animation, Billy Boyd, Dog Man, Isla Fisher, Lil Rel Howery, Lucas Hopkins Calderon, Lunell, movies, Pete Davidson, Peter Hastings, Poppy Liu, reviews, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Root
January 29, 2025
by Carla Hay

Directed by Peter Hastings
Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional Ohkay City, the animated film “Dog Man” (based on the book series of the same name) features a cast of characters depicting humans and talking animals.
Culture Clash: A part-human, part-dog police officer battles his criminal nemesis: a cat named Petey.
Culture Audience: “Dog Man” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in seeing silly animated films that pander to the lowest possible intelligence.

Just like an unruly dog that becomes too obnoxious to tolerate, the animated film “Dog Man” is a noisy and incoherent attack on the senses that ends up leaving an unpleasant mess. The visuals and story are amateurish and unappealing. And even though the title of the movie is “Dog Man,” at least half of the movie does a detour into a subplot about the villain cat and his innocent cloned “son.”
Written and directed by Peter Hastings (who also voices the title character), “Dog Man” is based on Dav Pilkey’s book series of the same name. The “Dog Man” movie looks like a misguided vanity project that was privileged to have the financial backing of major animation studio. There are better animated films that can be found for free on YouTube or other video platforms.
The “Dog Man” movie panders to the lowest common denominator and can’t even stay focused on its simple-minded plot. “Dog Man” takes place in the fictional Ohkay City, where humans and talking animals co-exist. The movie establishes early on that the main plot is about the city’s law enforcement wanting to apprehend an elusive cat criminal named Petey (voiced by Pete Davidson), who is mostly a thief.
During a high-speed chase to find Petey, a human police office and his loyal dog get into a serious accident. At a hospital, the medical professionals decide to do a radical surgery, by putting the head of the dog on the man’s body. Dog Man is now born.
Dog Man is still under pressure to find Petey. His unnamed police chief boss (voiced by Lil Rel Howery) is a grouch who is constantly yelling, mostly at Dog Man. However, the chief seems to have a soft spot for an inquisitive local TV reporter named Sarah Hatoff (voiced by Isla Fisher), who is frequently on the scene during the various mishaps that ensue.
Petey isn’t happy that Dog Man exists. He snarls about the police officer and dog that have now become the spliced mutant Dog Man: “I tried to get rid of these two ding dongs. And instead, I made a supercop.”
Petey comes up with idea to clone himself so he can increase the number of crimes he commits. What results isn’t exactly an adult clone but a kitten named Li’l Petey (voiced by Lucas Hopkins Calderon), who has the voice and intelligence of a human child in the age range of 6 to 8 years old. Li’l Petey (who calls Petey “Papa”) is sweet and naïve—which is why Petey wants nothing to do with Li’l Petey at first.
“Dog Man” becomes an irritating repetition of Petey getting captured and then escaping. In the last third of the film, the movie seems to forget all about Dog Man and goes off on a “daddy issues” tangent involving Petey, Li’l Petey and Petey’s father Grampa (voiced by Stephen Root), who is just as curmudgeonly as Petey. A sarcastic fish named Flippy (voiced by Ricky Gervais) becomes a shared enemy of Dog Man and Petey.
The movie has several supporting characters who don’t have much personality and are mostly forgettable. These characters are Butler (voiced by Poppy Liu), who is Petey’s assistant; Seamus (voiced by Billy Boyd), who is Sarah’s camera operator; Milly (voiced by Lunell), a cop co-worker of Dog Man; and 8DHD, a non-talking, sphere-shaped robot with human-like arms and legs. The voice performances are mediocre.
Children under the age of 10 might enjoy “Dog Man” because it’s a very energetic film, but the weak plot grows tiresome very quickly. Viewers looking for a good story will more likely be disappointed or bored by “Dog Man,” which wastes a lot of its frenetic energy on unimaginative visuals and tedious characters. This subpar animated film is like watching a dog chase its tail: Some might find amusement in watching it, but it’s ultimately a shallow spectacle of empty, repetitive and meaningless activity.
Universal Pictures will release “Dog Man” in U.S. cinemas on January 31, 2025.