There's something to be said for a squeaky clean film aimed at kids under 10. They need entertainment, too, after all. But when the quality has improved all around it, "just fine" is not good enough. Compared to the Oscar-nominated likes of Flow and the new Wallace & Gromit movie, Dog Man is ruff.
A spin-off of Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants series, Dog Man curiously has the same plot as RoboCop, only with the police officer fused with his beloved dog instead of metal and computers. His arch-nemesis is Petey, an evil genius inventor (voiced by Pete Davidson). In attempting to wreak maximum havoc, Petey clones himself, but ends up with a mini-me instead of a full-sized villain. This of course leads the film to go sentimental at every turn, as Petey reluctantly becomes a father figure.
Dog Man stays true to its source material, in that much of the humor feels like it was written by a 6-year-old. That's not an insult. Many of the gags, while not uproarious, are decently humorous. If this movie was your kid's art, you'd hang it on the fridge, while knowing it's nothing special. But the animation can occasionally be off-putting. It's CG, but attempts to replicate stop-motion, and sometimes it can produce a jarring effect.
Ultimately, Dog Man is not bad. It's not terrible. It's just mediocre. Even in a theater full of children and their parents, there were more "awwww"s when Dog Man or Li'l Petey were in danger than there were laughs. It's not even 90 minutes long, so parents won't feel exhausted. But it's not worth piling in the minivan and spending current ticket prices on this when there are much better animal-centric options to enjoy.
