Isaac Gramse ‘26
EE Staff Writer
It is practically impossible to have grown up without reading at least one of the famous Dog Man books. Written by Dav Pilkey, author of Captain Underpants; Dog Man tells the story of a cop who is half dog, half man. He is rivaled by his arch enemy Petey the Cat, whom Dog Man always finds a way to arrest. Dav Pilkey’s craft helps make comedic novels that also help youth understand serious topics such as death, abandonment, and betrayal.
Dreamworks, the same studio who made The Captain Underpants Movie, has recently released the Dog Man movie, and they replicated the feel of Dog Man perfectly. Spoilers ahead.
The one thing I want to talk about real quick is the animation. The animation in this film is BEAUTIFUL. Dreamworks managed to emulate Dav Pilkey’s art perfectly and managed to make his art work in a 3D environment. The film is also very colorful, just like his books.
The highlight of this film is easily the story. The movie covers the first three books; Dog Man, Dog Man: Unleashed, and Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties. And while the second book is basically a footnote in this film, all the books are accurately represented with little to no changes.
Some scenes are even word for word replications of scenes in the book, The first example that comes to mind is the scene where Petey creates his clone Lil’ Petey and (just like he does in the book) says, “I want my whisker back…I want my MONEY back…I want my life back.”
The film also goes in deep on Petey’s backstory and showed that his dad packed up his things and abandoned him and his mother when he was a kitten, a theme that comes back later when Petey’s father takes everything in his lair and leaves again and is even mirrored by Petey himself when he abandons Lil’ Petey.
When Petey abandons Lil’ Petey and Dog Man takes him under his wing, is when the main plot really starts however.
Petey steals the dead fish Flippy from the second book who receives technological improvements and programs him to ‘erase all do-gooders’ and tries to bring him back to life. However, before attempting to revive Flippy, he tracks down Lil’ Petey to reclaim him which causes Lil’ Petey to accidentally thwart his attempt to resurrect Flippy by making him accidentally drop Flippy in the wrong smoke pipe over the living spray factory –the “Not a Smoke Pipe” pipe.
Unknowingly to Petey, this causes a jam in the factory which is fixed when two workers at the factory find Flippy and remove him from the pipe. Yet they make the mistake of trying to be Kobe Bryant by shooting Flippy into the trash like a basketball. The worker misses and Flippy punctures the living spray pipe, bringing him and the building to life.
Newly resurrected, Flippy starts his quest to erase all do-gooders, and his first target is initially Dog Man, however he makes the decision to take Lil’ Petey instead. This causes Petey and Dog Man to team up and build a massive mailman mech to fight Flippy and his army of living buildings. This inevitably leads to Petey attempting to sacrifice himself to save Lil’ Petey. However Lil’ Petey saves him by making a book and befriending Flippy, redeeming him and stopping him from killing Petey. The film ends with Flippy getting arrested, Petey gets pardoned of his crimes, and Dog Man becomes the “Supa Cop”.
This film was genuinely a joy to watch. It had heartfelt scenes, beautiful animation, an accurate story, and (as Dav Pilkey would say) laffs. The film reminded me of how I felt when I first read the books back in 2016. While I wish the film was a little bit longer as it felt fast paced, it was an amazing film regardless.
Fans of Dog Man, or even people who just like comedy films will love this movie and I highly recommend this film for anyone who wants to have a good time.