Is it a Yes or a No, ‘Dog Man’?

January 29, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

What’s up, Dog (Man)? (CREDIT: Universal Pictures/DreamWorks Animation)

Starring: Peter Hastings, Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Lucas Hopkins Calderon, Isla Fisher, Ricky Gervais, Cheri Oteri, Billy Boyd, Stephen Root, Poppy Liu, Laraine Newman, Melissa Villaseñor, Kate Micucci, Maggie Wheeler, Pearce Bunting, Max Koch, Rahnuma Panthaky

Director: Peter Hastings

Running Time: 89 Minutes

Rating: PG for The Typical Animated Mayhem

Release Date: January 31, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Officer Knight and his canine companion Greg are one of the best crime-fighting duos in the city. That is, until a major accident renders Knight’s head and Greg’s body unusable. So their doctors decide to make lemonade and fuse the two of them together to form the titular Dog Man (barks and whines provided by writer-director Peter Hastings)! That would seemingly make him the perfect foil for the incorrigible feline criminal Petey (Pete Davidson), but alas, Dog Man gets off on the wrong foot with his Chief (Lil Rel Howery) and the Mayor (Cheri Oteri) and ends up having to stay on desk duty. Meanwhile, Petey obtains a clone of himself named Lil’ Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon), who may just soften his heart and convince him to become a doting father instead of a criminal mastermind.

What Made an Impression?: You Got to Be Silly: Dog Man is based on the graphic novel series of the same name by Dav Pilkey, who’s probably best known for Captain Underpants, which got its own big-screen adaptation back in 2017. I’m familiar with Pilkey’s output via pop culture osmosis, but this is my first time actually diving into what he has on offer. And now that I’ve been exposed, I must say: I hope I have kids soon so that we can fully explore the Pilkey-verse together. Simply put, this is silly sophomoric humor done cleverly and colorfully. Dopey wordplay and visual gags abound, befitting a world in which a canine-human hybrid is the hero.
Family Matters: Considering all the unabashed silliness on display, you might be surprised to learn that Dog Man also isn’t afraid to get heavy. To be clear, it’s not like it’s an unrelenting tearjerker about cancer and/or addiction. Nevertheless, you might find yourself shedding a tear or two. For example, after Officer Knight and Greg become Dog Man, they’re unceremoniously abandoned by Greg’s wife, who apparently couldn’t bear to ever see her husband and fur baby fused together. Meanwhile, Petey’s villainy seems to be entirely fueled by his abandonment issues with his own deadbeat dad (Stephen Root). These themes don’t weigh down the wackiness, but they certainly make themselves known. So if you want a steady stream of ultra-silly laughs with a side of genuine family therapy, Dog Man has you covered.

Dog Man is Recommended If You Like: Weird Al, Looney Tunes, “Cat’s in the Cradle”

Grade: 3 out of 5 Copz

The Spirits in ‘Night Swim’ Offer a Devil’s Bargain

January 4, 2024

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Take a dip? (CREDIT: Universal Pictures)

Starring: Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, Amélie Hoeferle, Gavin Warren, Nancy Lenehan, Jodi Long, Rahnuma Panthaky, Eddie Martinez, Elijah J. Roberts

Director: Bryce McGuire

Running Time: 98 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Creepy Black Goo and A Few Near-Drownings

Release Date: January 5, 2024 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Professional baseball player Ray Waller (Wyatt Russell) and his wife Eve (Kerry Condon) are shopping for a new home that will hopefully afford him some space to adjust after a recent multiple sclerosis diagnosis forced him to take time away from the game. They settle on a cozy suburban spot with a backyard swimming pool that has a very unusual feature: it’s connected to the groundwater! Also, it’s haunted. However, when Ray takes a dip, it’s more like a fountain of youth, as his symptoms begin to miraculously fade away. Unfortunately the pool has a bit of a tit-for-tat arrangement with all of its owners: for every person it cures, it must consume someone else. That certainly doesn’t bode well for Ray and Eve’s kids Izzy (Amélie Hoeferle) and Elliot (Gavin Warren).

What Made an Impression?: A New Mythology?: For much of Night Swim, I couldn’t help but ask, “When are we going to discover that this pool was built on an ancient burial ground?” While the premise is certainly Poltergeist-y, the aesthetics are more beholden to turn-of-the-20th century J-horror, especially when the strands of dark black hair of previous victims peek through the pool’s filter. But writer-director Bryce McGuire has ultimately crafted his own unique dark parable. It’s an expansion of the short film he made in 2014 (along with Rod Blackhurst, who has a story credit on the feature), but it also feels like it could be drawing from the mythology of some nation or ethnic group that I’m not terribly familiar with. If that’s the case, I’d love to dig deeper into the real-life inspiration. Although as far as I can tell, this was mostly McGuire’s creation. It’s a creepy enough scenario, although I do wish I had been more viscerally freaked out instead of focusing on all this pondering.
Shifting Moods, Shifting Tones: Each member of the Waller clan besides Ray has their own ghostly experience that convinces them that the pool is not to be trusted. But young Elliot is the only one who responds to that realization with much urgency. His older sister and mom do have flashes of taking the threat seriously, but they’re distracted by more earthbound concerns. (Maybe there’s a point being made about losing touch with the supernatural as you get older?) When it eventually gets to a point that they can’t deny what’s right in front of their eyes, they often remain rather stone-faced. Perhaps this family just isn’t very expressive.
It all builds and falls to a rather matter-of-fact resolution despite a notably tragic climax. I don’t know if McGuire ever fully figured out what tone he was aiming for. Or if he did, I’m not sure he clearly conveyed that to his cast. Still, there’s enough creepy imagery and a solidly unnerving premise to make Night Swim worth a lukewarm recommendation despite all the awkwardness.

Night Swim is Recommended If You: Saw all the gunk trapped in a pool filter and then thought, “Hey, what if that’s haunted?”

Grade: 3 out of 5 Marco Polos