DC League of Super-Pets review

DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS: 

ANIMATED ANIMAL-THEMED SUPERHERO MOVIE OFFERS PLENTY OF FAST-PACED FUN FOR FAMILIES! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Krypto the Superdog and Ace the Bat-Hound in DC League of Super-Pets

 

            The Justice League shows off their new animal sidekicks in DC League of Super-Pets, the new animated feature from Warner Animation Group based on the DC Comics superhero team, Legion of Super-Pets. While I’m not a purist on this particular team, I am familiar with some of the characters as many of them appeared in the animated series, Krypto the Superdog which ran on Cartoon Network in the mid-2000s. 

            I didn’t think Krypto the Superdog was a great show, but it was a cute little cartoon about a dog who happens to have the powers of Superman. Also, I find it amusing that Krypto the Superdog’s voice went from Double D from Ed, Edd n Eddy in the show to The Rock in this movie, but I digress. 

            That’s basically where my backstory with these characters end, so let’s finally talk about the film. I didn’t really have any expectations when it was announced and when I saw the teaser trailer before Space Jam: A New Legacy, I remembered being like “Krypto the Superdog is getting his own movie? Huh”. 

            Then the other trailers and ads came out and it looked fine, it wasn’t trying to be the next Avengers: Endgame or The Dark Knight. It just looked like a fun, light-hearted animated feature about animal superheroes, and a step up from the 2007 film version of Underdog.

            So, how does League of Super-Pets hold up? It’s good. Granted, there is a lot of jokes aimed at little kids in this movie and not every joke (whether kid or adult targeted) lands, but there’s a good chunk of jokes that work (Particularly those that poke fun at the DC lore) as well as some charming characters, appealing voice acting, fast-paced action, colorful animation, and heart to make a parent glad they saw it with their kids. 

            The film follows Krypto the Superdog (voiced by Dwayne Johnson-Fast & Furious franchise, Jumanji 2 and 3, Black Adam), who is the best friend of the Man of Steel himself, Superman (voiced by John Krasinski-The Office, Leatherheads, A Quiet Place). The two of them are practically inseparable as they constantly save the day, play in the park, and watch TV together, everything best pals do.

            But when Superman and the rest of the Justice League are captured by an evil guinea pig with super-intelligence known as Lulu (voiced by Kate McKinnon-Saturday Night Live, Ghostbusters (2016), The Spy Who Dumped Me), Krypto will need to assemble a team of his own consisting of a Boxer given the powers of invulnerability and super-strength named Ace (voiced by Kevin Hart-Ride Along 1 and 2, Central Intelligence, Jumanji 2 and 3), a potbellied pig who can change size in scale named PB (voiced by Vanessa Bayer-Saturday Night Live, Trainwreck, Office Christmas Party), a turtle with super speed and a foul mouth (No joke, it’s all bleeped though!) known as Merton (voiced by Natasha Lyonne-American Pie franchise, Detroit Rock City, Blade: Trinity), and a squirrel with electrokinesis named Chip (voiced by Diego Luna-The Book of Life, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, If Beale Street Could Talk) to defeat the guinea pig supervillain and save the Justice League as well as the world from an army of super-powered guinea pigs. 

            The film also features the voices of Keanu Reeves (The Matrix franchise, John Wick franchise, Toy Story 4) as Batman, Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley, Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie) and Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation, DuckTales (2017), Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2) as Keith and Mark, Marc Maron (Joker, Respect, The Bad Guys) as Lex Luthor, Olivia Wilde (Tron: Legacy, Booksmart, Don’t Worry Darling) as Lois Lane, Jameela Jamil (How to Build a Girl, Marry Me, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) as Wonder Woman, Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Concords, Men in Black 3, The Lego Batman Movie) as Aquaman, John Early (30 Rock, Search Party, Late Night) as The Flash, Daveed Diggs (Wonder, Ferdinand, Soul) as Cyborg, Dascha Polanco (Orange Is the New Black, In the Heights, Samaritan) as Green Lantern, and Maya Erskine (PEN15, Betas, Scoob!) as Mercy Graves. 

            Overall, DC League of Super-Pets is easily the better animated dog movie released in the past few weeks, even though it isn’t a great movie. It’s the kind of film where if you’ve seen the trailers then you know what you’re getting into. 

            For me, I thought it was a very enjoyable animated film with a ton of fun in-jokes related to the DC Universe, compelling characters with equally charismatic voice acting, and some surprisingly effective dramatic moments. I don’t think it ranks among the best self-aware superhero animated films like Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, The Lego Batman Movie, or Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but if you got kids who want to see it then you’ll be glad you watched it with them. 

            The voice acting is top-notch especially from Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, who have collaborated on films numerous times now and this film proves that they work wonderfully together in both animated form and in live-action. Kate McKinnon is the scene-stealer as this crazy guinea pig supervillain, she is incredibly funny in this movie, and you can tell she’s having fun with the role whenever the character opens her mouth…to the point where I think an evil guinea pig with super-intelligence and wears a cape puts most of the live-action DC villains to shame, it’s both hilarious and at times intimidating. 

            The humor is hit-or-miss as the film has a lot of butt, pee and poop, and toilet jokes that are sure to make the little kids snicker, but there’s also a ton of very funny and even clever ones that lovingly satirize the DC lore as well as some well-timed slapstick, and one of the funniest cat characters in an animated feature since Sox from Lightyear.

            Unlike a certain other recent superhero movie this year, Thor: Love and Thunder, this film actually has a strong balance between comedy and drama. Despite being voiced by Mouse from Jumanji, Ace is given a tragic backstory (Much like Batman) and it’s actually quite heartbreaking when you see it play out, Lulu has a somewhat-sympathetic origin as a guinea pig who was experimented on by Lex Luthor and just wanted to return to him, and with the exception of Krypto, all the pets were from an animal shelter who just want to find a home, I was way more emotionally invested in these talking super-animals than anything from Thor and Jane in Love and Thunder.  

            DC League of Super-Pets is an entertaining animated feature that kids, parents, animal lovers, and fans of DCsuperheroes will likely find some enjoyment out of. Ruff-Ruff and Away!