Dog Man: these high-velocity toon hijinks are a joy to watch

It’s a sign of the Hollywood screen comedy’s sorry state that connoisseurs of goofball non-sequiturs, absurdist slapstick and anarchic humour can mainly find what they seek in animated films for kids. Now that once-reliable kingpins of lowbrow like Paul Feig, Adam McKay, Judd Apatow and Peter and Bobby Farrelly have been largely relegated to the streaming world, these ostensibly family-friendly films may constitute the only silly giggle-worthy fare on big screens any more. But the fact that most of these examples are situated several rungs below the offerings of Disney, Pixar and Illumination in terms of prestige allows greater freedoms for their creators. The low expectations engendered by The Emoji Movie (2017) and The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019) makes their cheerful velocity and unabashed idiocy all the more dearly appreciated. 

Already occupying pride of place within this canon is Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017), which subsequently spawned a Netflix series and now this animated feature. As many 10-year-olds could tell you, Dog Man began as a comic-within-a-comic drawn by the kid heroes of the Underpants-verse before author Dav Pilkey spun it off for its own series of graphic novels. Written and directed by Peter Hastings – a purveyor of toon hijinks whose credits include the sublime original run of Animaniacs (1993-1998) – this movie incarnation dispenses with its protagonist’s origin story as swiftly as possible and anyone who requires a further explanation has to make do with the surgeon’s words to the injured cop who’s about to become a canine Frankenstein: “Your head is just no good any more.” 

That leaves plenty of time for mayhem as Dog Man weathers the disapproval of OK City’s police chief (Lil Rel Howery) and contends with the diabolical machinations of “the world’s most evil-est cat,” Petey (Pete Davidson). When not trying to destroy his nemesis with inventions such as the Butt Sniffer 2000, Petey (Pete Davidson) demonstrates his villainy by concocting a kitten clone named Lil Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon) and creating another enemy for Dog Man by resurrecting a telekinetic fish.  

That the role as Flippy the fish elicits greatness from the typically torpid Ricky Gervais is just one indication of the level of inspired lunacy achieved throughout. Hastings succeeds at capturing the unexpectedly poignant notes in Pilkey’s original comics, too, like when Petey’s unwanted experience of fatherhood with the adorably sweet Lil Petey unlocks his own daddy issues. Elsewhere, Dog Man laments his friendless state by plaintively howling along to Hank Williams Sr.’s “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”. Evoking the look of a cardboard diorama, the film’s very un-Pixar-like visual aesthetic serves it equally well, especially when the action culminates in one of the kaiju-like battles that are as quintessential to the Dog Man ethos as fart jokes, stupid puns and references to Die Hard.