Goof Cop, Bark Cop — Dog Man
Welcome to the first new movie review of 2025… only 1/6 of the way through the year! Yeah, I gotta get my shit together. Still, it’s good to start out on a positive note, with a genuinely fun and silly animated adventure that should be worthwhile for a family outing. I saw Dog Man when it debuted in late January, and as has unfortunately become the model, it’s already available on VOD, so if you’re looking for a nice afternoon distraction, this will fit the bill.
I confess I didn’t know much about the Dog Man franchise when I went in. I knew it was based on some kid-friendly graphic novels and comics about an anthropomorphic dog who was also a policeman, and that it was set in a world where nothing was logical. That’s about it, and that’s really all I needed, because it meant that I could just turn my brain off and enjoy the zaniness. And enjoy it I did.
The film begins with the titular Dog Man’s origin story. Patrolling the streets trying to make some derring-do are a cop named Officer Knight (director Peter Hastings) and his canine companion Greg. While trying to disarm a bomb planted by the devious cat Petey (Pete Davidson), the device explodes, severely injuring Knight and Greg. So naturally, the solution to save both lives is to Frankenstein them together, creating our hero by maintaining most of Knight’s body, but with Greg’s head (and somehow fur grows all over the extremities). It’s completely nonsensical, but the entire world operates that way, and you’re told from the very start to just go with it.
Dog Man then goes on a delightfully repetitive cycle of foiling Petey’s plans, arresting him, and then heading back on the cat’s tail every time he uses some tomfoolery to escape. It’s all so stupid, but intentionally so, which makes it undeniably charming. Dog Man’s boss, the Chief (Lil Rel Howery) is equal parts proud of his top officer and jealous at all the positive press he gets from local reporter Sarah Hatoff (Isla Fisher), who he’s been crushing on for years. Meanwhile, Petey, fed up with his own failures, fires his assistant (Poppy Liu in a great running gag) and decides to clone himself in order to have an underling as smart as he is. He orders a machine that apparently exists for such a purpose, so that he can execute his latest scheme, to revive an evil dead fish (Ricky Gervais), and program it to “destroy all do-gooders.” The cloning is successful, somewhat, but instead of creating an adult cat, it creates a newborn kitten, dubbed Li’l Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon), which infuriates the supervillain to no end. Petey abandons his “son,” who is quickly picked up by Dog Man, forging an unlikely friendship.
Now, if you’ve read my reviews on a regular basis, you know that I am very much NOT a fan of Pete Davidson, for a number of reasons. That said, he’s fantastic here. The gruff voice he affects is perfect for Petey’s persona, and the over-the-top delivery works really well with the Wile E. Coyote style shenanigans constantly blowing up in his face. He also becomes weirdly sympathetic, detailing his traumatic past after being left behind by his own father (Stephen Root). This would normally seem trite, because parental abandonment is only one step up on the kids movie trope scale from dead parents, but it’s used in an unexpectedly earnest way to let the young viewers know that sometimes people don’t change, and ultimately we’re responsible for our own actions. In quite literal terms, this film echoes Iron Man 3 by telling kids, “Dads leave, no need to be a pussy (cat) about it.” At times, Davidson’s portrayal of Petey outshines the actual protagonists, and I’m strangely okay with that. For something so bonkers, you wouldn’t expect an actual resonant moral, but here we are. Sneaky kitties.
As for the overall presentation of the film, I absolutely love the animation and aesthetic, combining comic book textures with plasticine character models. The scale and geography of scenes is never lost, even when the movements are patently absurd. And of course, there are sight gags to beat the band. By the time we get to buildings literally coming to life and fighting like kaiju, I’m laughing too hard to care about anything like continuity or narrative reason.
I do have two complaints, but they’re relatively minor. I don’t think we needed the whole third act of the evil fish running amok and trying to destroy the city. Petey’s dad is more of a villain than anyone else in this movie. I think you could have just used him to accomplish the same goal, and it would have had a deeper emotional impact. The other is the mayor of the city (Cheri Oteri), who acts as an early antagonist, badgering the Chief and trying to get Dog Man taken off the beat for not permanently locking Petey up. None of her antics are fun, mostly because her anger is misplaced. Dog Man is a cop, not a prison guard. His job is done once he arrests Petey. It’s not his responsibility to watch him in jail. Also, there’s a brief joke about deflecting blame away from her brother, who does run the prison, but as corruption gags go, this one falls flat while also sailing over the heads of the target audience. And even then, she disappears from the story halfway through, so there’s really no purpose to her.
Once you get past that, however, this is a blast. January is the typical studio dumping ground, but you do get the occasional gem, and this certainly qualifies. It’s rare to have a genuinely fun family movie, especially right after Christmas, but it’s a welcome surprise when it happens. You can’t really think about anything while watching Dog Man, except for the goofiness of the characters (Howery is hilarious throughout) and the shocking pathos of Petey, but you also don’t need to. This is a perfectly cromulent adventure for when you just need some cheap laughs and a surprising amount of heart. Not a bad way to start the year.
Grade: B
Join the conversation in the comments below! What film should I review next? Are you a fan of this series? What performances have you enjoyed from actors you don’t particularly like? Let me know! And remember, you can follow me on Twitter (fuck “X”) as well as Bluesky, and subscribe to my YouTube channel for even more content, and check out the entire BTRP Media Network at btrpmedia.com!
Originally published at http://actuallypaid.com on February 23, 2025.
