Dog Man Blu-ray Review
“Dog Man” is a deeply surprising animated film.
Based on the Scholastic graphic novel series by Dav Pilkey, “Dog Man” begins with the origin story of the titular character. After getting word of a bomb planted by the villainous Petey The Cat, human Officer Knight and his dog Greg are severely injured in the blast. In order to save their lives, surgeons put Greg’s head on Knight’s body and thus Dog Man was born. Dog Man becomes a distinguished cop working under Chief who foils Petey at every turn, but finds himself missing his human life. Petey, meanwhile, clones himself to create an assistant. The clone ends up being a child version of himself known as Li’l Petey. Unlike Petey, Li’l has a kind soul much to his displeasure. Petey abandons Li’l (much like Petey’s own father abandoned him) and Dog Man later adopts and befriends him. Petey eventually has a change of heart and abducts Li’l back. Li’l decides to try and help Petey out by finding his father but that does not help Petey at all as his father has not changed whatsoever. A big problem arises in the form of a revived telekinetic fish (Flippy) using Living Spray on buildings and attempting to wreak havoc. Can Dog Man save the day? Will he receive help from unexpected sources?
“Dog Man” is a goofy concept that doesn’t sound like it would work at all. There wasn’t much in the way of expectations for this movie either, but lo and behold, “Dog Man” manages to be a cute, sweet, and shockingly emotional Dreamworks animated feature.
Director/writer Peter Hastings (who also voices Knight and Dog Man) was clearly the perfect person to helm this project. He understands that it is weird, he understands Dav Pikey’s vision, he nails the humor, he fills up the movie with madcap action, but more importantly, he gets to the heart of the characters. Dog Man only speaks in barks, but Hastings has a way of giving this character depth. There’s a sadness to his life, but he finds a new purpose. He’s a character with a big heart that cares about others.
It is often said that a movie is only as good as its villain and thankfully Petey The Cat is a spectacular character. Voiced by Pete Davidson (in arguably his best performance), Petey is a complex villain grappling with demons. Only through his younger clone does he realize the power of friendship and goodness. Speaking of Li’l Petey, he steals the entire movie. He’s an adorable scene-stealer who truly transforms the movie as a whole. That’s also a testament to Lucas Hopkins Calderon’s voice acting performance.
The animation work by Dreamworks is exquisite. It’s a stylish blend of CGI animation mixed with the artwork you would see in the graphic novels. The entire animation team really made the world come to life on the big screen.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 1.85:1 1080p. How does it look? The lack of a 4K release is a letdown, but this Blu-ray release does offer up a sharp and colorful hi-def print.
Audio Track: Dolby TrueHD 7.1. How does it sound? This 7.1 track is loud and active from start to finish. It’s everything you would want it to be.
Extras:
* Digital copy
* Commentary by director/writer Peter Hastings.
* “How To Make Doughnuts For Dogs” and “How To Draw- Flip-O-Rama Style”
* 8 deleted/extended scenes with intros by Peter Hastings.
* “Meet The Pack”- A behind-the-scenes look at the voice cast.
* “The Making Of Dog Man: A Sarah Hatoff Exclusive”- A standard making of featurette with interviews, discussions about the big screen adaptation, characters, animation and more.
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