Dog Man (Hastings, 2025)

After his two successful children’s book series Captain Underpants (1997-2015), author Dav Pilkey created the world of Dog Man (2016-present) as graphic novels for children. Five years after the release of the latest tale in the Dog Man universe, director Peter Hastings has brought Pilkey’s story to the big screen.

The world of Dog Man follows Dog Man (Peter Hastings), part dog and part man, the canine cop and all-around hero. Dog Man is born when a police officer and his faithful police dog are injured on the job. Their injury required harebrained, life-saving surgery that fused the two together, creating the story’s hero Dog Man. Combining the sworn duties of police officer, along with his canine-like qualities – fetch, sit and roll – Dog Man embraces his new identity and attempts to impress the chief of police. As he comes to terms with his new self, he is on the mission to stop feline supervillain Petey the Cat (Pete Davidson) and his evil plots.

Going from graphic novel to animated film can be hard because readers will be used to how their beloved characters look. The animators for Dog Man did the justice to the transition from page to screen. Turning the characters from two- into three-dimensions adds more depth and feel to their humanity. Then, as with all comics and graphic novels, the transitions between the ‘boxes’ and big bold words on the pages, all came through in such brilliant ways on the big screen, providing laughs and jumps, and even howls.

Pete the Cat is on the loose and his attempts to remove officer and dog from his trail result in Dog Man’s creation. From then on, audiences are gifted a montage – footage from newswoman Sarah Hatoff (Isla Fisher) – of Pete’s attempts at removing Dog Man from his path and Dog Man constantly throwing him into cat prison. The montage is filled with all the fun of a graphic novel enhanced by the big screen.

As Pete continues plotting against Dog Man, he accidentally creates a child version of himself with a cloning machine – a cloning machine that takes 18 years to work! It is with this ‘clone’ that audiences begin to see the humanity in this villain, the important messages leaking through that are the core of children’s films.

It’s hard to remember that villains don’t always tend to be what they seem when it comes to children’s films. But as an adult watching this simple story made for children, you can see where the hidden messages are woven within the film, creating an emotional bond with the characters. Sometimes villains team up with the heroes to concur common foes, and then they learn something about each other in the process.

Only knowing about the Dog Man graphic novels, the film adaptation really brings emotions to the forefront and can connect to adults on a deeper level than just a children’s film. With gorgeous animation and a typical children’s movie plot enriched with deeper meaning, Dog Man surely is one for the family. Currently in cinemas, and with half term in the UK, it is a perfect time to make that family cinema trip – or a solo trip if you’re on your own. It’s worth the watch.