Favorite Films of the Summer of 2025 - As Voted by You!!

Hello, folks! What you’re about to read is what we’ll call a compromise that I didn’t exactly want to have to come to for this post but, given the circumstances of how long it took to have this specific project finished, I wanted to ensure its completion so that the pressure of having to finish it wouldn’t be hanging over my head for the next few months. As longtime visitors to this site know, I hold an annual poll every year where I invite you all to vote for your favorite films from that year’s summer. After the two to three weeks of polling conclude, I tally up all the results and produce an extensive write-up piece that includes every film that earned a vote, so that I can acknowledge my overall intent with this ‘End of Summer Fan Poll’ to honor every voice that participated in it regardless of their favorite film’s quality.

However, as you’re probably aware, my overall output for this site has been slower these past few years for various reasons, whether it’s the usual pressures of a full-time job taking up a good chunk of my time to the fact that I simply don’t want to spend the rest of that time stuck behind a computer. This has very much affected the release of these annual End of Summer Results Posts, with me not publishing the 2023 post until that year’s end in December and 2024’s post coming slightly earlier by comparison, but still quite late for that stretch of time that November. This brings us to the 2025 End of Summer Fan Poll Results Post, which I’m publishing… at the tail-end of May the following year. To be clear, it’s not that I wasn’t working on a proper Results Post, but as you can guess, it ended up taking way longer than anticipated, mainly for all those reasons I brought up earlier. And yes, this was then further complicated by the recent posts that I’ve done (my big tribute to my recently closed hometown theater and the retrospective on the Mortal Kombat Legends films), but eventually I realized that at the rate I was going, it would’ve taken me way too long to have that version of this post completed in a reasonable timeframe. In the Cinemaworld tribute, I stated that I hoped to have it done by, at the very least, the time when I’d kick off this year’s edition of the End of Summer Fan Poll.

To put it bluntly, it got to the point where I realized that this deadline wouldn’t be met. And so, while it pains me to have to nix the traditionally lengthy and in-depth style of write-ups that I do for these Results Posts, I decided to instead do a more simplified version of this year’s post to ensure that it would finally see the light of day. This year, we had 74 voters cast their votes for 21 different films. And so, without further ado, Rhode Island Movie Corner is proud to present the most popular films of the summer of 2025 as voted by you, the readers!

THE FOLLOWING EIGHT FILMS EACH EARNED ONE VOTE APIECE

F1: THE MOVIE

One could say that after their work on 2022’s big summer juggernaut (and that year’s End of Summer Fan Poll winner) Top Gun: Maverick, director Joseph Kosinski, screenwriter Ehren Kruger, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer looked to repeat that winning formula of a high-octane summer blockbuster revolving around an industry that requires considerable technical prowess from those who partake in it with a plot where an aging veteran is recruited to mentor young and cocky recruits with their latest film, based around one of the most famous sporting leagues in the world, Formula One. And while F1: The Movie is certainly not the kind of film to look to for a layered plot and deep bits of character depth, it works around its simplistic narrative by delivering the exact same kind of incredibly satisfying kinetic action sequences that Kosinski masterfully crafted in Top Gun: Maverick while being fully bolstered by the always charismatic Brad Pitt in the lead role of renegade Formula One driver Sonny Hayes. As a result, this big-budget blockbuster ended up being one of the Top 10 highest-grossing films of the year and even managed to garner a few Oscar nominations, with a win for Best Sound and, most notably of all, a somewhat unexpected nomination for Best Picture.

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER

Following in the footsteps of the hugely successful relaunch of the Scream franchise, another famous 90’s horror franchise launched by screenwriter Kevin Williamson, I Know What You Did Last Summer, returned to theaters with a full-on legacy sequel that presented a new cast of characters being hunted by a raincoat-wearing hook-wielding killer who haunts them with the memories of a deadly incident that they played a direct part in. But unlike the Radio Silence-directed installments of the Scream franchise, the revival of I Know What You Did Last Summer was ultimately a dud with most critics who felt that it was a bit too reverent of a legacy sequel with some questionable methods of trying to continue the franchise.

28 YEARS LATER

After years of attempts of trying to do a sequel to their 2002 hit 28 Days Later being consistently thwarted by copyright issues (hence why 28 Days Later spent many years being one of the most infamous examples of a hard to find film on physical media), director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland were finally able to relaunch their modern spin on the zombie genre with 28 Years Later, a new story set in a universe where much of the United Kingdom has been decimated by a virus that turns its victims into rage-inducing psychopaths. And while it ultimately garnered a polarizing reaction amongst some audiences who were thrown off by the film ultimately being more of a coming-of-age story in which a young boy from an isolated island community travels onto the infected-ridden British mainland to try and find a doctor who can cure his ill mother, those who did like it appreciated its deeply emotional storyline, gorgeous visuals, and thoroughly modern interpretation of a post-apocalyptic world in the post-COVID-19 landscape the same way that the original 28 Days Later captured that exact same essence in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. It’s since gone on to spawn an equally acclaimed sequel, this year’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, directed by Nia DaCosta, but due to that film’s underperformance at the box-office (which I’m referring to as the second straight case of the internet screwing over DaCosta after her 2023 MCU outing The Marvels was a wholly underserved flop (a rarity for the superhero genre franchise juggernaut)), the plans for a finale to this prospective trilogy are now currently up in the air.

THE LIFE OF CHUCK

Having already found much success in adapting the works of legendary author Stephen King with acclaimed works like 2017’s ‘once deemed unfilmable’ Gerald’s Game and 2019’s The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, Mike Flanagan took on a much different kind of King story with The Life of Chuck, one of the four novellas in King’s 2020 short story collection If It Bleeds. Rather than being one of King’s trademark horror stories, The Life of Chuck is a slice-of-life drama focusing on the turbulent life of its titular protagonist, Chuck. What follows is one of King’s more light-hearted stories that still presents the strong bits of emotional pathos that he is well-known for which, sure enough, is something that Flanagan has managed to convey in many of his projects as well. As a result, The Life of Chuck was seen as another successful outing for the revered horror director even if it wasn’t the kind of film that he’s known for.

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME

Wes Anderson’s latest cinematic outing, in which an arms-dealing industrialist deals with various plots to undermine his financial empire while trying to appoint his daughter as the sole heir to his estate, is full of the director’s well-established filmmaking trademarks, from his quirky sense of humor to his immaculate visual style. As such, while some critics have argued that Anderson is starting to play it safe at this point in his career, they were still generally positive toward The Phoenician Scheme, further cementing Anderson’s status as one of the industry’s most revered directors.

HURRY UP TOMORROW

Having steadily grown into being one of the biggest icons in the world of alternative R&B music, Abel Makkonen Tsefaye, AKA The Weeknd, has now made the jump to the big screen in Hurry Up Tomorrow. Inspired by a real-life incident in which he lost his voice during a concert, the film sees Tsefaye play a fictionalized version of himself who embarks on a surreal journey when he meets a mysterious devoted fan of his. But while the accompanying album may have been another success for The Weeknd from a musical standpoint, the same cannot be said for his onscreen aspirations as the film was largely derided as a self-indulgent ego trip that felt more like a marketing ploy to try and boost its soundtrack.

FRIENDSHIP

(*WRITE-IN SECTION HONOREE*)

Bolstered by the all-star duo of Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson, Friendship, a dark comedy in which a socially awkward marketing executive (Robinson) becomes overly obsessed with his newfound friendship with his weatherman neighbor (Rudd), proved to be a hit amongst critics who found it to be a perfect representation of the kind of cringe comedy that has made Tim Robinson a modern icon in the world of comedy.

KPOP DEMON HUNTERS

(*WRITE-IN SECTION HONOREE: TECHNICALLY A NETFLIX RELEASE BUT ONE THAT WAS GRANTED ELIGIBILITY DUE TO IT BEING GIVEN A LIMITED THEATRICAL RELEASE*)

Calling KPop Demon Hunters one of the biggest cultural phenomena of 2025 would be a massive understatement. The Sony Animation-produced musical fantasy promptly broke all sorts of records upon its release, from becoming the most-viewed release in Netflix history to its double platinum soundtrack making history as the first K-Pop soundtrack to win both a Grammy and an Academy Award. And simply put, when the film in question boasts visually stunning animation, an iconic soundtrack, and three of the most naturally endearing heroines in recent history in the trio of demon-hunting pop stars Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, it’s easy to see why this film became the golden juggernaut that it is.

THE FOLLOWING FOUR FILMS EACH EARNED TWO VOTES

HAPPY GILMORE 2

(*WRITE-IN SECTION HONOREE: GRANTED ELIGIBILITY DESPITE NOT HAVING A PROPER THEATRICAL RELEASE AS A SHOWING OF APPRECIATION TO RHODE ISLAND MOVIE CORNER READERS FOR ENSURING THAT THIS YEAR’S POLL WOULD END UP HAVING A RESPECTABLE TURNOUT*)

Nearly three whole decades after he first stepped onto the golf course as the brash yet ultimately good-natured hockey player turned golfer Happy Gilmore, Adam Sandler returns to one of the most iconic roles of his career in a legacy sequel that’s one big love letter to its hugely popular predecessor but one that also feels like an earnest callback to the early days of Sandler’s career when there was some genuine heart to his trademark lowbrow sense of humor.

THE BAD GUYS 2

Thanks to the success of the 2022 film adaptation of the children’s graphic novel series The Bad Guys, DreamWorks Animation has very much found its latest hit franchise to join the likes of Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and How to Train Your Dragon. And in true DreamWorks fashion, this has now resulted in an equally successful follow-up in The Bad Guys 2, which sees the titular group continue their efforts to try and atone for their criminal pasts while being forced into working alongside a rival gang on the biggest heist of their careers.

Speaking of How to Train Your Dragon…

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON

To the surprise of many, DreamWorks took a page out of Disney’s playbook by producing a live-action remake of one of their animated classics; in this case, their universally acclaimed 2010 smash hit How to Train Your Dragon. What ultimately came out of this is a remake that is almost entirely a 1:1 redo of its animated counterpart (save for some incredibly minor additions) which, I’ll admit, is something that I find rather ironic due to several folks seemingly giving this film a pass for all this while simultaneously being harshly critical of Disney’s live-action remakes, even though most of them have never been THIS identical to their animated counterparts. Despite this, however, that doesn’t mean that I ‘dislike’ the remake of How to Train Your Dragon as it’s bolstered by the original’s wonderful story and is ultimately a well-made live-action interpretation under the solid direction of Dean DeBlois, director of the original animated trilogy, thanks to its largely practical production design and excellent cast headlined by the duo of Mason Thames and Nico Parker as series protagonists Hiccup and Astrid. That said, though, I do hope that the impending sequel that’s slated for next summer will at least try to not just be a 1:1 redo of 2014’s How to Train Your Dragon 2.

SUPERMAN

With the DC Extended Universe ultimately being a failed attempt at trying to match the level of critical and commercial success that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has accomplished, it was clear that a new creative direction was desperately needed for the cinematic potential of some of the most iconic comic book superheroes of all-time; enter Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy director James Gunn (and director of the DCEU’s best installment, 2021’s The Suicide Squad) to do just that alongside producing partner Peter Safran as the new heads of DC Comics’ film division. And to kickstart their new cinematic universe on the big-screen, Gunn personally helmed a new interpretation of Superman that, after years of us all being forced to deal with the toxic fanbase of director Zack Snyder acting like Snyder’s visually impressive yet narratively soulless take on Superman for the DCEU was the only way to properly portray the character on the big-screen, promptly reminded us all of how it’s supposed to be done in a film that wisely focuses more on Clark Kent’s humanity rather than his powers.

THE FOLLOWING THREE FILMS EACH EARNED, FITTINGLY ENOUGH, THREE VOTES

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS

Despite being some of the most prominent characters within the Marvel Universe, the Fantastic Four have infamously had some of the worst luck out of any of their in-universe peers with their cinematic outings as various attempts at launching the Fantastic Four film franchise ended up faring poorly amongst critics and audiences. There was the infamously unreleased 1994 Fantastic Four film produced by B-movie king Roger Corman, the commercially successful yet largely panned pair of Fantastic Four films from the early 2000’s that were mostly seen as byproducts of an age where the genre was guided more by studio mandates than actual creative intent, and the disastrous 2015 reboot Fan4stic that, for lack of a better term, was practically doomed from the start and basically served as the death knell for 20^th Century Fox’s Marvel films. Simply put, it’s truly saying something when, for many years, many considered a completely unrelated film, Brad Bird’s 2004 Pixar flick The Incredibles, as the best Fantastic Four film ever made.

But, now under the direction of Kevin Feige and company at Marvel Studios, Marvel’s First Family were finally given the Grade-A film adaptation that they’ve long deserved in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, a film that celebrates their comic roots with its delightfully whimsical retro aesthetic. But, at the same time, the film also does a great job in conveying the ominous suspense that is the threat of the world-devouring Galactus (portrayed PROPERLY this time rather than being a giant space cloud like he was in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer) while also providing arguably the best interpretations of its titular quartet yet with the pitch-perfect casting of Pedro Pascal as Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as the Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing.

FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES

Nearly one and a half decades after its last installment in 2011, one of the most prominent horror franchises of the 2000’s returned with a vengeance and delivered arguably its best installment yet with Final Destination: Bloodlines. Not only does Bloodlines continue to deliver on everything that folks have come to expect from the Final Destination franchise (namely, its over-the-top gory kills), but it also does so without being hindered by any of the issues that plagued some of Final Destination’s latter sequels. Instead of being dominated by a collection of one-note, unlikable characters who are just there to be killed off, Bloodlines’ focus on a family threatened by the series’ signature death curse gives us its most likable protagonists to date. And whereas something like the franchise’s worst outing, 2009’s The Final Destination, delved way too far into campy territory, Bloodlines manages the series’ trademark twisted sense of humor better than practically any other film in the series. In short, Bloodlines proved that Final Destination still has quite a lot of bite to it even more than two and a half decades since its inception.

THE NAKED GUN

It’s a tall order to try and continue one of the most iconic comedy franchises of the 1980’s, The Naked Gun, without the involvement of the series’ creators (Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker) or series lead Leslie Nielsen, but against all odds, the filmmaking team of director Akiva Schaffer of The Lonely Island and Family Guy creator and producer Seth MacFarlane managed to pull it off with their star-studded revival. Liam Neeson proves to be the perfect successor to Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin’s son, Frank Jr., while being joined by the equally great Pamela Anderson as his love interest, Beth, in a film that respects its satirical roots in a modern setting to deliver something that filmgoers have been wanting to see for quite some time: a good old-fashioned comedy.

THE FOLLOWING THREE FILMS EACH EARNED FOUR VOTES

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING

Three decades after first choosing to accept his mission as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise sent Ethan on his final adventure with the second half of the series’ big finale after 2023’s Dead Reckoning, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. And while some have argued that the series hit its peak in 2018 with Mission Impossible: Fallout, some of the more questionable narrative routes taken in the two Reckoning films did not stop this series from going out on a largely successful note, all bolstered by the consistently strong direction of Christopher McQuarrie, who’s been the franchise’s director since 2015’s Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH

While 2022’s Jurassic World: Dominion was originally presented as the grand finale to everything that the Jurassic Park franchise had set up since the 1993 original, series producer Steven Spielberg teamed up with the original’s co-writer and 1997’s The Lost World’s writer David Koepp to keep the franchise going with a new installment, Rebirth, that would, under the direction of Gareth Edwards (Godzilla (2014), Rogue One), aim to harken back to the series’ roots with a more suspenseful story of survival. And yet, at this point in the franchise’s run, most of Rebirth’s dinosaur action feels disappointingly routine in this sluggishly paced dino thriller that feels like it was a Jurassic Park/World film that was ‘made by committee’, a phrase that I wouldn’t apply to any of the series’ previous outings. Nevertheless, with the film nearly matching the previous trilogy’s consistent $1 billion turnout at the box office, it’s safe to say that the Jurassic Park/World franchise continues to be one of pop culture’s biggest juggernauts despite fans’ largely mixed reactions to its follow-ups.

THUNDERBOLTS* AKA *THE NEW AVENGERS

Yes, in a year where much of the attention was focused on the MCU’s take on the Fantastic Four and James Gunn’s relaunch of the DC Cinematic Universe, arguably the most acclaimed superhero film of 2025 was the MCU’s annual ‘first week of May’ release, Thunderbolts*. For some people, this was a genuine surprise as the film’s announcement faced tons of online skepticism, with some arguing that it was just the MCU’s attempt at trying to cash in on DC’s Suicide Squad concept, especially given that it would be headlined by some of the most polarizing characters to come out of the MCU’s post-Endgame era. And yet, the film managed to defy all expectations by delivering one of the MCU’s most character-driven installments in what was also one of its most narratively darkest outings up there with the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Daring to tackle such serious topics as the daily struggles of one’s mental health, Thunderbolts* manages to balance its emotionally devastating plot-threads with the franchise’s trademark knack for a grand spectacle.

(And yes, for those who are wondering, the use of an asterisk in the film’s title was to tease its ultimate reveal in which the titular squad is renamed The New Avengers)

THIS YEAR’S THIRD PLACE WINNER, WITH 5 VOTES

WEAPONS

After making an impressive debut as a horror director with his 2022 feature Barbarian, sketch comedian turned filmmaker Zach Cregger’s acclaim extended even further with his follow-up, Weapons, a multi-layered horror-thriller in which a quiet town is rocked by the sudden disappearance of multiple children from their homes. Carried by its captivating mystery plot and strong performances from its cast (headlined by Amy Madigan as the film’s standout character, the enigmatic Aunt Gladys, which earned her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress), Weapons’ success with both critics and audiences has very much given Cregger some major carte blanche as a filmmaker, which he will be using to full effect this fall with his unique spin on the Resident Evil franchise.

THIS YEAR’S RUNNER UP, WITH 12 VOTES

FREAKIER FRIDAY

Disney’s 2003 remake of their 1976 film Freaky Friday, starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as a dysfunctional mother-daughter duo who suddenly find themselves swapped into each other’s bodies, has very much been a beloved classic in the eyes of the generation that grew up with it. This, to me, helps to explain why its hotly anticipated sequel, Freakier Friday, ended up being the sleeper hit of this year’s poll. With Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis continuing to be a delightfully hilarious comedic duo as their characters Anna and Tess find themselves swapping places with Anna’s daughter Harper and Anna’s fiancé Eric’s daughter Lily, respectively, Freakier Friday delivers another hilarious body swap comedy on par with its predecessor that, even if it’s arguably just a modern redo of the previous film, also beautifully maintains the original’s emotional poignancy. And because this all-around crowd pleaser managed to do quite well for itself at the box office during the traditionally crowded summer blockbuster season, I feel like this could lead to a well-earned career revival for Lohan after all the scandals that she had to endure in the 2000’s.

AND FINALLY, THE GRAND CHAMPION OF RHODE ISLAND MOVIE CORNER’S 2025 END OF SUMMER FAN POLL, WITH 20 VOTES

LILO & STITCH

Unlike a lot of the recent live-action Disney remakes, the live-action adaptation of Disney Animation’s beloved 2002 hit Lilo & Stitch dared to not just be a straightforward retelling of its animated counterpart by making a few alterations to its plot of a destructive alien crash-landing on Earth and becoming the adopted pet of a young and rebellious Hawaiian girl. That said, though, some fans of the original were quite pissed about its significant changes, from turning franchise regular Jumba into the film’s main antagonist to the film’s revamped ending that, as they argued, went against the franchise’s well-established theme of finding one’s ohana, which, of course, means that “no one gets left behind or forgotten”. But if you ask me, at least when it comes to the remake’s altered ending, the backlash towards it is mainly the result of a grossly inaccurate interpretation of it because, ultimately, it makes enough of an effort to ensure that it doesn’t end on a depressingly somber note for its main protagonists. As a result, while I know that it won’t be saying much in the eyes of those who are highly critical of Disney’s run of live-action remakes, the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch may just be the best one of the bunch as it manages to both respect its beloved source material without being a 1:1 repeat of it.

And there you have it! As always, I want to express my utmost gratitude to everyone who participated in this year’s event, from the 74 voters to those who helped to spread it around on social media. Your annual contributions to this little event of ours help make this one of my favorite projects to do here on Rhode Island Movie Corner and are quite frankly the main reason why I have continued to do this every year. And again, my sincerest apologies for taking THIS DAMN LONG to finish it. Hopefully, this won’t happen again in a few months when we kickstart the 2026 edition of our annual End of Summer Fan Poll which, as always, will have quite an eclectic collection of films vying for the crown. This is a summer where some classic franchises will be making their triumphant return to the big screen for the first time in years while other big-name franchises are set to unleash their latest surefire hit upon us. This, of course, includes the likes of Marvel and DC, with the former seeing their favorite webslinger leap headfirst into a new era of his cinematic adventures and the latter taking us on a wild ride with the Man of Steel’s intrepid cousin. Aside from that, we’ll also have some of the biggest names in the film industry bringing us their latest, including a certain filmmaker who’s gone two-for-two at our annual event. Will this year’s event see said filmmaker pull off a threepeat?

Rhode Island Movie Corner's Annual End of Summer Fan Poll - 2025 Edition (Introduction Post)

It’s that time again, folks! If you’ve been following this site for the past several years, you can probably guess how excited I am to make the following announcement. Yes, folks, it’s time once again for Rhode Island Movie Corner’s longest-running tradition: the annual End of Summer Fan Poll! For those who are new here, this is something that I’ve been doing for over a decade now ever since I first tested it out back in 2014 to try and produce some content for this site during the often-slow period in the world of film that is the end of summer season. Through this event, I encourage you, the readers, to vote for your favorite film from the past summer, and after a few weeks of polling, I tally up all the votes and do one giant Results Post that covers every film that earned a vote. Now, admittedly, the process of writing these Results Posts has started to get a lot more complex in recent years to the point where I don’t end up publishing them until after the summer season has long been over. Back in 2023, I didn’t get it finished until the very end of the year, and while I managed to get the 2024 Results Post out a little earlier… well, when I say ‘a little earlier’, that’s technically just one month earlier. As such, we’ll ultimately have to wait and see if I’ll be able to get this year’s Results Post finished a lot sooner this time around.

But until then, it’s time for me, as always, to explain the rules of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s Annual End of Summer Fan Poll. The link below (which will be shared repeatedly the next two weeks on my social media accounts (including the BRAND-NEW Instagram page that I created for this site that you can follow here)) will take you to a poll that I’ve created on the surveying website Survio. There, you’ll be prompted to list your favorite film from this past summer from the large list of options that I’ve assembled. With that in mind, I must warn you all in advance that there are a lot of options to choose from since, whenever I assemble these lists, I always tend to include every major wide release of the summer. That said, though, this doesn’t mean that they end up including every single film that came out each year, which is why I always include a write-in section where you can cast your vote if your film isn’t on the list. But when it comes to the ‘write-in’ section, here’s where this event’s biggest ground-rule comes into play; the film in question MUST be one that has had a theatrical release. So, with apologies to fans of films like Predator: Killer of Killers and Happy Gilmore 2, I won’t be able to accept votes for films that were primarily released via streaming services like Netflix or Hulu. That said, though, if you’re someone who hasn’t been able to get to a theater this summer, whether it’s due to circumstances such as the increasingly dire financial woes of our society or, if you’re like me, the kind of severe anxiety that comes from being in enclosed spaces, you’ll be pleased to know that I’m willing to accept votes from anyone who saw any of the films from this year’s list of options via On-Demand or streaming services. And if you haven’t seen ANYTHING this year… feel free to share this poll online; as I always say every year, I truly appreciate those of you who help spread it around on social media as it’s helped us garner bigger and better voter turnouts each year.

Voting begins today and will end on August 31^st!!!

Click Here to Vote!!!

As always, I like to conclude these Annual Poll Introductory Posts by going through all our past winners. So, without further ado, it’s time once again for…

RHODE ISLAND MOVIE CORNER’S ANNUAL END OF SUMMER FAN POLL HALL OF FAME

2014

For an event that started out as a ‘spur-of-the-moment’ idea, the inaugural End of Summer Fan Poll had a decent turnout with 43 votes. Even better, it concluded with an electrifying three-way tie as three uniquely different films ended up earning FIVE votes apiece. First, there was The Fault in Our Stars, which more than satisfied the fans of author John Green’s best-selling novel on which it was based. Then, you had 22 Jump Street, one of the rare instances of a comedy sequel that was not only just as good as its predecessor… but quite arguably better. And finally, there was Guardians of the Galaxy, which began as one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s biggest gambles given how obscure its titular squad was at the time… and ultimately became one of the MCU’s most beloved outings.

2015

Our sophomore event saw an overall increase in its voting turnout with 47 votes. This time, however, the winner ran virtually unopposed, garnering double the number of votes that the 2014 trio of winners each got with a whopping TEN votes. That’s just as many votes as the number of Oscar nominations that Mad Max: Fury Road received at that year’s Academy Awards as the long-awaited continuation of writer/director George Miller’s hugely popular Mad Max franchise gave filmgoers a much-needed dose of cinematic serotonin in this current age of CGI-heavy and IP-driven summer blockbusters.

2016

The turnout continued to grow in Year 3, with 58 votes and our second-ever tie for First Place. The two winners each earned NINE votes, and the resulting tie is one that I’ve always cited as one of the most fascinating in this event’s history. On one side of the equation, you have a film that was practically guaranteed to be one of that year’s front-runners; Captain America: Civil War, the first installment of Phase 3 of the MCU which managed to work around the flaws of the polarizing comic storyline that it’s named after to produce one of the MCU’s most epic installments. And then, on the other side, you had a film that defied all expectations to be one of that year’s biggest hits amongst poll voters; Bad Moms, a raunchy R-rated comedy a la The Hangover (which I mainly bring up because the film’s directors, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, were that film’s screenwriters) about a trio of moms who opt to take a day off from their stressful matriarchal duties to have the kind of fun that they haven’t had in years. Simply put, a tie like this truly goes to show just how unpredictable this event can be.

2017

The 2017 edition of this event would ultimately match 2016’s 58-vote turnout and was also the first year where we ended up with a ‘Top 5’ list of winners. This was also the year where we all learned a valuable lesson about this event: never underestimate the one and only Christopher Nolan. That year, Nolan gave us Dunkirk, his kinetically thrilling rendition of the World War II event known as Operation Dynamo, where over 338,000 Allied soldiers awaited to be evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk, France in the summer of 1940. Upon its release, this EIGHT vote-getting epic of a blockbuster became one of the most well-regarded films of his career, becoming the highest-grossing World War II film of all-time up to that point before it was surpassed by another Nolan film that… well, we’ll get to later…

2018

For whatever reason, 2018 was a slow year for the End of Summer Fan Poll. We only garnered 44 votes that year, but at the same time, that year’s winner would set a new event record with TWELVE votes. Some of you might be thinking that a big-name blockbuster like Avengers: Infinity War or Incredibles 2 might’ve taken the top spot that year… but that’s not the case. Instead, the honor went… to a Spike Lee joint. Yes, in 2018, the legendary filmmaker achieved one of the biggest hits of his career with BlacKkKlansman, which told the story of police officer Ron Stallworth and the sting operation that he pulled on his town’s local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Not only did it earn Lee his first-ever Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, but it continues to be a timely piece of social commentary on the horrors of domestic political extremists.

2019

For the first five years of this event’s run, the MCU had two of its films take the top spot, but in both instances, these ‘wins’ were shared with other films thanks to some ties for first place. This changed in 2019 when, in what was easily one of the most predictable outcomes in event history, Avengers: Endgame, the Grand Finale to the MCU’s Infinity Saga, became the franchise’s first unopposed champion. In a year where we saw a record-setting 89 vote turnout, Endgame would also make history with a record-setting NINETEEN vote victory. And just like how Endgame briefly stood as the highest-grossing film of all-time for a few years before James Cameron’s Avatar retook the top spot in 2021, that 19-vote result would be the number to beat for a few years as far as this event was concerned.

2020

Because 2020 was… well, 2020, this was the only year so far where we did not hold the Annual End of Summer Fan Poll.

2021

The 2021 edition of this event had a lot to prove, being the first of these to be held after we couldn’t do it in 2020. Thankfully, it managed to make a decent comeback; its 69-vote turnout may have paled in comparison to the 89-vote turnout of the 2019 event, but I was personally satisfied with those results given the circumstances. In first place, garnering a highly respectable SIXTEEN votes, was Cruella, one of Disney’s many live-action re-imaginings of their animated classics which, like their 2014 live-action retelling of Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent, focused in on its story’s iconic villainess, Cruella de Vil of One Hundred and One Dalmatians fame, and reframed her as a more sympathetic and rebellious anti-hero.  

2022

Thanks in large part to a last-minute extra day of voting, the 2022 edition of the End of Summer Fan Poll was the first time we were able to achieve a 100+ voter turnout with 119 votes cast. This was what ultimately helped that year’s winner, Top Gun: Maverick, achieve a historic FIFTY-SIX (!!!) vote performance. Granted, it was undoubtedly the front-runner of that year’s event anyway given its status as one of the most well-received films of the summer (not to mention its impressive $1 billion+ run at the box-office), but thanks to that extra day, I still believe that its record-breaking performance in the poll is one that won’t be topped anytime soon.

2023

Somehow, we managed to outdo ourselves in 2023 as we managed to surpass the 119-vote total from 2022 with a record-breaking 122-vote turnout. Unlike 2022’s event, however, there wasn’t an obvious front-runner this time around as the top three films all managed to earn at least 20 votes each, thus making them the best-performing films in these annual polls of ours outside of Top Gun: Maverick. As for the Top 2, it was only fitting that the films would end up being the ones that made up that summer’s viral double feature, ‘Barbenheimer’. And yet, while Greta Gerwig’s Barbie was the biggest hit of both the summer and the entire year, it was ultimately Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer that took home that year’s top spot in the poll with TWENTY-FOUR votes. Nolan’s retelling of the Manhattan Project managed to hold its own financially against Barbie and would end up earning Nolan his first Oscar for Best Director on route to it winning that year’s Best Picture Oscar. In other words, as we noted earlier when discussing Dunkirk’s victory back in 2017, one must never underestimate Christopher Nolan.

2024

And finally, we have last year’s event which, admittedly, did not see us achieve our third straight 100+ vote turnout but, nevertheless, still managed to garner an impressive 85-vote turnout. And for the first time since 2016, we ended up with a two-way tie for first (TWELVE votes each) with another instance where one was an obvious front-runner and the other an unexpected underdog. The front-runner? Inside Out 2, the billion-dollar-grossing juggernaut of a sequel to Pixar’s 2015 masterpiece Inside Out that became the first animated film in this event’s history to take the top spot. And the under-the-radar hit? Twisters, the legacy sequel to 1996’s cult classic blockbuster hit Twister which, to me, represented the film’s undeniable success in marketing itself as a good old-fashioned crowd-pleaser.

Lilo & Stitch (2025) Review

The early 2000s were, admittedly, a rough period for Walt Disney Animation Studios. After experiencing one of the most successful runs in their history thanks to the Disney Renaissance, the studio quickly found itself having a far more difficult time achieving that same level of critical and commercial success once the new millennium rolled around. While there were various factors behind this turn of events, arguably the most prominent of the bunch was the rise in success of computer animated films that was spearheaded by the likes of DreamWorks and, of course, the studio that Disney had begun to partner with in the 90’s before buying them out wholesale in 2006, Pixar. As a result, a bunch of the films that Walt Disney Animation produced during this time, such as 2000’s The Emperor’s New Groove, 2001’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and 2002’s Treasure Planet, ended up faring poorly at the box office and, on occasion, with critics. Now, with that said, many of these films would later go on to attract considerable cult followings from the generation of kids who grew up with them, undoubtedly thanks in part to the creative risks that the studio often took during these years to deviate from their long-standing narrative formulas of reimagined fairy tales full of Broadway-esque musical numbers. Ultimately, though, it’s safe to say that there’s a very good reason as to why, in the mid-2000s, Disney Animation opted to move away from making traditionally animated films in favor of making computer-animated features. However, if there was one undeniable bright spot during these so-called ‘dark ages’, that would be the first of two films that the studio produced in 2002: a little offbeat sci-fi themed ‘Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride’ known as Lilo & Stitch.

Directed by the duo of Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, who would later go on to co-direct DreamWorks’ highly acclaimed adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon in 2010 (which, on an incredibly ironic note given today’s review subject, is getting its own live-action remake in a few weeks), the film followed the adventures of its titular duo; Lilo, a young Hawaiian girl living under the care of her older sister Nani following the death of their parents, and her new pet dog Stitch. It’s just that, unbeknownst to Lilo and company, Stitch is secretly a destructive alien creature who was created by a mad scientist and is hiding out on Earth disguised as a dog to avoid being captured by intergalactic government forces. Unlike many of the other films that Disney Animation was producing at the time, Lilo & Stitch, which was the second of three films that were produced primarily from Disney’s now-defunct animation studio located within Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios theme park (the other two being 1998’s Mulan and 2003’s Brother Bear), was one of the studio’s cheaper productions from a budgetary standpoint. Whereas their other release of the year, Treasure Planet, was a costly $140 million flop, Lilo & Stitch only cost $80 million. And thanks in large part to a buzzworthy marketing campaign that saw Stitch wreak havoc across other Disney classics such as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, the film performed quite well for itself critically and commercially, earning over $273 million while also garnering largely positive reviews from critics and an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. As a result, Lilo & Stitch would go on to spawn what is quite arguably the most expansive media franchise of any Walt Disney Animation film of the early 2000s.

Its most prominent spin-off was the animated TV series Lilo & Stitch: The Series, which ran for 65 episodes over the course of two seasons and debuted on September 20^th, 2003, on ABC via Disney’s ABC Kids programming block. The series, which was preceded by a direct-to-video feature-length pilot film in Stitch! The Movie, followed the franchise’s titular duo as they went on various adventures across Hawaii to find and rescue the 625 experiments that Stitch’s creator, Dr. Jumba Jookiba, had created before he made Stitch AKA ‘Experiment 626’. During its run, the show notably pulled off one of the most ambitious crossovers in pop culture history by having not one, not two, not even three, but four whole episodes where Lilo & Stitch interacted with characters from some of Disney’s other hit shows at the time; Kim Possible, Recess, The Proud Family, and American Dragon: Jake Long. The show ultimately concluded in 2006 with another direct-to-video film, Leroy & Stitch, and during this time, the franchise also got another direct-to-video film in 2005, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch has a Glitch, which, unlike the show, opted to be more of a direct sequel to the original film. After that, the franchise would go on to spawn another pair of television series; Stitch!, which ran for multiple seasons from 2008 to 2015, and Stitch and Ai, which was only a single-season show released in 2017. Unlike the bulk of the franchise’s media, however, these shows were considerably different in tone and execution, adhering more to the animation styles of the countries they were produced in (anime in the case of the Japanese-set Stitch! and donghua for the Chinese-set Stitch & Ai) and notably having Stitch paired up with new female protagonists instead of Lilo; Yuna in Stitch! and Ai in Stitch and Ai.

Simply put, there’s no denying that Lilo & Stitch is one of Disney’s most profitable IPs. Thanks to all the films, shows, merchandise, and numerous attractions at Disney theme parks (yes, that even includes the admittedly notorious Stitch’s Great Escape, which replaced the notoriously mature fan-favorite ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom), the franchise has earned nearly $3.5 billion worldwide which, according to recent reports from Disney, now makes it one of their Top 10 best-selling franchises. And because of all this, Stitch has become such a fan favorite in the eyes of Disney fans that it could even be argued that he could give Mickey Mouse a run for his money as one of Disney’s most beloved mascots. With all this in mind, I guess you can say that it was practically inevitable that Disney would attempt to make the original Lilo & Stitch the latest installment of its long line of animated classics to get a live-action remake. Thus, that’s where we are now with the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch, which makes the 2002 original the latest in the Walt Disney Animation canon to get remade after the past few years of us getting remakes of most of the Disney Renaissance releases. In the director’s chair for this one is Dean Fleischer Camp, who had the breakout hit of his career in 2021 when he adapted Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, the trilogy of short films that he made with his then-wife Jenny Slate from 2010 to 2014, into a feature-length film that, despite being a live-action/animated hybrid, managed to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. With a background like that, it’s no wonder that Fleischer Camp imbues this new version of Lilo & Stitch with almost the same exact level of heart and soul as its animated counterpart, even with its rather controversial (yet, in several cases, effective) changes to the source material.     

In a far-off galaxy, the United Galactic Federation arrests mad scientist Dr. Jumba Jookiba (voiced/portrayed by Zack Galifianakis) for his illegal genetic experiments as exemplified by his latest creation, Experiment 626 (voiced by Chris Sanders), who is touted by Jumba as an indestructible force of nature. Immediately realizing the threat that 626 poses to the galaxy, the UGF Council promptly orders them both to be imprisoned; however, 626’s superior intellect helps him escape captivity and flee to another galaxy, where he ends up crash-landing on the planet Earth on the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i. With both Jumba and the Galactic Federation’s Earth ‘expert’ Agent Wendell Pleakley (voiced/portrayed by Billy Magnussen) now on his tail as part of a deal that the former makes with the UGF’s Grand Councilwoman (voiced by Hannah Waddingham) so that he can avoid going to prison, 626 disguises himself as an Earth dog and is subsequently taken in by a young girl named Lilo Pelekai (Maia Kealoha), who has been living under the care of her older sister Nani (Sydney Agudong) following the death of their parents. Thanks in large part to Lilo’s troublemaking habits, Nani has struggled to be a proper caretaker for her sister, thus putting her in increasingly hot water with their family’s social worker, Mrs. Kekoa (Tia Carrere), who pushes for her to get her act together or else lose Lilo to child services. Naturally, this stressful situation is only exacerbated further by the arrival of 626, whom Lilo names ‘Stitch’, as the two sisters quickly discover that their new ‘dog’ is quite the handful.

Now, despite everything that we’re going to get into when it comes to its narrative changes, this new version of Lilo & Stitch still follows in the footsteps of practically all its fellow live-action Disney remakes by recreating several key sequences and iconic lines from its animated counterpart in live-action form. However, unlike something like the CGI-animated remake of The Lion King from 2019 where any changes made to its source material were arguably minimal at best, the Lilo & Stitch remake doesn’t end up feeling like nothing more than a ‘shot-for-shot’ remake of the original animated film as it does make a few noticeable changes to its story. And yet, as was seen with the 2020 remake of Mulan with its notable omissions of elements such as its music and characters like Mushu and Shang, this then leads to the exact opposite kind of reaction from those who question the need to remake an animated classic; one where, instead, fans of the original are angered by all the things that the remake leaves out that they find to be some of the original film’s best aspects. Sure enough, the remake of Lilo & Stitch has faced tons of scrutiny from fans of the original over the changes that it makes to its source material, such as the exclusion of one of the franchise’s most prominent villains and the subsequent re-working of a long-standing series protagonist into being this film’s main antagonist to make up for the lack of that other villain. However, what has easily been the most controversial change is this film’s reworked ending; without spoiling exactly what happens in it, many have argued that it betrays the original film’s key message stressing the importance and beauty of ‘ohana. After all, as Lilo famously declares in both versions of this story when Nani attempts to get rid of Stitch, “‘ohana means family and family means that no one gets left behind or forgotten”.

And yet… I don’t think that this film’s reworked ending is harmful to that theme. In fact, I’d argue that a lot of the criticism revolving around it seems to stem from those who only read about what happens and then proceeded to take it directly at face value without paying any attention to the key bits of narrative context surrounding it, which helps to convey the genuinely positive developments behind this turn of events. As a result, I’d say that this new ending still manages to convey the beauty of ‘ohana, even if it goes without saying that it goes about this in a drastically different manner than the original film. And more importantly, the remake does retain much of the same level of heart and soul as the original, much of which is, of course, thanks to its iconic titular duo. Stitch is still the same adorably chaotic dog-like alien that he’s been throughout the entire franchise, especially thanks to the pivotal move of having his longtime voice actor, none other than the original film’s co-director Chris Sanders, return to voice the character even if some of Stitch’s lines are clearly lifted directly from previous installments of the franchise. And while your mileage will most likely vary on how effectively this film translates the franchise’s alien characters into live-action (a recurring criticism of Disney’s recent live-action remakes), Stitch’s CGI design is easily one of the best instances of this being done. Then, on the human side of things, you have the utterly adorable Maia Kealoha, who shines in her film debut as she flawlessly exudes Lilo’s silly yet wholly sympathetic qualities.

But, of course, as any fan of this series will remind you, Lilo & Stitch is more than just the wacky escapades of its titular duo. Alongside the hilarious hi-jinx that ensue from Stitch pretending to be a dog, there’s also the emotional saga that is the relationship between Lilo and her sister Nani in the wake of their parents’ death as the latter works tirelessly to ensure that they stay together. In the case of the original film, this was one of the first major instances where a Disney film’s plot largely revolved around sisters more than a full decade before it was, admittedly, overshadowed by the billion-dollar juggernaut that was Frozen. And while the remake’s take on Lilo and Nani’s relationship does end up revolving around the aforementioned ‘reworked ending’, it’s still just as strong as it was in the original film and Sydney Agudong deserves just as much credit as Maia Kealoha’s been getting for her performance as Nani, especially thanks to the perfectly sweet on-screen camaraderie that she shares with Kealoha. All in all, the film succeeds in maintaining the strong characterizations of its three leads, and while this does mean that other recurring characters of the series don’t get as much to work with by comparison, everyone else in the cast is solid in their respective roles, such as Kaipo Dudoit as Nani’s good-natured love interest David and Courtney B. Vance as the enigmatic Cobra Bubbles, who’s reimagined here as a CIA agent investigating Stitch’s antics who only poses as a social worker (his role in the animated film) when he’s undercover. Meanwhile, Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen provide plenty of laughs as the bickering duo of Jumba and Pleakley and the film even features a few cameos from the stars of the original animated film. OG Nani Tia Carrere takes over Cobra Bubbles’ role as Lilo and Nani’s social worker Mrs. Kekoa while Amy Hill, who played the elderly shop owner Mrs. Hasagawa in the original film and TV series, plays Lilo and Nani’s eccentric yet kind-hearted neighbor Tūtū, who’s also David’s grandmother.

At this point, I’ve become the very definition of a broken record when it comes to my controversially positive stance toward Disney’s recent trend of live-action remakes. At the risk of rehashing the same exact statements that I’ve made in my other reviews of Disney’s live-action remakes, I don’t believe that these new films are ‘harmful’ to the legacies of their animated counterparts, mainly due to the alleged implication that they make them feel ‘lesser’ by comparison. Instead, I feel that, as long as the original films are still available to watch thanks to services like Disney+ (their controversial habit of removing content from the service notwithstanding), there’s nothing wrong with seeing new spins on these animated classics. And when it comes to Lilo & Stitch, I’d say that its live-action remake is one of the best of the bunch, even if many will undoubtedly argue that this isn’t saying much. Director Dean Fleischer Camp does a fantastic job of maintaining the exact same level of emotional poignancy as the original film, even when taking its polarizing (yet largely solid) narrative changes into account. On that note, as notorious as some of these changes have been in the eyes of Lilo & Stitch fans, they do, at least, help to give this film its own unique identity rather than it being just a straightforward retelling of the original animated film. But above all, with the dedicated efforts of both its cast and crew to honor its story’s Hawaiian roots on full display here, Lilo & Stitch succeeds in being just as delightfully hilarious as it is beautifully touching on an emotional level.

Rating: 5/5!

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