture the illustrations of the books while keeping it all modern and 3D. It doesn’t look glossy or finely detailed like many other animated movies, but almost like computer animation vaguely mimicking Claymation. All of these elements come together to create the juvenile comic book feel, complimented by various hilarious sight gags. There are even a few fun references to Flip-o-Rama!

This is all definitely quite tongue-in-cheek, but writer-director Peter Hastings does attempt to tell a real story with some genuine emotion. He doesn’t reach the heights of something like The Wild Robot or your typical Pixar movie, but it’s endearing and heartfelt enough to make it all work. Just like a rambunctious little kid or dog running around, there’s eventually a disarming sweetness that’s impossible to not smile at.

Give a dog a bone

It does shine a light on the movie’s big problem: the movie is called Dog Man, yet he’s not a very engaging character. It’s a problem kids aren’t going to care about, obviously. Dog Man is funny and that’s all that matters to them, but that’s all he really has going for him. He’s a better character on a humorous conceptual level than a protagonist for your movie.

That makes Petey the cat more of the movie’s main character, as he’s the one with a fully developed arc, with Dog Man taking the back seat during the middle portion. Adults may have their patience tested here, as the narrative is already pretty bare bones (no pun intended) and ends up getting a bit repetitive. There is a story being told, but it’s a thin story with not much plot to fill out its already brief 89-minute runtime. The last act really makes up for this with a creative climactic action sequence, though.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Pete Davidson, but he is starting to grow on me. He’s actually pretty solid as Petey the Cat here, putting in real work to his vocal performance to give the character a fitting personality. Considering the fatherly themes that come into play when Petey makes a tiny clone of himself, I can’t help but feel Davidson’s history with his late father influenced his performance here. It certainly felt genuine when he had to get emotional during these scenes.

The other characters are fun, even if not all that exceptional. Since we have a main character who can’t speak, they’re all pretty much there to provide various forms of exposition or a cheeky quip. Credit has to be given to Hastings for also providing the canine vocalizations for Dog Man, putting the appropriate emotional inflection on every bark, whimper, and howl.

Final verdict

Dog Man rides this fine line of putting in the effort to make an entertaining animated movie but also has this “I’m too cool and don’t care” attitude that’s enjoyably authentic. There’s something fitting about Dog Man not pretending to be anything it’s not and just going all in on the bonkers shenanigans.

It’s not the kind of animated movie that’s going to break the mold or anything, but it’s a kooky, fun time that should keep people both young and old entertained. There’s a good, heartfelt story for the adults, bright and colorful animation for the kids, and non-stop silly nonsense for all.

Or as Dav Pilkey would put it: “Action! Thrills! Laffs!”