MOVIE REVIEW: Dog Man
Images courtesy of Dreamworks Animation
DOG MAN– 4 STARS
When watching the new animated flick Dog Man, a level of audible snickering is bound to crop up from the target demographic of elementary-aged students sitting in their theater sets next to their doting chaperones. Not unlike Arthur Fleck’s giggling in Joker while the character is having a humorous thought, those kiddos might drop Arthur’s famous meme material line reply of “You wouldn’t get it” when asked about it. You know what? Let them have those giggles.
LESSON #1: IRREVERENT HUMOR MATCHING ITS AUDIENCE– No worries are necessary. Dog Man will not turn impressionable children into future Clown Princes of Crime while they root for the do-gooding flatfoot. It’s simply the nature of irreverent humor made to match its chosen crowd and knowing fans. In Dog Man’s case, they are the beloved readers of Dav Pilkey’s graphic novel spinoffs from his Captain Underpants series that, for many youths, were a gateway to full-fledged novels when they were emerging readers. Others might not get or embrace the humor, and that’s perfectly fine. If anything, with the silly zest of Dog Man, those older seat neighbors might very well find the mental flexibility and reminiscent spirit to share in some of the fun with the wee ones.
The premise directed and adapted by animation veteran Peter Hasting (Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain) is appropriately nonsensical and adorable at the same time. The bustling metropolis of Ohkay City finds itself constantly in disorder thanks to its most notorious criminal, the fiendish feline Petey the Cat (voiced by Saturday Night Live alum Pete Davidson). One of the courageous few—alongside the cantankerous police chief (Lil Rel Howrey of Get Out) and the intrepid television reporter Sarah Hatoff (Isla Fisher, beginning a four-film 2025 output) he’s sweet on—with the energy and drive to stand up against Petey is K-9 Officer Knight, flanked by his trusty dog Greg. After an epic failed chase to apprehend Petey, both Knight and Greg are grievously injured, leading to an inconceivable medical procedure to save their lives where Greg’s head is surgically stitched to Knight’s body.
What should be a debilitating Frankensteinian mishap instead creates the new titular “supa cop.” Though this big accident has taken away the main character’s ability to speak, the body language, yips, and yowls (uttered by Hastings himself) do the talking from there. Paired against a mute hero, Pete Davidson rightfully dominates the show with his rattling, sneering dialogue hamming it up as the Dog Man heel. With every cackled “So long, suckas!” taunt, his casting makes stellar use of his personality of assholery. The emergence of Dog Man’s heightened nose for crime leads Petey to double his engineering efforts on mechanical monsters to snuff out his hairy rival of the fuzz. Along the way, Petey creates an disappointingly kind-hearted clone of himself dubbed Li’l Petey (Lucas Hopkins) that becomes Dog Man’s sidekick.
LESSON #2: QUALITY TIME FROM FATHER FIGURES– The biggest subplot of Dog Man outside of the zany pursuits rests on the bonding happening between Dog Man and Li’l Petey. In the cute kitten, Dog Man gained the companionship he lost when man’s best friend was merged with, well, himself. Equally so, Li’l Petty latched onto an example of good morals who gave him fair attention unlike the “parent” who discarded him. Those chestnuts of getting a bestie, buddy, or friend and the message of giving quality time to young people, even the proverbial “weird” ones, rings true from Pilkey’s books and affectionately in the Dog Man movie.
LESSON #2: PESSIMISM VERSUS OPTIMISM– The other heady platitude about Dog Man that is meant to massage the reasoning-holding frontal lobes of the gathered kiddos is spotting the contrast between optimism and pessimism. Contrasting Dog Man’s unwavering sense of selflessness and spirit, Petey is the perpetual pessimist bent on constant conquest stemming from his own attention-starved history. It would be very easy for Dog Man to wag the finger or completely vilify one perspective over the other as a hardliner, but it demonstrates an essence to see both and, most importantly, live with both.
Continuing a renewed, post-pandemic hot streak of impressive creations that began with The Bad Guys and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish in 2022, the brilliant artists at Dreamworks Animation digitally composed another dynamite-looking picture. The animation style—with its rounded edges, exaggerated features, sketched highlights, softened textures, and 3D-level depth—channels the source material perfectly with characters and sights leaping off the screen as well as they did the printed pages. To accentuate the very kinetic movement of the darting action (made with embraced acceptance towards all things ADHD), the gallant musical score from Ted Lasso composer Tom Howe sizzles with every manner of percussion to extend the roller coaster from the eyes to the ears.
While Dog Man is checking into a lower and simpler age bracket for inspiration and heart than Dreamworks’s last crowd-pleasing winner—the Oscar-nominated The Wild Robot—the wonderment level is tuned as right as its aforementioned irreverent humor. Through it all, the movie’s see-things-like-a-realist slant and sweet takes on companionships are quite rich coming from something so intentionally fantastical. Surging with peppy vibrancy, Dog Man is a delightful and easy-going blast fit for entire fleets of minivans and family sedans arriving at multiplexes this winter.
LOGO DESIGNED BY MEENTS ILLUSTRATED (#1277)
