Dog Man–half dog, half man–is the city’s most beloved police officer, a cop who is always tasked with saving the day from the endlessly evil schemes of the self-proclaimed master villain Petey the Cat. Unfortunately, no matter how many times Petey is arrested, he always manages to easily escape from Cat Jail, and so an ungrateful mayor makes Dog Man the scapegoat and takes him off the case. Now without his arch-rival hunting him, Petey decides to put his ultimate plan for world domination into action by creating a clone of himself…only to give birth to an innocent and loving child instead.

This isn’t going to be as lengthy as some other reviews I’ve written for this site. Not every movie needs 2,000 or so words to be discussed properly, and Dog Man is one such example. And that’s not a bad thing! This is breezy, non-demanding entertainment which should delight audiences with its rapid-fire comedy and terrific animation. It’s doggone fun (sorry!).

And rest assured, if you haven’t read a single page of the graphic novels by Captain Underpants author Dav Pilkey to either your kids or yourself, you’ll still find plenty to enjoy here. Although not necessarily explained in the film, Dog Man fully embraces the absurd nature of its source material, which is meant to play out as though it was written by an actual five-year-old. This means that everything obeys the rules of a child’s logic, with no exceptions. How else can you explain how Dog Man’s surgery didn’t kill him?

That’s right, if you somehow haven’t seen the trailer, Dog Man’s built around something which, on paper, sounds like a gruesome concept in any other context. After a tragic accident with a bomb blows up a heroic but not terribly bright human cop and his smarter than average dog, the only way to save their lives is for an unholy Frankenstein surgery which stitches the canine’s head to the man’s body.

Granted, this more or less kills the man (the first volume of the series has a panel where he laments that he “hates his dying head”), or maybe it doesn’t, because his body still functions perfectly even with a dog’s head controlling it, and maybe it’s a good thing they didn’t try to adapt this insanity into a live-action film.

But that’s not the only reason to be grateful Dog Man is animated. Every frame of this film is exploding with creativity, with so many sight gags that it might be impossible to catch them all in a single viewing. If Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem looked like it was handcrafted by a brooding teenager, then Dog Man looks like a little kid was able to upgrade their crayons to be the art director of a major motion picture. Street signs have scribbles on them, cars move as though they were created by construction paper, buildings resemble cardboard boxes, and Dog Man himself appears to pop off the page as though straight out of a pop-up book.

And the comedy is up to match. I’ve seen many people say that Dog Man is primarily for little kids, but the jokes in this come so fast and furious that adults should laugh just as much if not more. If you liked the offbeat comedic tone of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, that’s what you’re getting here, albeit on a less sophisticated level. For instance, when Dog Man and Petey are forced to team up (spoiler alert?), everything spontaneously turns into a theme song from a cop show. At another point, when two characters are about to fight, the more they squint their eyes, the wider the aspect ratio of the screen gets. All of these jokes come so quickly that none of them have time to outstay their welcome as random comedy is sometimes guilty of doing, though for some that might make it feel exhausting, like they’re babysitting someone else’s toddler.

And make no mistake, Dog Man is very manic almost from start-to-finish, but for me at least, that was never really an issue. You could make the case it would benefit from slowing down–and it does do that sometimes–in order to make the emotional moments pack more of a punch, though this will really depend on what the viewer is in the mood for.

From what I’ve been able to gather, Dog Man takes elements from roughly eight of the books, which might explain why certain characters just come and go sometimes–and why a romance subplot is abruptly acknowledged–but that is fitting for a film where a robot’s name is literally pronounced “ADHD.” This is perhaps most evident during the climatic battle, which feels like someone took the explosive testosterone of Michael Bay action and processed it in a blender with the imagination of Jim Henson, and if I even tried to explain what happens beyond that, you probably wouldn’t believe me.

Still, personally speaking, I was able to keep up with everything, even with a protagonist who, true to the books, is incapable of actually talking. But his emotions are always easy to read. If Dog Man is having a bad day, he’ll turn a country song on and sadly howl along. And he is consistently adorable. You’re likely to be going “awwww” several times before the end credits roll.

And really, everything in this movie is cute. Even the supposed villain Petey, who felt he had no choice but to turn to villainy after his comically loathsome dirtbag of a father abandoned him, is ultimately made empathetic. As voiced by Pete(y) Davidson, he’s an absolute hoot, similar to Plankton on SpongeBob SquarePants. The rest of voice cast, as is usual for DreamWorks, also shines. I’m always happy to see (or hear) Isla Fisher in anything, and as a TV reporter it’s nice to have her in a role that doesn’t require her to mask her accent for a change.

Lil’ Rel Howrey is likewise great fun as an always angry police chief, while Ricky Gervais is hilarious as an evil criminal mastermind fish who has been resurrected from the dead (it’s that kind of movie, okay?), clearly having fun with a baddie that plays to his cheeky strengths as a comedian. And even he gets a moment which will make the audience go “awwww.”

Which is to say that Dog Man is a very, well, “nice” film, and while it might sometimes come dangerously close to chasing its own tail as far as focus goes, it ultimately won me over. As the surprisingly touching ending argues, a lot of the world does suck, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t each do our little part to make it a little better. And while not turning this into a personal soapbox, I was having a bad day when I went to Dog Man, and when it was over, I felt a little better. Sometimes that’s enough to warrant a recommendation.

Note: Dog Man begins with a new The Bad Guys short called Little Lies and Alibis in which the titular former criminals try to explain why they’re late for a meeting with their parole officer. It’s very strong, with tons of great jokes, and I wonder if it might actually be the opening for The Bad Guys 2. Time will tell if that’s the case, but regardless, it’s extremely funny.

		Dog Man Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation January 31, 2025 89 minutes Rated PG Directed by Peter Hastings