Dog Man: Movie Review

Vocal cast: Pete Davidson, Ricky Gervais, Isla Fisher, Lil Rei Howery, 
Director: Peter Hastings

Sometimes, there's nothing but silliness in children's films and books.

One such case is Dog Man, a movie that does exactly what it says on the tin (it's about a Dog, who's a Man) and yet which eschews sense and sensibility for corny sight gags and insane premises.

Based on Captain Underpants writer Dav Pilkey's book, Dog Man wastes little time getting on with things. When Oh Kay City Police officer Knight and his trusty pooch Greg are blown up by their nemesis Evil Petey (Davidson, playing fast and loose and clearly having blast), the duo are melded into the body of a man and the head of a dog.

But with Petey still on the loose in Oh Kay City, it's up to Dog Man to save the day.

There's little in this story that's deep - and while there's a message about fathers and sons and bonds within unconventional families, the sole raison d'etre of Dog Man is to provide solid family entertainment, with a younger skew in mind.

On that front, it achieves greatly; from mocking movie montages to even a smash and bash city-set finale that Marvel would baulk at for being nothing other than too well-executed, Dog Man comes for 90 minutes and doesn't outstay its welcome.

But in doing so, what is obvious with this film is just how much of a blast it has doing it. From Ricky Gervais' evil fish trying to shake things up via a G-rated take on Die Hard's infamous catchphrase to just some gloriously goofy sight gags, Dog Man, complete with its 2D animation edges a la Captain Underpants, provides some truly solid entertainment - even if it does skew young.

Yet this anarchic and colourful mix of childishness proves to be a cinematic blast out of the cobwebs - and a pleasant distraction for the time it plays out.