TL;DR – This is a profoundly silly premise. However, they commit to it with such gusto that you can’t help but be brought along with it.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was given a free ticket to see this film.

Dog Man Review –

There are animation studios out there that are defined by the visual style that they use in their films. You can look at a Studio Ghibli or Pixar film and know it comes from one of those studios. This was once the case for DreamWorks Animation. However, in recent years, I have been fascinated by the different experiments that they are taking with their animation styles. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, The Wild Robot, and The Bad Guys have all shown this in action. Today, we get to see the next entry in this experiment with Dog Man.   

So, to set the scene, Ohkay City is under threat from Petey (Pete Davidson), the world’s most evil cat. Chief (Lil Rel Howery) sends out the only team that can take Petey down, Officer Knight (Peter Hastings) and his Golden Retriever Greg (Peter Hastings). They may be a menace, but they are the only hope the city has, that is, until tragedy strikes. A bomb set by Petey explodes badly, injuring Knight and Greg. There is no hope until a nurse has a bright idea: why don’t we attach the good dog head and the good human body, and Dog Man (Peter Hastings) was born?     

Putting aside the apparent body horror this kid’s film is based on, the reality is that it is a fundamentally silly premise. However, it is a silly premise that the film completely supports down to the foundations. You see this in the design of the city, with Petey’s secret lab emblazoned with neon lights. The way people move around in the space and interact with the movie framework. Few movies truly respect a montage like we do here. The humour is also perfectly pitched at the right level; most of it hits with the kids, and I can confirm this worked on everyone in the cinema. But then there are also those moments that are there for the adults that always get a chuckle. There is a joke about a box of bees that had me belly-laughing in the cinema.

The animation style is very particular, falling somewhere in between the Claymation style of, say, Aardman and the felt construction of, say, Pokémon Concierge. I take it that a lot of it is drawn from the source material because everywhere I look, people are congratulating it for how close it nails the source. Narratively, I think you will probably guess where the story is going from the less-than-subtle foreshadowing, but given who the film is targeted at, that is not as much of an issue as it could be. I mean, it is not like they drop a secret main villain and the one way they could be a problem again right from the start.

It also works because the characters are a delight. While Dog Man doesn’t have any real lines of dialogue, he is still a power force in the film. He brings so much emotion to the proceedings that the film desperately needs. Pete Davidson is a surprising choice for Petey, but he works so well as this villain who is trying to find themselves. Lil Rel Howery, as Chief, brings the right energy as both an obstacle and also a great supporter. I liked how they used Isla Fisher as Sarah Hatoff as a way to pull the narrative ahead when it needs a push. Finally, we have Lucas Hopkins Calderon’s performance as Li’l Petey, who works as the heart of the film that unites all the parts of the narrative.     


In the end, do we recommend Dog Man? Yes, we would. Look, it gets messy in places, and sure, Ricky Gervais kind of just turns up. However, it delights in its silliness because it commits to it at every part of the story. It was honestly a delight from start to finish, and I wish more films were like that. Have you watched Dog Man? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked Dog Man, we would recommend to you Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Dog Man
Directed by – Peter Hastings
Screenplay by – Peter Hastings
Based on – Dog Man by Dav Pilkey
Music by – Tom Howe
Edited by – Brian Hopkins
Production/Distribution Companies – DreamWorks Animation, Scholastic Entertainment & Universal Pictures.
Starring – Peter Hastings, Pete Davidson, Lucas Hopkins, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher, Billy Boyd, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Root, Poppy Liu, Luenell, Cheri Oteri, Kate Micucci & Melissa Villaseñor
Rating – Australia: G; Canada: PG; Germany: 6; New Zealand: G; United Kingdom: U; United States: PG