Among modern movies, it is strangely difficult to find a good movie…not a masterpiece, not a flop, a good old fashioned movie. Dogman, the classic children’s comic book series written by Dave Pilkey, recently had a movie made about it and it is just that. It knows what it is and boy, did it embrace it.
Dogman is for kids and the movie makers clearly knew that, using simple humor, producing entertaining action sequences, and filling the movie with bright colors and loud noises; they included all the pieces of a true blue classic kids film. There are no ulterior meanings or complex ideas and every message is simple and relevant to most, if not all people. Following the meaning and importance of family, the movie explores themes of love and appreciation for what we are given while not sacrificing the story in order to push the message. Such an iconic movie theme allows for well implemented character growth while remaining aware of the movie’s simplicity, forming effective but still childish motivations for specific actions, entertaining problems the characters must face, and satisfying conclusions at the end of the movie.
Despite all the great things about this film, the movie still has its issues. The film has a pretty narrow audience. While long-time fans and small children have a field day watching the movie, many adults agreed it was uninteresting and too flashy for them. Dogman is not meant for everyone as some of the jokes are annoying and the animation movement is very fast paced and hard to keep up with. There are also a few characters that felt untouched and boring despite being fascinating in the books. In the movie, they have empty motivations and annoying dialogue.
The movie, a brilliant adaptation of the widely beloved books, is stacked full of innovative creative decisions while still being loyal to its source material. This is a very rare phenomenon for a modern adaptation. The story within the movie follows closely behind the books, hitting many of the well known plot points and making hidden references for long-time fans while still adding content to make the movie more engaging. This is exactly what should be expected from an adaptation into film. This movie was very clearly made with a touch of love, filled with the very same humor every kid who read the books enjoyed and imprinted with the same cartoonish, Dave-Pilkey-style, despite being 3-D animated. What is even more impressive was the pacing of the film, which was very well done despite the difficulty of making such a fast paced set of books comprehensible. It is almost eerie how similar it was watching the movie to reading the books. It felt like being in the fifth grade again, having a fun time in the library, recreating a very familiar and comfortable feeling of nostalgia.
The Dogman movie is everything films were meant to be. It’s an escape from reality, and a simple place to go. Nothing realistic, nothing deep, and pure entertainment. The movie is a fun movie made for younger children and is a truly fantastic adaptation of an old popular set of books. The Dogman movie is absolute cinema.
