About a week ago, I had the opportunity to watch Dog Man the film at a nearby movie theater. Ever since I heard about the adaptation, I wanted to watch it even though I’ve only read the first book in the series by Dav Pilkey. That graphic novel was so good that I put it on my best list years ago. So, how was the movie? It was fantastic because it captures the spirit of the series with its animation, performances, and pacing.
Dog Man is about the titular character – part dog, part human – and his adventures in fighting crime as a canine cop, especially those committed by his nemesis Petey the cat, and his relationship with Petey’s clone Li’l Petey
The film version of Dog Man is not a faithful adaptation of the book of the same name. Instead, it combines plot points from several titles from the series. For example, the origin story of how Dog Man came to be stems from the first one. For another, Li’l Petey, who plays an important part in the flick, doesn’t show up until the third book aptly titled A Tale of Two Kitties. I’m sure “Dog Man” fans will come up with more instances. Regardless, the movie is still fantastic.
For starters, the animation is great. It emulates the illustrations in the graphic novel to a tee. Now, it’s common for an adaptation of that medium to retain the visuals found in the source material, but it’s more than that. Animators have to understand what makes the visuals special, and the ones for the Dog Man movie absolutely did. One of the big strengths of the graphic novel was how everything looked like it was drawn by a seven- or eight-year-old from the characters to the buildings. The animators brought those two-dimensional drawings into a three-dimensional environment. I understand that it’s hard to do, but they were able to pull it off beautifully because they retained the visual spirit of the graphic novel series.
Additionally, the performances were superb. Every actor feels like they are having the time of their lives while voicing the characters fans have come to love. Now, of course, I have to single out two performances. The obvious one is Pete Davidson, who voices Petey the cat. I don’t know if Davidson was cast because he shares the same name as the foul feline, but he does a great job with the character. Davidson hit the obviously evil notes, yet what’s more astounding is how he’s able to play the emotional bits just as well. This is especially true when Petey the cat deals with abandonment issues after he clones himself. I couldn’t believe that this is the same person who was briefly engaged to Ariana Grande and dated Kim Kardashian.
The best performance goes to Peter Hastings – who voices the titular character and his owner Officer Knight. Hastings gives Dog Man his optimism and sadness all through dog noises. What makes this even more remarkable is that Hastings directed the film and wrote the screenplay. It must have been hard to do all three, but he’s able to pull it off with no problem.
Finally, the biggest strength of the flick is the pacing. At about 90 minutes, it moves pretty fast. The jokes fly by, so some movie goers might not catch them right away, because after one, it launches into another, but they will be rewarded with repeated viewings. My personal favorite gag is when Dog Man is searching for Li’l Petey, he encounters a bunch of stores, including an Indifferent Store which everybody who works there is apathetic. Another aspect of the pacing that I loved is how it’s not afraid to slow down and have quiet moments. For example, there’s a montage of Dog Man and Li’l Petey bonding in the former’s house, and it’s all framed with them playing the piano together. Not every kids’ movie needs to have flashy and colorful images all the time. The best ones have deep emotional cores as well, and the “Dog Man” series has some, especially with the bond between Dog Man and Li’l Petey. I’m glad the film was able to balance the serious and the silly with its pacing.
The movie version of Dog Man is wonderful. It captures the spirit of the Dav Pilkey series in multiple ways. These include the animation that understands what made the illustrations stand out as well as the performances and pacing, which strikes a great balance between the silly and serious. I would recommend it to everybody regardless of age, especially to those who love the “Dog Man” graphic novel series and want to see an animated version of RoboCop. I hope that DreamWorks makes more sequels to Dog Man.
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Book Reviews by a Chick Who Reads Everything 