“Dog Man,” is a 13-part comic series written by Dav Pilkey, which has recently been made into a movie. It was released on January 31, 2025. It is an action comedy film created by Dreamworks and is animated very similarly to the style of the comic books. “Dog Man” is intended for a younger audience, although the content material of the movie itself presents a deeper emotional meaning that is meant to be understood by an older watcher.
The plot of the movie loosely follows the first three Dog Man books: “Dog Man,” “Dog Man: Unleashed” and “Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties.” It mainly follows the “A Tale of Two Kitties” novel, where Lil Petey is introduced. The movie features voices like Pete Davidson, ironically playing Petey, Lil Rel Howery, and Isla Fisher. Overall, the movie made $36 million at the domestic box office with its release, making it the biggest movie debut of 2025. So, was the “Dog Man” movie good?
I really enjoyed this movie. It was a great callback to one of my favorite comic books as a kid. I also really liked the depth of the characters in the movie. I think it is a really enjoyable concept for kid’s movie characters to have an actual personality and backstory rather than to be shallow and mindlessly fighting action heroes.
During the beginning of the movie, the audience gets a bit of insight on how Dog Man becomes who he is, and how he deals with his personal life after getting transformed into a half-dog-half-man hybrid. There was an emotional scene where he comes home after becoming Dog Man, getting kicked out of his old house and being forced to find a new one. I also thought this tied back to how exactly he “integrated” back into society after becoming an anthropomorphic dog and human mash-up.
I also loved the visuals in this movie. Dreamworks has really improved with their animation style for different movies, which I think stemmed from their release of “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” I think it has been a great change for the studio to have a specific animation style for a specific movie. It adds character as well as appeals to the audience’s eyes.
This was one of my most anticipated movies of 2025. There were several mixed reviews on the contents of this movie, but I loved it. It had some funny jokes, and overall I liked the characters and the actual appearance of the film. I would give this movie a nine out of ten.