Movie: Dog Man

There seemed to be three distinct audience members at a screening of Dog Man, the animated film adaptation of Dav Pilkey’s New York Times bestselling literary phenomenon.

There were those like my nine-year-old companion who had read just about all of the graphic novels and were experts on the Dog Man story (a spin-off of the Captain Underpants series) and each of the characters.

Then there were the parents of the many young readers in the audience who were aware of the series and most likely grateful their kids were reading something as opposed to playing computer games!

And there were those, like myself, who had never heard of Dog Man but had promised to take younger family members to see the film.

A summary before the movie started from the nine-year old, while entertaining, proved unnecessary for it seems the film is faithful to several books in the 13-book series.

For the uninitiated Dog Man was born when the evil Petey (voiced by Pete Davidson), a striped orange cat, sets off a bomb which seriously hurts policeman, Officer Knight (Peter Hastings) and his dog Greg.

Greg’s body is beyond repair as is Officer Knight’s head so, on the suggestion of a nurse, doctors put Greg’s head on Knight’s body resulting in Dog Man.

While Dog Man doesn’t talk – he only barks – he is very smart when it comes to catching Petey. However, despite his hard work Petey keeps escaping prison much to the anger of the city’s mean mayor (Cheri Oteri) and police chief (Lil Rel Howery).

As a result of his lab assistant (Poppy Liu) quitting, Petey decides to clone himself to ensure a greater chance of world domination. However instead of an evil being he creates a cute little kitten, Li’l Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon).

Uninterested in having a son, Petey abandons the kitten in a cardboard box.  Dog Man comes to the rescue and he and Li’l Petey form a close bond. But then Petey decides he wants his son back.

Petey’s plan for world domination also includes bringing to life an evil  fish named Flippy (Ricky Gervais) who is set on destroying everyone and everything in his path.

Recording the actions of the characters is television reporter Sarah Hatoff (Isla Fisher) and her cameraman Seamus (Billy Boyd).

Petey and Flippy’s numerous evil escapades provide the movie’s action scenes. The impact on Dog Man on losing his girl friend and his house as a result of the accident and the relationship between Li’l Petey and Dog Man and the kitten and Petey provides much of the movie’s emotional pull.

Silly jokes, goofy behaviour, funny signs and bad spelling underpin the movie’s humour.

While many of those jokes were lost on newbies to Dog Man, for avid fans they would seem spot on.

To quote my companion: “I loved it – it was funny and full of adventure and very similar to some of the books.  If you are a kid that likes comedy and adventure, I think you would really enjoy watching the Dog Man movie.”

Preview screenings of Dog Man are scheduled for March 29 and 30 at selected cinemas.  The official release is April 3.

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