Thank God for feature length movie animation. It all began with Walt Disney’s “Snow White” back in 1937. The rest is history. And history will be repeating itself with the animated/live action version of “Snow White” about to be released on March 21st.
Animation has been called the purest form of cinema. The filmmakers control every frame of the final product. What can be imagined can be rendered on the big screen.
And so it is with “Dog Man,” the movie adaptation of the wildly popular children’s book series. It’s crazy fun starting with a whacky premise. As shown in the movie’s trailers, a policeman and his crime-fighting canine companion are blown up in the line of duty.
As they lie on adjoining stretchers in a hospital emergency room, a nurse points out that the man’s body and the dog’s head both miraculously survived the blast and that the only way to save them is to perform some lifesaving surgery that will result in the creation of a “Dog Man.”
The movie doesn’t dwell on the grim fact that the dog loses his body and the man loses his head. There isn’t time for that. Instead, the story rocket launches into a frenetically fast-paced dog and cat chase as Dog Man relentlessly pursues the evil genius, striped, orange, feline named Petey (voiced by Pete Davidson).
As the movie trailers implied, it’s a pretty wild ride with some great supporting characters including a TV reporter (Isla Fisher) and her cameraman, and Dog Man’s boss, Chief (Lol Rel Howery). Cheri Oteri is the voice of the mayor. Another former SNL cast member, Laraine Newman is the voice of a scientist. “Dog Man” is a mini-SNL reunion of sorts.
The voice of Dog Man is that of Peter Hastings, who also directed and co-wrote the movie. It’s a lot of howling and dog sounds since Dog Man doesn’t really speak. He’s a dog.
Dog behavior is what the movie explores. Dog owners will laugh at all the dog humor, like the sheer joy of endlessly retrieving a ball or the absolute inability to resist the temptation of chasing a squirrel. Much of the comedy is seeing the world from a dog’s perspective.
"Dog Man" goes heavy on cute. A sub-plot features the relationship between the purely evil, mad scientist, Petey, and an innocent, adorable Mini-Me version of himself. It runs close to being overplayed, but it adds warmth to this story about friendship, abandonment and loss.
As seen in the previews and trailers, "Dog Man" features its own stylized brand of animation. Like the Legos movies, it creates its own colorful world of objects and characters. It’s quirky, but it’s funny. At times, it’s big and bold and over-the-top like some of the old, classic Warner Brothers cartoons. Splashy can be funny.
“Dog Man” will not earn Oscar nominations like so many big-budget animated features do. It doesn’t aim for the stars. Instead, it’s content to faithfully bring a beloved book series to the screen. It succeeds in doing that. Fans won’t be disappointed.
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