Dog Man (2025) Review

In 1997, author Dav Pilkey would publish what would quickly become the breakout hit of his career, The Adventures of Captain Underpants. A kid-friendly send-up of the superhero genre, the book followed the daily adventures of best friends George Beard and Harold Hutchins, a pair of mischievous fourth graders who loved to pull pranks at their elementary school, especially if it came at the expense of their lousy teachers. When their notoriously cruel principal Mr. Krupp threatens to enact the most severe punishment imaginable on them, the two manage to get out of it by using a hypno-ring to coerce Mr. Krupp into believing that he is the hero of their self-produced comic book series, Captain Underpants, an underwear-themed superhero who’s “faster than a speeding waistband, more powerful than boxer shorts, and who can leap tall buildings without getting a wedgie”. Unfortunately, this ends up working a bit too well and Mr. Krupp starts going around trying to fight for “truth, justice, and all that is pre-shrunk and cottony” despite not having any actual superpowers, thus resulting in George and Harold having to go after him to keep him safe, especially once they start coming across actual supervillains like a bunch of sentient toilets and a mad genius with the unfortunate name of Pippy P. Poopypants.

Upon its release, the book quickly became a huge hit with readers, ultimately going on to spawn a franchise consisting of 12 mainline installments and multiple spin-offs that have collectively sold over 80 million copies worldwide. Granted, all this success has also come with a bunch of controversies, namely because of the books being some of the most consistently banned books in public libraries due to their juvenile sense of humor and anti-authoritarian nature, but that hasn’t stopped them from becoming beloved staples of the literary journeys of those who grew up with them. In 2017, the series was adapted into film by DreamWorks Animation, who had been looking to purchase the film rights to them ever since their debut in 1997. Eventually securing said rights in 2011, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, which was notably the last DreamWorks film produced under the 20^th Century Fox banner after the studio was purchased by Universal the year prior, opted to be an amalgamation of the books (utilizing the origin story of the first installment and the main antagonist of the fourth, for example) rather than a straightforward adaptation of the first book. Upon its release, the film became both a critical and commercial hit, earning over $125 million worldwide. And in the eyes of Captain Underpants fans, the film was one of the most surprisingly faithful ‘book-to-film’ adaptations ever made, flawlessly replicating the artistic and narrative spirit of the books and even managing to adapt seemingly uncinematic aspects of the books to screen such as the ‘Flip-O-Rama’ segments where readers were encouraged to rapidly flip two pages back and forth to simulate action sequences.

One year prior to the film’s release, Dav Pilkey launched his next book series, Dog Man. Another spin-off of the Captain Underpants series, Dog Man is presented as the in-universe first comic series that George and Harold created together after they had first met in kindergarten (which, fun fact, was referenced as early as the original novel in 1997 as this was a character that Pilkey had conceived when he was in second grade). Following the conclusion of the mainline Captain Underpants series, the two rediscover their old Dog Man comics and decide to relaunch the series. Like the Captain Underpants books, the Dog Man books have been hugely successful critically and commercially, currently standing at 13 installments (with a 14^th set to release later this year) with every installment being amongst the best-selling children’s books of their respective release years. And in 2020, DreamWorks began the process of bringing Pilkey’s latest hit series to the big screen, which brings us to this year’s Dog Man. Directorial duties for this one go to Peter Hastings, who has only directed one film prior (that being the… ‘infamous’ adaptation of Disney’s Country Bear Jamboree theme park attraction) but has had plenty of experience in both the world of animation, producing the likes of hit shows like Animaniacs, and the works of Dav Pilkey as he was one of the show-runners of the Captain Underpants film’s Netflix series spin-off The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants. With all this in mind, it should come as no surprise that, like its cinematic predecessor, Dog Man is another entertainingly goofy yet wholly sincere and genuinely faithful adaptation of Dav Pilkey’s beloved literary works.

In the bustling metropolis that is OK City, the local Police Chief (voiced by Lil Rel Howery) and his officers are constantly threatened by the inventions of the notorious evildoer Petey the Cat (voiced by Pete Davidson). The only two that have consistently been able to successfully thwart his plans are Officer Knight (voiced by director Peter Hastings), a highly decorated yet admittedly quite dimwitted police officer, and his loyal canine companion Greg (also voiced by director Peter Hastings), who’s clearly shown to be the smarter one of the two despite being a dog. Unfortunately, the duo end up getting critically injured when they’re unable to defuse one of Petey’s bombs, with Officer Knight suffering significant head injuries and Greg sustaining serious bodily injuries. As a way of saving them both, a pair of surgeons swiftly decide to transplant Greg’s head onto Officer Knight’s body, with the ensuing experiment resulting in the creation of a half-dog/half-human hybrid, Dog Man. Almost immediately, Dog Man becomes a beloved hero in the eyes of the people of OK City as he continues his ongoing crusade against Petey the Cat, who continues to enact all sorts of devious plans to take down his arch-nemesis, which includes everything from resurrecting one of Dog Man’s old foes, Flippy the Fish (voiced by Ricky Gervais) to creating his own clone, Li’l Petey (voiced by Lucas Hopkins Calderon) who, to Petey’s disappointment, turns out to be not quite as villainous as he is.

Now the first thing I should note about this film is that, despite everything that I’ve mentioned about its source material’s roots and connections to the Captain Underpants series, the film itself is not presented as the in-universe spin-off that it technically is. There’s no framing device that establishes it as the creation of George and Harold and the only major connection that it does share with Captain Underpants is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo from the creators themselves. There’s not even a Flip-O-Rama sequence in this film despite the Dog Man books having them just like in the Captain Underpants books as that concept has been a staple of Dav Pilkey’s work since its debut in the original Captain Underpants novel. And yet, as neat as it would’ve been to see this film attempt to properly connect itself to the Captain Underpants series, I also recognize that it’s ultimately not that necessary for it to do so. Regardless of how much it does or doesn’t try to be a spin-off of its cinematic predecessor, Dog Man the film dutifully follows in the footsteps of the 2017 Captain Underpants film by being a highly respectful adaptation of its source material that faithfully adapts it not by being a direct 1:1 adaptation of its first installment but by seamlessly combining key story elements of multiple books into a singular narrative (Flippy the Fish? He’s the villain of the second book, Dog Man: Unleashed. Li’l Petey? He was introduced in Book 3, Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kittens.). All the while, the film also does a great job in capturing Pilkey’s well-established narrative sensibilities, resulting in a pleasantly light-hearted family-friendly comedy that’s unabashedly goofy. And while many of Pilkey’s biggest critics have often derided his work as being nothing more than a series of immature toilet jokes, I believe that, in doing so, they overlook the more subtly brilliant aspects of his writing, like his penchant for cleverly self-aware humor and simple yet delightfully wacky running gags.

Case in point, while Dog Man is a largely comedic endeavor, it’ll also take you by surprise by how it manages to throw in some genuinely heartfelt story beats. Much of this comes from the introduction of Li’l Petey who, as established earlier, doesn’t possess the same villainous tendencies that Petey has. Li’l Petey ends up forming a friendship with Dog Man over the course of the film, which then leads to Petey gradually starting to act less like a villain which, yes, is another way in which the film honors the books, where Petey turns into a hero by the end of the fifth book, Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas. The Captain Underpants film also had its fair share of heartfelt moments, which helps to exemplify why both these films, for as silly as they are, also have such a wholesome vibe to them while never having any moments that feel cynical or mean-spirited. Like Captain Underpants, Dog Man’s animation wasn’t an in-studio job (here, it was handled by Jellyfish Pictures whereas its predecessor was made by Mikros Image and Technicolor Animation Productions) but it still does a great job in replicating Pilkey’s trademark comic art style to make it all look like a comic book coming to life on-screen. Meanwhile, the film boasts a fun voice cast to play the franchise’s eclectic cast of characters, including Lil Rel Howery as Dog Man’s perpetually exasperated police chief, Isla Fisher as OK City’s most dedicated news reporter Sarah Hatoff, and Pete Davidson gleefully hamming it up as Petey.

I didn’t exactly imply it all that much throughout this review but I’m very much a part of the generation that grew up with the Captain Underpants books. Back in a time when I wasn’t fully aware of how controversial they were amongst certain groups (for, to be perfectly blunt, hilariously overblown reasons), I was thoroughly enthralled by their goofy yet subtly clever sense of humor and hugely entertaining stories that I’m confident were essential in me developing my love for the superhero genre back before I truly got into the likes of Marvel and DC. I eventually stopped reading the series regularly after its eighth installment, Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People, partially due to it leading to a six-year gap between book releases (albeit for the completely valid reason of Pilkey stepping away from writing to take care of his father David before he passed away in 2008) but mainly for the more standardized reason that applies to anything you enjoyed as a kid as I simply grew out of the series’ target demographic. However, that didn’t stop me from going to see the Captain Underpants film in 2017 which, ironically, was also the first DreamWorks Animation film that I’d seen in theaters in nearly a decade for… well, the exact same reason why I stopped reading the books. And for me, the result was not only one of DreamWorks’ best films but also one of my favorite films of that year. Despite not having read the books in quite a few years, I was pleasantly delighted by how surprisingly faithful the film was in adapting them to the screen even if that was largely done by way of it combining different story beats from multiple books in the series. No joke, I damn near cheered in the theater when the film managed to pull off an incredibly successful cinematic rendition of the series’ trademark ‘Flip-o-Rama’ segments.

Conversely, I do not have any sort of history with the Dog Man book series as it didn’t start coming out until 2016. This would’ve been a much different story had this new film been an adaptation of the Captain Underpants series’ original spin-off, The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, another in-universe comic by George and Harold about a newborn named Billy Hoskins who gains Captain Underpants’ super-powers, or a different Dav Pilkey series named Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot, in which the titular mouse Ricky Ricotta befriends a giant robot as they team up to fight all sorts of intergalactic antagonists. Nevertheless, my nostalgia for the Captain Underpants series was ultimately enough to compel me to check out Dog Man’s film adaptation, and while I can’t say that it’s ‘as good’ as the 2017 Captain Underpants film (nor is it one of DreamWorks’ best, for that matter), it’s also one of those films that I’d argue is almost impossible to dislike. Not only does it do a fantastic job of being devotedly faithful to its source material but its wholly uncynical nature makes it a refreshingly positive animated flick that candidly wears its heart on its sleeve. As such, it’s clear that this film will be a smash hit with fans of the Dog Man series, undoubtedly destined to become a regular rewatch for the generation that will grow up with it, while still managing to appeal to older audiences who most likely aren’t familiar with the source material with its wacky sense of humor and vibrant animation. But perhaps best of all, this film’s success will assuredly make it another exemplary testament as to why Dav Pilkey continues to be an indisputable icon in the world of children’s literature.

Rating: 4/5

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017) review

Now, I know what some of you might be thinking; why the heck am I reviewing a film called Captain Underpants? Seems ridiculous, doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t that ridiculous to me, and that’s because, like many kids of my generation, I grew up with this film’s source material. Yes, what we have here is a film that’s based off a popular book series of the same name by author Dav Pilkey. The Adventures of Captain Underpants: The First Epic Novel, a story about a pair of elementary school students who unintentionally turn their principal into a superhero, was first published in 1997 and was a major best-seller. It would ultimately go on to spawn a full-blown series, with the most recent (and final) entry, book #12, released back in 2015. At the same time, though, the books have often been banned in school libraries due to their [admittedly] juvenile humor. Still, they’ve been a big hit with their target audience, having sold over 70 million copies worldwide. And now, the famous superhero who’s ‘faster than a speeding waistband, more powerful than boxer shorts, and able to leap tall buildings without getting a wedgie’ stars in his own feature film; Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie. This new film comes courtesy of DreamWorks Animation and is notably their last feature film released through their current distributor, 20^th Century Fox, before they begin their new partnership with Universal in 2019. And as surprising as it may seem, this adaptation of a book series about a principal who turns into an underwear-themed superhero every time someone snaps their fingers and is only reverted to normal when doused with water… is one of the most faithful book-to-film adaptations in recent memory.

Like the books that they’re based on, the film follows the adventures of fourth graders George Beard (Kevin Hart) and Harold Hutchins (Thomas Middleditch). These two best friends spend most of their time creating their own comics and causing all sorts of pranks at their elementary school, Jerome Horwitz Elementary, to provide their classmates with a temporary reprieve from the grim goings-on that occur there daily. However, this soon ends up attracting the attention of their mean principal, Mr. Krupp (Ed Helms), who threatens to put the two boys in separate classrooms if they get caught again. To prevent this from happening, George and Harold try to hypnotize him with a ‘3-D Hypno-Ring’ that George got from a cereal box. To their surprise, the ring does indeed work, allowing them to make Mr. Krupp do whatever they want. This culminates in them commanding Mr. Krupp to act like the main protagonist from their comics, Captain Underpants, a superhero who literally only wears his underpants along with a red cape. However, this joke soon turns into a serious dilemma when Mr. Krupp begins to go around the city acting like a superhero… even though he doesn’t have any real superpowers. As such, this forces George and Harold to keep an eye on him so that he doesn’t hurt himself. And things get even more complicated when a scientist named Professor Poopypants (Nick Kroll; and yes, that’s his name, Professor Poopypants) comes to town intent on ridding humanity of the part of the brain that causes them to laugh as revenge for the years of ridicule that’s he endured over his ridiculous name.

Even though it’s been a while since I’ve read these books (I stopped reading them during the time when the series was on a temporary hiatus due to author Dav Pilkey taking time off to care for his father, who died in 2008), I found this film to be a highly faithful adaptation of its source material. The plot is, basically, a combination of elements from various installments. In other words, while the main plot generally follows the same structure of the first book, the film’s main villain, Professor Poopypants, first debuted in the fourth book, Captain Underpants and The Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants, the evil sentient toilets from the second book, Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets, make an appearance, and there are several Easter eggs throughout that tie into various other entries of the series. Ultimately, though, the film does a fantastic job of capturing the overall feel and tone of the books. It never takes itself too seriously and it maintains the same general style of self-aware humor. Heck, they even managed to incorporate the iconic ‘Flip-O-Rama’ sections from the books, in which readers flipped pages back and forth to simulate action scenes, into the narrative. On that note, the screenplay by Nicholas Stoller is full of hilarious bits of dialogue. I mean, admittedly, I wouldn’t say that this film is an absolute comedic riot. And, yes, the humor is often just as juvenile as it was in the books so it won’t go over well with everyone. Still, there are plenty of great jokes as well as some hilarious visual gags throughout that satirize the superhero genre. At the same time, there’s also some surprisingly heartfelt moments in this as well, namely through the friendship of the main characters.

Unlike most DreamWorks Animation films, this film’s animation was handled by a different studio, Mikros Image. This allowed the film to have a cheaper budget compared to DreamWorks’ other projects in the wake of some of their more recent efforts underperforming at the box-office. And, overall, the animation in this film is solid. It’s very reminiscent of what Blue Sky Studios did on The Peanuts Movie, managing to establish a 2-Dish feel in this computer animated film. And just like The Peanuts Movie, this is a great way to pay homage to the original source material as, in this instance, it feels like a comic book coming to life. Heck, they even have a whole sequence done with sock puppets. As for the voice cast, the film assembles a solid group of voices to fit each role. It may seem a bit weird at first to hear famous voices like Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch portraying fourth graders, but they both do excellent jobs in the roles of George and Harold, respectively. But perhaps most importantly, the two have phenomenal camaraderie, doing justice to the friendship of these two classic characters which, as mentioned earlier, is ultimately the heart of the film. Meanwhile, Ed Helms is a nice pick for the dual role of Mr. Krupp AKA Captain Underpants. He provides the right amount of diabolicalness for when Krupp’s his normal self but then switches seamlessly into a charismatic persona when he’s the friendly but admittedly dimwitted superhero, Captain Underpants. And, finally, Nick Kroll gets some great bits of humor as well in the role of the main villain Professor Poopypants, mainly due to the exact reason that you’re thinking about (i.e. his name). I mean, between this and Sausage Party, Kroll does quite a great job when it comes to animated villain roles.

I cannot believe that I’m saying this but… Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is one of the most satisfying adaptations that I’ve ever seen. I mean, let’s face it, you don’t often get a film like this that is THIS faithful to the source material. And yet this film very much succeeds in capturing the spirit of the Captain Underpants books, right down to the implementation of their iconic running gags like ‘Flip-O-Rama’. Seriously, even though it’s been years since I’ve read these books, watching this film legitimately made me feel like a kid again, reading through these books and going on these wacky adventures with George and Harold. But, aside from that, the film’s just a fun superhero adventure through and through. The animation’s nice and colorful, excellently representing the visual style of the books, and the screenplay by Nicholas Stoller is full to the brim with great humor. At the same time, though, there’s also some unexpectedly heartfelt moments in this as well, primarily through the great friendship of George and Harold. Ultimately, it’s just a great feel-good film that celebrates imagination through the crazy antics that George, Harold, and Captain Underpants get into. Thus, to make a long story short (See what I did there? It’s a nod to the books, which always had one chapter that tied up all loose ends in just one sentence, hence why they’re always titled ‘To Make a Long Story Short…”), who would’ve guessed that an adaptation of a book series that has, no joke, been around for two whole decades now (Feel old yet?) would turn out this good? 

Rating: This may seem crazy, but… 5/5!