We call these kind of films “premise achievers.” Probably because they ain’t getting any love from award shows. Given the material presented here, the possibility of four stars is … very, very long indeed. The premise here is an animated cop pieced together Frankenstein-style from the body of a man and the head of a dog. I don’t know how you get four stars out of that. However, you ought to know this film was fun, positive, and worth watching. Children (and their adults) are going to view it again and again for good reason.
The metropolis of OK City is terrorized by Petey the Cat (voice of Pete Davidson), whose latest act of villainy hospitalizes dense Officer Knight and his more intelligent police dog partner, Greg. Greg had the brains in this tandem; Officer Knight misinterpreted Greg’s growl for wanting to cut the green wire on the bomb – he was also confused at how a colorblind dog knew which wire was green (which is a fair observation, tbh).
In the operating room, the doctor decides only parts of each being can be saved, hence … Dog Man, the ultimate nemesis and ultimate foil for Petey the anthropomorphized cat. Petey’s first stratagem to take down law enforcer Dog Man is a giant vacuum cleaner, which, I gotta say, is kinda funny. In the ensuing montage, Dog Man catches Petey and Petey subsequently escapes jail at least 7 or 8 times.
Frustrated, and lacking for an assistant after Butler (Poppy Liu) quit, Petey decides to clone himself. What Petey doesn’t realize is you can’t just make an adult clone. (Well, not in this comedy, at least.) Li’l Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon) immediately turns a silly cartoon into an adorable-and-silly cartoon. Li’l Petey likes to draw comic books about friendship and share them with people, and if you can think of anything more precious that happened in the past week, you win a prize.
Dog Man is replete with a lot of clever and cute moments … like a personal robot called “80HD” and a
missing poster with a caption reading “IF FOUND CALL OUT ‘BARK BARK’.” And yet, for me, the best moments in the film for me are when Li’l Petey is taken in by Dog Man; what follows is a montage so uplifting it makes the worth of the film on the spot.
Will Dog Man last in theaters to the Oscars? Aw, heck, it probably won’t even last to Valentine’s Day, but credit where credit is due: there isn’t a lot here, but writer/director Peter Hastings made the most of the Dav Pilkey original material. If Dog Man doesn’t work for you, well, I don’t want to label you a curmudgeon, but you’re kinda outing yourself as one. Dog Man probably won’t win any awards, but I’m going to think of it as man’s best film friend.
A policeman tried to diffuse a bomb
He and dog met the situation with aplomb
They got blowed up instead
Now man body, dog head
And hybrids are the new “face” of tragicom
Rated PG, 89 Minutes
Director: Peter Hastings
Writer: Peter Hastings, Dav Pilkey
Genre: Awwwwwww
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Who’s in the mood for some positive vibes?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who don’t like hyperbole
