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Dog Man is something I’m entirely new to with this film, although I understand it’s been a graphic novel for children since 2016.
For reasons unexplained, Petey the cat, voiced by Pete Davidson (Dumb Money), is his nemesis. Still, this film made me laugh a lot at first, as prior to becoming the titular character, Officer Knight and his dog, Greg, chase after Petey, driving through what two workmen are carrying and is labelled “Box of Bees”, which turns out to be carrying nothing but a lot of the letter “B”, as well as arriving at the “Abandoned Expendable Warehouse”, as if anyone would spend money on creating a huge sign for such a building.
Alas, thanks to a bomb, our heroes will never be the same again – now being just one hero, with Greg’s head and Knight’s body. Hence, Dog Man.
After the accident, plus having his house repossessed, although he’s repeatedly jailed Petey, he’s no longer well thought of, but a new enemy is in town, in the form of Flippy (Ricky Gervais, being dreadfully irritating and unfunny as usual), a psychokinetic dead fish who’s been brought back to life, as you do.
Without giving away a certain plot element, one character ends up in the position of a book, entitled “Papa and me“, but surely, it should be “Papa and I“?
I also liked how one unwisely-purchased item’s manual refers to a much-needed ‘Undo’ button, but that this is “sold separately”, since that’s ALWAYS the way!
There were also some good movie references. Although “Yippee-Kay-ay, Poopy Flippy” was a bit too obvious, I like how roving reporter Sarah Hatoff (Isla Fisher – Strays) had a gerbil called Colonel Kurtz, with another character shouting at Flippy, “Get away from him, you FISH!” in the exact some intonation as Ripley’s badgering of the creature in Aliens, when it surrounds Newt.
And despite Dog Man being shot in 1.85:1, there’s a ‘The Good, The Bad And The Ugly‘-style Mexican standoff and stare, where the aspect ratio squeezes down to 2.39:1, and then tighter as the scene goes on, which pleases an aspect ratio nerd like me. I was glad I saw this on a 1.85:1 screen, as the joke won’t have worked so well on a 2.39:1 screen with the film stuck in the middle.
However, while there are a number of good things about this film, Gervais’ OTT behaviour, as himself, just ruins that character, and how on Earth did this film cost $40m to make?!
NOTE: There are no mid- or post-credit scenes, but the end credits do feature a lot of Dav Pilkey‘s animation.
Dog Man is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD, ahead of its release date TBA.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 97 minutes
Release date: February 7th 2025
Studio: Universal Pictures
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 5/10
Director: Peter Hastings
Producer: Karen Foster
Screenplay: Peter Hastings
Graphic novel: Dav Pilkey
Music: Tom Howe
Voice cast:
Petey: Pete Davidson
Butler: Poppy Liu
Chief: Lil Rel Howery
Sarah Hatoff: Isla Fisher
Seamus: Billy Boyd
Flippy: Ricky Gervais
Doctor: Rahnuma Panthaky
Nurse: Maggie Wheeler
Dog Man / Officer Knight / Harold’s House: Peter Hastings
Milly: Luenell
Realtor: Melissa Villaseñor
Big Jim: Hoppy Hopkins
Grampa: Stephen Root
Mr. Whiskers: Matthew ‘Yung Gravy’ Hauri
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.