Let’s make this easy: your mileage on “Dog Man” is going to depend entirely on whether you’ve got a Dav Pilkey fan in your life. And if you’re already lost, take it on faith that this probably isn’t the movie for you. But if your house has teetering piles of Pilkey’s bestselling graphic novels — which include various installments of both “Dog Man” and “Captain Underpants,” and which are pitched squarely at scatologically-inclined elementary-schoolers — rest easy: Peter Hastings’ big-screen adaptation does full, chaotic justice to its source material. The kids will love it. And actually, you might, too.
Writer-director Hastings, whose work on similarly anarchic efforts like “Animaniacs” and “Pinky and the Brain” makes him an ideal choice to helm this particular project, is clearly a fan himself. He also developed the televised “Epic Tales of Captain Underpants” series (like “Dog Man,” a DreamWorks Animation production), and stays totally true to Pilkey’s distinctive brand of skewed silliness. He doesn’t even soften the original conceit, which, again, will be nothing but off-putting to newcomers.
See for yourself: When heroic Officer Knight (Hastings) and his loyal dog Greg are badly injured by a bomb, emergency surgery saves them both … sort of. Out of the hospital’s boldly weird medical experiment comes Dog Man, which is pretty much what it sounds like: a cop with the body of a man, but the head of his pet. He can’t talk (Hastings voices the barks), but he’s great at fetching. And also, as it happens, solving crime.
Dog Man does have to prove himself to the town’s no-nonsense mayor (Cheri Oteri), skeptical reporter (Isla Fisher) and overworked police chief (Lil Rel Howery), a task made infinitely harder by the antics of his nemesis, Petey the Cat (Pete Davidson). As an unabashed bad guy, Petey has a pretty strong handle on local crime — he’s an admirably committed villain — but he realizes he can double down on evil if he clones himself.
Unfortunately, his clone turns out to be the kitten version of Petey, which means he has to raise Li’l Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon) before he can corrupt him. And Li’l Petey is so cute, everyone instantly adores him. Which makes Big Petey’s evil plans — including angry robots, animatronic buildings and a depraved goldfish voiced to perfection by Ricky Gervais — that much more complicated.
Still here? If so, you’re presumably open to Pilkey’s unruly brand of humor, which zig-zags between groaningly broad, hilariously stupid, surprisingly sentimental, and witty enough for any adults who happen to be paying attention.
The animators are also fully in tune with their source material, faithfully reproducing Pilkey’s hand-drawn style while adding unexpectedly warm depth. The voice actors do the same, with Davidson bringing particular charm to the hapless Petey.
It may come from a bestselling series, but a family film as thoughtfully constructed as this one is actually an antidote to soulless, IP-oriented entertainment. It would have been so easy to lean into the goofier elements of Pilkey’s work without caring about the intelligence and heart that balance them out.
Instead, the “Dog Man” team’s cheerfully riotous, happily overstuffed approach feels especially appealing as we watch Hollywood inch ever-closer to its AI-influenced future. It takes a lot of work to be this ridiculous. And — pay attention, studios — it’s totally worth it.
