Dog Man

This movie is a heartwarming animated adventure with a simple but powerful message: kindness can change the world.

The main character; a human-dog hybrid is highly endearing, and the story explores friendship, self-discovery, and compassion alongside a good cat character and a relatable villain.

The brisk yet under explored pacing suits younger audiences making it a great family film, though I would have preferred a more complex story with a deeper emotional arc.

The main climax while serviceable, could have been more impactful. Slower pacing in key moments would have allowed for better character development and a richer narrative.

The animation itself feels fresh and engaging, and Pete Davidson's voice work adds charm.

The first thing you'll notice when you watch a trailer of this movie, or the actual movie itself, is the art style and animation. It's really well done and does a great job of matching the child-like aesthetic that the books this movie is based on had to offer. Watching it felt like watching the comics come to life on the screen.

Another big thing I noticed was the pacing of this movie. A lot of people might get turned off by how breakneck the pacing is, with major events being added around every 5 minutes. But, in my opinion, this is a good thing because thats how the books that this movie was based on are. And with the brisk pacing also comes some surprisingly funny scenes. I didn't expect to laugh this much to a lot of the childish humor but its executed in an amazing way and never feels dull or repetitive.

Overall it's a great movie, but it might be too confusing to people who haven't read the Dog Man comics because it skims over a lot of important information pretty quickly.

Rating - 8.0: Overall, he's a dog, but he's also a man.

Direction - Pretty Good to Good: The direction on a macroscale is very true to the source material as it is very silly, goofy, and cartoonish; the direction on a microscale is very much similar to other kids' movies, but has some more mature jokes and an overall adorable feel that makes it enjoyable for adults too; the storytelling feels very similar to other Dave Pilkey properties with how silly and meta it is

Story - Good: The concept is cinema because he is a dog but he is also a man; the plot structure is pretty linear and typical of other children's movies as they speed through the plot in less than ninety minutes; Character writing is amazing because he is very much a dog but he has qualities that also make him a man

Screenplay - Good: The dialogue is very silly, goofy fun, as the movie is filled with puns and jokes that are adorable; the humor is so silly and goofy that it makes the movie adorable

Acting - Pretty Good: Pete Davidson - Pretty Good (Very goofy and silly, it feels like a PG version of Pete Davidson), Lil Rel Howery - Pretty Good (He has good chemistry with Dog Man and is good comedic relief), Isla Fisher - Decent to Pretty Good (Really, just a standard reporter character but has some funny silly moments), Ricky Gervais - Decent to Pretty Good (Really out of character for him, as a movie like this cannot utilize any of his comedic strengths but does a decent job), Rest of the cast - Decent to Pretty Good (Just a lot of silly, goofy performances that help make this movie what it is; I really respect them for making Dog Man's character just a dog because it made him more adorable)

Score - Decent: Pretty minimal, as it is more just about establishing the tone

Editing - Good: Makes it feel very much like other Dave Pilkey books, with these fast, cartoonish montages interwoven into the movie

Sound - Good: Makes the movie feel very cartoonish and adorable

Animation - Very Good: Makes the movie look and feel very true to the source material; this is exactly how I would want to see a Dave Pilkey property adapted on the big screen

Pacing - Pacing is incredibly fast because the movie is less than 90 minutes

Climax - Climax is a big action montage and I wouldn't have had it any other way

Tone - The tone is very silly and goofy, which makes this an adorable children's movie.

How have people not made this connection?

An officer of the law, mortally wounded in the line of duty, but brought back to life with an experimental method.

Robocop.

Dog Man.

But this is an appropriate kids movie, not some 1980's bang-bang, shoot 'em up.

It's fast.

It's short (thank goodness!) only an hour and a half (Yes!!) perfect and what a kids movie should be. Short.

It's beautiful and vibrant. Lots of beautiful and slick colors.

Great music: Hank Williams. Hank Williams SENIOR. Miley Cyrus and John Mayer.

Solid voice acting.

Good humor.

Decent story.

The kids will love it and that's what's most important.

I could see this film being really popular once it hits streaming for endless and repeated viewings.

It's an easy watch.

Dog Man is a fairly good movie from start to finish with super fast pacing as well as amazing drawn animation and editing. One of the best parts about this show is how clean the style is and I found it very enjoyable to watch.

There's also a great underlying message for younger audiences and it does a solid job of bringing everybody's character arcs full circle in a short 90 minutes.

With that being said, the main character feels like he's more of a supporting character for the cat who ends up having more development than anyone. Dog Man feels like he's just missing something and it feels a bit lacking at times.

Overall it's decent. Not something I'd rewatch and nowhere near the quality of "The Wild Robot" but it was good for what it tried to do.