Go back seven or eight years. In elementary school, what were your highlights? What entertained you? Does Dog Man ring a bell? More times than not, elementary school kids are caught with a Dog Man book, enjoying the thrilling conflict between the brave hero Dog Man and his cunning archnemesis Petey the Cat. As you used the Flip-O-Rama to move the images, you might’ve dreamed of watching the characters genuinely move. Now, your wishes have turned into reality, as the first book, which involved Dog Man’s origin and his first interactions with Petey, has been adapted into an animated movie, Dog Man.
From all the memories of reading these graphic novels in elementary school, we hoped that the movie would be full of jokes and hilarious scenes, bringing nostalgia to teenage audiences.. According to Rotten Tomatoes, Dog Man is currently rated 80%, sourced from top movie critics like Ed Potton, Tim Cogshell, and more. Additionally, based on 111 reviews, IMDb gives the movie a rating of 6.6/10.
The movie’s scene is set with a police officer and his faithful canine in the line of duty. After an accident, they are injured, and through surgery in which the head of the dog and the body of the man are sewn together, Dog Man is born. As Dog Man adapts to life in his new body, he realizes he still has to fulfill his duty: stop Petey the Cat’s villainous schemes to ruin the world with his cloning spree.
However, not everything goes according to plan. The movie evokes pity, sorrow, and loneliness in the audience. Because of Dog Man’s new body and identity, everyone, including his old friends, treats him differently. These scenes instill the importance of a trustworthy and loyal friend or family member in children. During a crucial fight, another message indirectly shows the audience that even people you supposedly ‘hate’ can be your allies and may not turn out as bad as they appear during hard times.
As the movie continues, Petey the Cat’s antics and escape routes are constantly displayed. Despite the heart-breaking backstory of Dog-Man, the movie does well to divert the audience’s attention and provide comedic relief through the lack of intelligence of most of the characters.
Though the movie was enjoyable and entertained us, there were some faults. The plot’s pacing was uneven, and some plot points were inconsistent. For example, the logic of the world is flawed. Sometimes, the existence of Dogman seems normal to the citizens, and sometimes it is completely weird to them. This was confusing to us when watching the movie, and made it harder for us to follow along with the plot. Along with this, the side characters, although few, were underdeveloped and lacked engagement with the audience.
Overall, the story ends with the typical happy ending you regularly see in PG-rated movies. The movie is a great recap of everything that happened in the first book, plus more emotions and details. Several scenes convey simple but important messages that younger people could easily relate to. Although the movie didn’t deliver a perfect ten-out-of-ten, it did bring us back a few years, making us nostalgic for our elementary school years.