Dog Man is a comic book series by Dav Pilkey that first aired in 2017 for children in second to twelfth grade. This series remains strong, maintaining relevancy, with its last book published on December 3, 2024. Recently, Pilkey’s series took a turn using entertainment and is now being shown through an animated movie for the first time ever! There is no doubt a great number of people are excited to watch and enjoy the new film. Some viewers may be greeted with an overwhelming feeling of childhood nostalgia, while newcomers may enjoy the comical world of Dog Man for the first time! This series is very nostalgic to me as it had a prominent place in my childhood. Watching the movie was very fun and even encouraged me to bring out my old Dog Man books for a good read!
Firstly, the art style of this movie really stood out to me. The 3D effects mixed with the 2D art was exciting and reminded me of other shows, such as Dav Pikely’s Captain Underpants and Benjamin Bocquelet’s The Amazing World of Gumball. These two elements created an interesting visual background because the areas surrounding the characters looked so realistic but simultaneously maintained a cartoonish style and look, making sure the characters didn’t look out of place. This can be challenging to master, but the animators of Dog Man nailed it!
Another interesting contrast between the movie and the books is how these characters were animated and stylized. The original book series shows characters that look like children’s doodles, but in the film, some unique features were added to each character. For example, instead of simple smiley faces, the characters now have pupil, and their lips are far more defined. I especially loved the expressive animation on some characters’ hair, ears, tails, etc. I feel this animation style adds so much fun to the overall movie.
The movie’s callbacks to its book series especially caught my attention. These callbacks included intentionally misspelling and saying certain words incorrectly. For example, spelling “Supa” instead of “Super” and “Da” instead of “The” and saying “Cerealisly” instead of “Seriously,” which is a mix of the words seriously and cereal. Along with this, the comedic timing is perfect, and I absolutely loved it. Specifically, the scene where a reported Sarah Hattoff interviews the chief of police, constantly cutting him off before he can get a sentence out, which was hilarious. I also enjoyed the movie’s backward logic, which was brought over from the book. When Little Petey was invited into Dog Man’s home, which is a doghouse, he commented on how the home seemed bigger inside than how it looked outside. It added so much humor to the movie!
Despite all the love I hold for this movie and series, there are some key elements I was excited to see but was disappointed by, starting off with the pacing. Throughout the film, it felt as if each character’s lines were fast and rushed, giving no time for the lines to be fully absorbed. Though rushed and cut-off lines can be funny, this happens far too often. One specific detail I was eagerly awaiting was a funny Flip-O-Rama scene. Flip-O-Rama is an animation style used in the Dog Man and Captain Underpants books. It is marked by the reader flipping the page back and forth to see the before and after effects of combat scenes. I was disappointed to see that the movie didn’t incorporate this animation style.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and all its fun callbacks. I found myself laughing and enjoying! This movie is recommended for newcomers and long-term fans!
