Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

Tra la laaaaa!!!!

The hit children's book series finally makes it to the big screen (what took them so long?) in all its scatological silliness. The film does a terrific job of capturing the spirit and tone of the books, and there's no sense in rolling your eyes at the potty humor, because that's exactly what Captain Underpants is there to deliver. I saw this with my wife and two sons, and let me just say that my kids weren't the only ones giggling throughout.

Grade: A-

*Minor Spoilers Ahead* George (Kevin Hart) and Harold (Thomas Middleditch) are two elementary school kids that write and animate comic books in their tree house. Their favourite character is Captain Underpants and we get an introduction to his comic origin in the beginning. Moving back to George and Harold, their friendship is as close as it gets and they spend their days making these comics and pulling pranks on the faculty. To any adult looking in, they're a pain to deal with but they bring life to their dull and dreary environment. Principal Krupp (Ed Helms) definitely is in the camp that believes that these two are a menace and he makes it his goal to put an end to their shenanigans. He's unable to catch them in the act so he has to endure their constant misadventures until the school tattletale Milton (Jordan Peele) records them messing with his project for the science fair. Krupp sees this as the opportunity to move them into separate classes, effectively destroying their friendship. There's little hope but in an act of desperation, George tries to hypnotize Krupp using a Hypno-Ring that he found in his cereal. Against all the odds, it actually works and he falls under their command. They come up with the idea to turn him into Captain Underpants. It works but Krupp gallops out of the office to fight evil with George and Harold running behind him trying to get a handle on the situation.

I got a chance to read a few of the books when I was younger and while they're very much geared towards kids, the books were pretty funny and surprisingly creative. To my surprise, they change the story around a little but Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is very faithful to Dave Pilkey's work. The characters all have the same spirit, the message of the books carry over and perhaps most importantly, the movie shares the same adventurous sense of humour. I was laughing constantly in this movie despite being an adult and most of the kids in the theatre were laughing along with me. The movie has a very fast pace and the jokes are firing at a mile a minute clip. On the downside though, although I thought this was one of the funniest animated movies I've seen in a while, it is definitely more geared towards kids. There's a lot of potty humour and while they pay respect to the Captain Underpants books by including so much of it, there's only so many times you can laugh at Professor Poopypants as an adult. I was familiar with the material so I knew what to expect but to the uninitiated it might be a tad jarring. Some great kids movies include some jokes to tide the adults over, this movie has some meta humour but there's not as much as I would have liked.

While the plot of the movie is pretty simple and it's carried by the comedy, the animation is awesome. Dreamworks really did a great job of following the art style of the books but presenting a great looking movie. It reminded me a lot of the Peanuts Movie that was put out by Blue Sky Studio in 2015 (I mean that as a big compliment). It's hard to find a balance between calling back to the source yet compete in a crowded big budget animated movie market. Dreamworks normally deliver solid entertainment but I was pretty blown away by what they accomplished with this property.

Looking at the voice acting talent, you've got some big names filling these roles which is typical of Dreamworks. I wasn't sure that Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch would work given that their characters are supposed to be kids. But they were both really good and they both flawlessly delivered the jokes yet brought warmth to their characters. Ed Helms was impressive as Principal Krupp/Captain Underpants. I wouldn't have though he'd be a talented voice actor but he definitely got the job done. Nick Kroll is fresh off Sausage Party and after this I think he's definitely becoming an authority in this area. Jordan Peele and Kristen Schaal round out a solid voice cast and they were good in their supportive roles.

I think my favourite part of this movie was the fact that it wasn't afraid to be really weird. They don't just stick to conventional animation or conventional storytelling. We get portions of the story told through George and Harold's comics, sock puppets and regular puppets. They have different animation asides and they even incorporate one of my favourite parts of the books in something that was completely unexpected (I can't spoil what). They also have parts where they break 4th wall and explain things to the audience directly. I loved those aspects of Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie and it helped make things different and memorable.

This movie won't be everyone's favourite movie and I can completely understand that. This is going to work for kids and adults who remember these books but this movie also puts in way more effort than it had to. The movie even has a decent message of friendship and trying to look at issues from different sides. This isn't Dreamworks best movie (I would still give that to the original How to Train Your Dragon) but I would put among their best movies ever. If you're a fan of Captain Underpants you're going to love this and I think you'll get enough out of this that it won't be a pain to see this with the kids.

This has been a huge week for "Wonder Woman", as it set a record for a female-directed movie with over $100,000,000 at the box office. However, in all the excitement over this film there is another superhero movie that debuted as well that deserves our attention as well…"Captain Underpants"! And, after having seen both films, I have to admit that I enjoyed watching "Captain Underpants" more because it is something few superhero movies are these days….it's fun! Please understand me…I am not saying it's necessarily better. However, it is a lot of fun and lighthearted…things you'd almost never associate with today's very dark superhero films…and reasons you might not want to take kids to see most of the pictures in this genre.

In order to enjoy the Captain Underpants movie it sure helps if you are a child…or if you are a bit childish. My daughters grew up reading the Captain Underpants books and Dav Pilkey's character certainly has been a hit among kids. Why do kids love Captain Underpants? Well, it's everything serious literature is not…it's filled with potty humor, bad jokes and silliness because Pilkey wrote and illustrated the books as if they were really created by mischievous children…the same George and Harold who are the stars of the film. And, having been a middle school teacher as well as a man who adamantly refuses to grow up, I had a wonderful time seeing it with my 22 year-old daughter…who also loved the movie.

The story begins with George and Harold being called into their very grouchy principal's office. As usual, they are up to no good and as usual the mirthless man is about to throw the book at the boys… sending them to separate classrooms…which is horrible since they are best friends. However, in desperation, George tries out his cheap hypno- ring he got in a cereal box and amazingly it works…turning the principal into the boys' slave. They decide to make him become Captain Underpants…the hero in the comic book the boys have created. And, like this character, the principal begins running around town fighting crime….in his underwear! Little do the boys realize that they'll need his help when the evil Professor Poopypants arrives with his latest weapon!

Okay…I'll admit this does not sound like Shakespeare or Jane Austin. You've got Professor Poopypants, comments about Uranus and fart jokes. But these are exactly what kids really love…and I heard lots of kids laughing throughout the movie. And, even though I am supposed to be sophisticated and above all this, I found myself laughing too.

I also appreciate how the Canadian team who made the film managed to capture the look, style and spirit of the Captain Underpants books. While the CGI is not the most complicated I've ever seen, it matches the characters perfectly…and even offers a cute added sock puppet show! Funny, well written and a lot of fun, this is NOT a good date night movie but a perfect film if you've got kids (young or even grown like mine) who grew up with Pilkey's creation. Not to be missed.

When I decided to watch this with my movie theatre-working friend, I didn't really know much of what it was about other than it was based on some books I never read and that it had a satirical bent concerning superheros and kids' imagination in creating them. George and Harold are a couple of pre-teen boys who love comics to the point of creating the title character mentioned above. But the principal at their school has had enough of their pranks and resolves to separate them by having them in different classes. I'll stop there and just say this was quite funny and maybe a bit touching in how some things get resolved. But the fact the fourth wall is often broken seems a sure sign that nothing is meant to be taken seriously. My friend had seen this before and liked it enough to let me watch it with him. It really tickled my funny bone, that's for sure! So on that note, I-and he-highly recommend Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.

Captain Underpants was a highly successful children's book series made by cartoonist Dav Pilkey, lasting from the late 1990s up to the middle of this decade. What made the series so beloved by children was its crass albeit hysterical toilet humor, funny drawings, silly juvenile puns, and humorous characters. So, fast forward to last year when Dreamworks Animation adapted the series into a movie, one would expect it to fail on arrival. However, the crew somehow found a way to make the film work based on its source material, as this has to be one of the funniest self aware sophomoric family movies I've seen in a long time.

The film centers around two imaginative elementary school pranksters, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who end up hypnotizing their mean-spirited principal, Mr. Krupp, into thinking he is the underwear styled superhero Captain Underpants, while also dealing with an evil scientist for a school teacher. For a premise like that, one would expect a fast-paced energetic tone with a lot of silly puns, and the film more than ever embraces its cartoony premise with plenty of potty jokes, fourth wall breaking, and frantic pacing. One particular scene that displays the books' famed "Flip-O-Rama" technique shows how much attention to detail the filmmakers took in adapting Pilkey's material. While the film does drag on a bit by the climax, it never fails to keep the humor flowing for the whole family to chuckle at.

What really sells the movie are George and Harold themselves, as they really feel like genuine friends with their love for gross-out humor and creating stories. In addition, while it may seem odd for Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch to voice two children, they work perfectly as mischievous delinquents, and their chemistry just bounces off the screen. Mr. Krump may seem like the typical evil principal, but there's a side to him that makes even George and Harold feel sorry for the poor old grump, displaying the most amount of heart throughout the film. Ed Helms is also brilliant in bouncing between Krupp and the cheerful Captain Underpants, showing off a comedic split personality vibe. The evil scientist, Professor Poopypants, is just diabolical as he wants to rid the world of laughter, and Nick Kroll registers lots of laughs with his mock German accent, especially with Poopypants using the stale humorless boy Melvin as bate for his plans of world domination.

The animation style helps bring the simplistic Dav Pilkey drawings into computer animation while still making them feel 2D, almost like The Peanuts Movie except much smoother. The usage of squash-and-stretch adds much weight to the characters, and the character animation really displays a lot of hilarious facial expressions. The world-building itself also looks very much like Dav Pilkey's own worlds, while getting enhanced for a cinematic experience. The usage of color, while pretty bright, is also handled quite well, as the film keeps the palette mixed in with the environments without having them pop out too much. Also, there are the occasional 2D animated and even sock puppet segments, yet they only arrive whenever a piece of exposition in George and Harold's comics or a bit of foreshadowing come afloat, making their presence all the more unpredictable.

In this day and age where many people think movies for the whole family are the lowest of the low when it comes to entertainment, this film comes around to boost up that trope to new heights. Needless to say, while by no means groundbreaking, Captain Underpants is just a constant joy that embraces juvenile humor to an endless degree. Along with its multiple of positive qualities, it has a message about just how important laughter really is, while also realizing the consequences to someone's actions, making it a very memorable experience for children of all ages. If you loved the books yourself or if you have a family of your own, give this film a watch, as it will brighten up your day with its zany comedy that never becomes too stupid for its own good. Hey, when Weird Al Yankovic sings the end credits song, it's hard not to smile at.