‘Dog Man’: The Hero We Need

There’s a new crimefighter at the multiplex, but he’s not part of the MCU or DCU’s endless roster of superheroes. He’s just a man, with the head of a dog, and he’s here to help…until a squirrel passes by. 

The new Dog Man animated film delivers silly fun from start to finish. It should delight young fans of the graphic novel series by Dav Pilkey on which it is based. In the world of the books, George and Harold, the 10 year old protagonists from Pilkey’s popular Captain Underpants series, write and illustrate the Dog Man stories. While they pitch the humor at a level kids will understand, there are plenty of subtle sight gags to make adults laugh, too. 

DOG MAN ★★★ (3/5 stars)
Directed by: Peter Hastings
Written by: Peter Hastings, Dav Pilkey
Starring: Pete Davidson, Poppy Liu, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher
Running time: 94 mins

The film opens with an energetic car chase full of slapstick near-misses, as Officer Knight and his dog Greg pursue a baddie through the streets of Ohkay City. An explosion leaves Knight without a viable head and Greg with a dying body, until a nurse suggests attaching the dog’s head to the cop’s body. And, thus, a new hero is born, albeit one with a weakness for squeaky balls, and an unfortunate habit of slobbering. 

The animation faithfully replicates the simple illustration style from the books, while also building it into a three dimensional world. Though it’s clearly computer-generated, it still has a handmade quality, so the characters and landscapes resemble a polished version of what a 4th grader would draw.

Dog Man communicates mostly through barks and growls. So while he’s nominally the main character, the filmmakers understandably shift much of the film’s focus to Dog Man’s nemesis, Petey “the world’s most evilest cat” (voiced by Pete Davidson), who does talk, often, about his plans to destroy all do-gooders. 

This is a zany world where almost anything could happen at any moment, including but not limited to an evil reanimated fish, a robot in flip-flops, entire buildings come to life, and an active volcano. The plot includes characters from several Dog Man stories, but most closely follows the action in the third book, A Tale of Two Kitties. 

Those two kitties give the film an unexpectedly heartfelt storyline about parenthood and cycles of abuse. Hoping to create a partner in crime, Petey drops a whisker in his cloning machine. However, the resulting clone is not a full-grown evil mastermind, but a pure-hearted kitten, Lil’ Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon). Now in the role of reluctant parent, Petey feels frustrated that his “son” isn’t exactly like him and unintentionally pushes Lil’ Petey into the more welcoming arms of Dog Man. 

The filmmakers perhaps crammed a few too many plot threads into 90 minutes. The final act introduces a second villain, Flippy the Fish (Ricky Gervais), and a romance between the police Chief (Lil Rel Howery) and reporter Sarah Hatoff (Isla Fisher). For newcomers to the series it may be a lot to take in, but the target audience of 10-and-unders at my screening were loving every minute. 

Will there be a sequel? We can only hope. For a parent taking their kids to the movies, Dog Man is not only the hero we deserve, he’s the hero we need.