{"id":30536,"date":"2025-01-30T13:10:14","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T21:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=30536"},"modified":"2025-01-30T13:10:14","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T21:10:14","slug":"dog-man-lacks-bite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=30536","title":{"rendered":"DOG MAN Lacks Bite"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 89 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This animated feature from Universal Pictures will be\nreleased exclusively in theaters on January 31st<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who aren\u2019t familiar with kid\u2019s graphic novels and\ncomic book series, the title Dog Man<\/em> may not ring a bell. It certainly wasn\u2019t\nfamiliar to me. Upon doing a little bit of background research, the part-man,\npart-dog crimefighter is a spin-off from the Captain Underpants<\/em>\nillustrated novel series. In fact, Dog Man is a fictional character within the Captain\nUnderpants<\/em> world created by the latter title\u2019s two young protagonists. This\nadaptation doesn\u2019t clarify the title figure\u2019s true origins. Or perhaps the\nmovie assumes that everyone is extremely familiar with the source material. And\nthat\u2019s too bad, as Dog Man<\/em> comes across as a bit of a frantic jumble to\nthe uninitiated (like myself) and is unlikely to win over new converts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film opens with Officer Knight (Peter Hastings) and his\ndog Greg (also Peter Hastings) being introduced as crime fighters in Ohkay\nCity. When the two get into a horrible on-the-job accident, surgeons sew the\npooch\u2019s head onto the body of the cop. Despite being a potential handicap, this\n\u201cDog Man\u201d earns praise from his Chief (Lil Rel Howery) for repeatedly taking\ndown feline criminal mastermind Petey (Pete Davidson). Desperate to kill off\nhis nemesis for good, the cat hatches several flawed plans. One involves an\nunexpectedly sweet young clone of himself named L\u2019il Petey (Lucas Hopkins) who\nbefriends Dog Man. However, the cat resurrects a dead fish with telekinesis\nnamed Flippy (Ricky Gervais) that threatens to wipe the entire city out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, the first act jumps around a great deal,\nintroducing the characters saving the city from various foes before meeting\nwith tragedy. If it was clearer that this was all occurring in the mind of two\nyouths and was even sillier and more surreal, then the conceit may have worked.\nBut as delivered, the accident and forced decapitation comes across as more\nunsettling than funny. Dog Man doesn\u2019t talk either. That means viewers don\u2019t\nget the opportunity to understand the strangeness being experienced, or\npotential connection to his owner through his new body. Yes, this is a\nchildren\u2019s film, but one can\u2019t help but wonder about this strange scenario in\nmore detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Petey and other villains in the piece are also\nfrequently calling for the violent death of Dog Man, and the tone feels a bit\nnasty and violent as a result. The subplot involving Petey, L\u2019il Petey and Dog\nMan is a little sweeter, though still grim. Petey harbors feelings of\nabandonment after being left and forgotten by dad (Stephen Root). Despite this,\nhe essentially treats L\u2019il Petey the same way, forcing the youngster to find a\nsurrogate parent in Dog Man.  There are some amusing moments as the pooch\nprotagonist attempts to help the kitten as best he can, however it\u2019s very\nhit-and-miss. It does seem as if the movie is trying to address grief, loss and\nforming new bonds to a degree, but is too frenetic in its approach to make an\nimpression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In fact, whenever Petey invents an amusing and exaggerated\nvillainous contraption to threaten the city and Dog Man, the movie quickly\nwraps the bit up, throws in another sinister course of action and veers in\nanother different direction. Perhaps all these big beasts and mechanizations\nwill be familiar to avid readers of the series, but to this outsider the movie\njumps around too much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, there are a couple of elements that can be\ncommended. The film has a unique look. I enjoyed the blocky character design\nand the visuals are quite striking. A lot of depth is visible on the screen in\nseveral shots and there are plenty of interesting camera angles and movement\nhelping to add some energy to the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Still, Dog Man<\/em> isn\u2019t particularly engaging and the rapid pace eventually becomes tiring. While the odd joke here and there is amusing, the majority of gags don\u2019t land. There\u2019s nothing here to grip or engage viewers who are new to the character. And based on the muted reaction at the screening I attended, even fans may find that it lacks bite. Curious about Mitolyn<\/a>? Read real reviews, ratings, and customer experiences before you buy. Honest insights to help you decide! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 89 minutes This animated feature from Universal Pictures will be released exclusively in theaters on January 31st. For those who aren\u2019t familiar with kid\u2019s graphic novels and comic book series, the title Dog Man may not ring a bell. It certainly wasn\u2019t familiar to me. Upon doing a little bit of background research, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[216,1455,6002,6003,6004,6005,6271,7283,12394,15951,15978,17031,23571],"class_list":["post-30536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-216","tag-animated","tag-dog-man","tag-dog-man-film-review","tag-dog-man-movie-review","tag-dog-man-review","tag-dreamworks","tag-family","tag-lil-rel-howery","tag-pete-davidson","tag-peter-hastings","tag-ricky-gervais","tag-universal-pictures"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}