Captain Underpants, Dog Man, and Dav Pilkey: Making the Dream Work

By: Duronto Pablo

Recently, DreamWorks released its latest animated film, Dog Man. Is it good? Does it live up to its all-too-well-known origin, Captain Underpants? Is it indicative of a larger trend in DreamWorks films? All this, and more.

Just about a month ago, DreamWorks released its newest animated film, Dog Man. As the name implies, it’s about a dog man. Specifically, a man with a dog head. It’s adapted from Dav Pilkey’s book series by the same name, and you may recognize Pilkey as the creator of the more famous Captain Underpants book series and franchise. Of the books, the film loosely adapts the first, third, and seventh.

The movie opens the same way all the books do: with Dog Man’s origin story. Petey the Cat, a major villain in the town of Ohkay, plants a bomb that the town police must defuse. Officer Knight and his dog Greg attempt to do so, but make a mistake, and are rushed to the hospital. Officer Knight’s head is injured, as is Greg’s body, and in a moment of genius the surgeons decide to stitch Greg’s head to Officer Knight’s body—thus creating Dog Man. The film centers around the rivalry between Dog Man, and Petey, as well as Petey’s clone-son Li’l Petey, who serves as an intermediary between the two and ultimately helps them become a family.

As far as it goes, it’s a good family movie with understandably childish humor, and some deeper themes of family and finding one’s place in the world. The animation is stylized but stays true to the world depicted in the comics, and to me, the voice acting is about what I imagined the characters would sound like. It’s very rapid-paced, which follows suit with the books, and the meshing of multiple stories (Li’l Petey only comes about in the third book, and another major character in Petey’s life comes in the seventh) gives it a fresh spin for people like my little brother, who is an avid fan of the Dog Man series. 

So far, for both critics and casual viewers, it sits at a comfortable 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, and has grossed $119 million worldwide. I solidly agree with the 8/10 rating—I can’t actually name a direct criticism of the movie, but in all, there isn’t anything special about the movie. It’s a good watch, certainly for the kids, but with no standout qualities. Certainly not against other DreamWorks films of this decade, like The Wild Robot (2024) and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022).

Ranking: 8/10

Worth the watch!

The Working Dream

As it seems, Dog Man is continuing a trend DreamWorks has been following for quite some time—adapting children’s books and established properties. Dog Man is both adapting a popular children’s comic and also working off of previous works, namely Captain Underpants (Dog-Man is a comic strip in-universe within the Captain Underpants franchise, made by the main characters of that franchise). If you look at DreamWorks films, most of them are book adaptations, if not sequels to established DreamWorks brands. The Wild Robot (2024) is a book adaptation, Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) is a sequel, Orion and the Dark (2024) is a book adaptation, Trolls Band Together (2023) is a sequel and a book adaptation, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) is a sequel, spin off of Shrek, and an adaptation of a European fairytale, The Bad Guys (2022) is a book adaptation—the list goes on. There is an exception to this 2020s trend, though, and that’s with Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023). That movie bombed in the box office, with a $70 million budget and $46.2 million grossed, the second worst flop in DreamWorks history.

Aside from adaptations and sequels, DreamWorks has been working with more stylized and experimental art styles. They aren’t prioritizing a homogenized look, like Disney, or the most cost-effective one, like Illumination, which is a good sign. In general, although perhaps not greatly in Dog Man, DreamWorks has been focusing on family films with appreciable factors for all ages. The Wild Robot and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish again come to mind. 

Moving forward, though, this trend seems to be changing. Although movies like The Bad Guys 2 (2025), an upcoming sequel to the critically acclaimed The Bad Guys (2022), follow the trend of sequels of established franchises, movies like Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie (2025)  is a step in a new direction, adapting a preschoolers Netflix show. And of course, there is the upcoming live action How to Train Your Dragon (2025), something which DreamWorks has never dabbled with in full (excusing mixed media elements in shows like The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants (2018)).

And then there’s Shrek 5.

I would say, ultimately, that Dog Man is a nice, enjoyable movie, and the experimental era DreamWorks is diving into is something to look forward to. Although the thought of  live action remakes isn’t exactly thrilling to hear nowadays, at the very least it will be interesting to watch. DreamWorks always delivers on that.

(Fun fact! Did you know that the “life’s not fair” phone number gag in the movie is a real number you can call? Here it is: (818) 695-3644)

(Image Credit: Dog Man (2025))