Dog Man Review

 

Dog Man is an animated action comedy film based on Dav Pilkey's children's graphic novel series of the same name, and serves as a spin-off to the 2017 movie Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie. Production was handled by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. The movie was written and directed by Peter Hastings.

The story is, after officer Knight and his dog Greg were injured on the job, a life-saving surgery changes everything and gives birth to Dog Man. Now, this new breed of hero must find a way to stop the diabolical Petey the Cat.

Initial Reaction

It's very simple as to why I wanted to see this. I saw the first trailer, laughed a bit, and so I decided to give it a chance. Simple as that.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

The story is the biggest middle ground. First the good. While the story is very simplistic there was a pretty good message of trauma. No it's nothing extremely graphic, it's more of if someone was a jerk to you, do you want to be the jerk to someone else, or take that experience and be a better person? That sort of thing. So while the movie is primarily aimed towards kids, like many good movies before it, there's at least something there for adults to be interested in. Now for the flaw. The flaw being a lack of balance between the characters of Dog Man & Petey the Cat. Petey sometimes does get more attention than Dog Man. However, I don't think it damages the movie too much. Sure it's an issue, but one you can let slide and not consistently focus on again and again.

Pros

Okay let's move to the pros. One being the pacing. It's not a long movie to begin with but man it sure does breeze by. I actually didn't feel like I was sitting in my seat for an hour and thirty-four minutes. Then there's the humor. Some jokes are repetitive, but for the most part I was having a good time. I still laugh at the two doctors and their plan to save the dog's life. Sure I've seen it the trailers and I do believe a TV spot, but it's such a great WTF moment. The last thing I'll praise is the animation. Much like with Captain Underpants movie, the animators did a fantastic job brining the books' art to life.  There's also a great energy to it. Which kind of makes sense given the fact that the director [Peter Hastings] worked on shows like the classic version of the Animaniacs. So if what I just wrote is right up your alley when it comes to animation, then by all means go see Dog Man.

While you'll more than likely find an issue or two, Dog Man is still worth watching and I think if you have a family then yes. Take the kids, especially if they already want to see the thing.

My final rating is, Good.

That's all for now. Come back on Monday, Feb 3rd, for my review of season two of Invincible. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.