Dog Man review

DOG MAN: 

MORE SILLY DAV PILKEY FUN ON THE BIG SCREEN! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND DREAMWORKS ANIMATION

Dog Man and Lil Petey in Dog Man

 

            The part-dog, part-man “Supa Cop” from the minds of George Beard and Harold Hutchins hits the big screen in Dog Man, the latest animated feature from DreamWorks Animation and spin-off of 2017’s Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie based on the children’s books by Dav Pilkey. I grew up with the Captain Underpants books among other Dav Pilkey stories, but the Dog Man graphic novels came out long after my time of reading his work so I don’t have any nostalgic connections to this character outside of his name being mentioned once in a Captain Underpantsbook. 

            I guess it makes sense to expand upon the world of Captain Underpants which is what the books have been doing especially with how popular superhero cinematic universes have become (So, I should be expecting a Super Diaper Baby movie in the near future, right?). Despite my lack of nostalgia or familiarity with the Dog Man stories, I am familiar with Dav Pilkey’s style of humor in his writing so, I gave this film a shot and…it ain’t bad! 

            Let me get this out of the way real quick, no, the Dog Man movie is nowhere near the same level of quality as the Captain Underpants movie which felt like a feature-length love letter to Pilkey’s work and it does have some issues with the storytelling and pacing. But the film’s charmingly childish humor and heart stick the landing despite any narrative flaws I might have with it. 

            The film is set in the fictional OK City (I must admit, that’s a great name!) and follows famed cop, Officer Knight (voiced by the film’s director, Peter Hastings) and his dog, Greg attempting to thwart a dastardly plot by the nefarious, Petey the Cat (voiced by Pete Davidson-The King of Staten Island, The Suicide Squad, Bodies Bodies Bodies). After a failed bomb deactivation leaves the cop and canine duo mortally wounded, the surgeons come up with a brilliant idea…sew the dog’s head onto the man’s body thus creating DOG MAN! 

            However, when Petey learns about the new Supa Cop in town, he concocts another evil plan to destroy him and all “Do-Gooders” by creating a clone of himself…that takes 18 years to grow (That’s pretty funny!) named Lil Petey who ironically sees the good in everyone, even his villainous father. To make things even more complicated, Lil Petey forges an unexpected bond with Dog Man who is unbeknownst that he is actually a clone of his arch nemesis, Petey and all sorts of trouble and wacky shenanigans begin to unfold. 

            The film also features the voices of Lil Rel Howery (Get Out, Free Guy, One of Them Days) as the short tempered Chief, Isla Fisher (Scooby-Doo, Wedding Crashers, Strays) as news reporter Sarah Hatoff, Billy Boyd (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Seed of Chucky) as Sarah’s cameraman Seamus, Ricky Gervais (The Office (UK), The Invention of Lying, Muppets Most Wanted) as Flippy the Fish, and Poppy Liu (iCarly, Hacks, The Tiger’s Apprentice) as Petey’s former assistant Butler. 

            Overall, Dog Man doesn’t have the same nostalgia value as the Captain Underpants movie, but kids and fans of the books are sure to have a great time. The film relies on a lot of the same silly and surreal humor that Captain Underpants had whether it’s through dialogue, background jokes, or visual gags, I got some good laughs from the movie with one of my favorites involving the phrase “Life Isn’t Fair” that made me laugh out loud in the theater. 

            I think people’s enjoyment of the film’s comedy will depend on their tolerance of very childish and silly humor which can be very difficult to execute properly. Thankfully, this and the Captain Underpants movie are examples of goofy humor for kids done well and can even be clever in its goofiness. 

            The animation is excellent and really captures the look of Pilkey’s illustrations though unlike in Captain Underpants where it was fully 3D models that resembled his characters, Dog Man goes for a Spider-Verse, Lego Movie, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem sort of style where the characters’ movements and framerate are very choppy. I guess to make it feel more like a graphic novel since that’s what the Dog Man books were, but it didn’t really bother me as both this and the Captain Underpants movie are very unique ways to bring the world of Dav Pilkey to life with a lot of love for his work in every step of the way. 

            The movie itself is an entertaining and fast-paced ride, but I do have some issues with the plot and how unfocused and scatterbrained it gets at times. For one thing, the film introduces new characters or plot elements without much time to develop them as if the narrative condenses several of the books down into one film even to the point of turning the character the movie is named after into a secondary character to focus more on Petey. 

            Petey is the character who goes through a real arc in the movie with the supervillain cat acting as a father figure to his young clone and learning that he actually does care about him. Yeah, it’s the whole bad guy but not a “Bad Guy” trope used in films like Despicable Me and Wreck-It Ralph, but it’s done well enough and Petey actually did turn out to be my favorite character in the movie. 

            Pete Davidson is kind of hit-or-miss as a comedian to me, but his voice is perfect for animation with his very cartoony delivery which helps make Petey into a genuinely funny character. But it doesn’t stop there, the moments between him and Lil Petey over the course of the movie are very heartwarming and Davidson does a great job selling that aspect of the character as well even if he is a diabolical cat, he still has legit feelings. 

            Dog Man is a step down from Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, but if you got kids or have a fondness for the works of Dav Pilkey, there’s plenty to enjoy with this film. Colorful and zany animation, silly humor, and wacky situations while also having some strong character moments and heart, it should make for a fun family outing…untilPaddington in Peru comes out in a couple weeks. 

Companion review

COMPANION: 

NOTHING SAYS DATE NIGHT LIKE A MOVIE WITH SEX ROBOTS AND MURDER! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND NEW LINE CINEMA

Sophie Thatcher in Companion

 

            In the tradition of Ex-Machina, Zach Cregger (The Whitest Kids U’ Know, Barbarian) and newcomer director, Drew Hancock bring their take on artificial intelligence gaining consciousness and human emotions in the new horror-comedy, Companion. I was looking forward to this movie ever since I first saw the trailer which brilliantly made it out to look like it was going to be a romance movie and even said at the beginning “From the studio that brought you The Notebook” and then got more deranged and twisted as the trailer went on. 

            I loved Barbarian when I saw it in 2022 and hailed it as one of the best modern horror films of the 2020s even though Cregger is only a producer on this movie and did not direct. So, I was very much onboard for the film from the beginning and…Damn! 

            This is a really fucking good movie and a perfect example of what January horror releases should strive to be like. The film is very smart, really funny, and keeps you on the edge of your seat while also offering a surprisingly thought-provoking story about AI and domestic relationships. 

            The film follows Iris (Sophie Thatcher-The Boogeyman, The Book of Boba Fett, Heretic) and her boyfriend, Josh (Jack Quaid-Scream 5 and 6, Oppenheimer, Novocaine) heading to a remote cabin for a weekend getaway with friends. However, this vacation immediately erupts into chaos when Iris makes the horrific discovery that she’s actually a companion robot and that her relationship with Josh isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…oh, and she murdered someone and now she’s on the run.

            The film also stars Lukas Gage (Euphoria, Fargo, Smile 2) as Patrick, Megan Suri (Never Have I Ever, Missing) as Kat, Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows, Blue Beetle, Wish) as Eli, Rupert Friend (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Young Victoria, A Simple Favor) as Sergey, Jaboukie Young-White (C’mon C’mon, Strange World, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken) as Teddy, Matt McCarthy (Conan, The Pete Holmes Show) as Sid, and Marc Menchaca (The Alamo, Sick, The Creator) as Deputy Hendrix.

            Overall, Companion is an absolutely demented fun time and a stellar first directing effort for Drew Hancock. Where Barbarian felt like a horror movie with occasional comedic moments sprinkled in, this is a full-on horror-comedy that can be best described as Ex-Machina if it had the darkly comical tone of M3GAN…with some R-rated gore thrown in. 

            The movie is very funny with a lot of the comedy coming from reactions by Iris, Josh, or any of the other characters to what’s going on or sassy and wisecrack remarks from Iris or Josh and the majority of them get laughs. But the humor never overshadows the intrigue or suspense which I appreciate, all three complement each other perfectly here. 

            It also has plenty of fun and suspenseful horror moments as well like a sequence where Iris makes a harrowing escape from her former friends that are trying to hunt her down after discovering the truth about herself and a chilling scene towards the climax where she’s ordered to put her arm directly above a lit candle that’s slowly burning her hand skin. The movie isn’t a full-on gore-fest, but a lot of the impacts feel very fleshy and meaty like one scene in particular involving a police deputy and another person who turns out to be a robot, you legit wince at some of the painful blows characters endure in this movie. 

            However, with all the horror and dark humor, the movie truly shines with its comparison of artificial intelligence programming and human emotions. It’s very much like what Ava had to deal with in Ex-Machina and the same thing applies to Iris in Companion where it cleverly asks the audience if robots or AI have programming then isn’t that kind of like how our emotions work as human beings? I love how the movie dives into it and that it doesn’t hammer the message in, it lets the audience think about it long after the film ends and will likely lead to some fascinating interpretations. 

            Sure, the movie is also an allegory on domestic relationships which is handled very well here. But it ties back into the robot’s programming being depicted like real emotions where her logic and emotional brains are seeing both sides of the person they’re in love with but also know their life would probably be better if they leave him/her which I honestly found more effective and endearing than typical melodramatic films about toxic relationships. 

            The performances are great especially from Sophie Thatcher as Iris who was already a standout in last year’sHeretic. However, in this she carries the entire movie and often she doesn’t even need to say a line to convey how she’s feeling, you can read exactly who this character is and what she’s like just by looking at Thatcher’s facial expressions. 

            But when it comes to making sassy and wise-ass remarks towards her douchebag boyfriend and killing those who stand in her way, she delivers on those as well. Hugh Grant was the big standout in Heretic, but his co-star, Sophie Thatcher is the big standout of this film. 

            Jack Quaid is also fun as Iris’ seemingly charming but secretly devious boyfriend/human owner. He does a great job flipflopping between legitimately caring about Iris to being a sleazy scumbag who deserves to get his bloody comeuppance by the end of the movie. 

            The new year has just begun and yet I already found one of the best films of 2025, Companion is a clever, funny, and wildly entertaining ride from beginning to end. Drew Hancock knocked it out of the park with his directorial debut and I eagerly await what comes next in his filmmaking career because this was a blast. 

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