Director: David Soren
Writers: Nicholas Stoller (screenplay by), Dav Pilkey (based on the epic novels by)
Stars: Kevin Hart, Thomas Middleditch, Ed Helms
Plot: Two overly imaginative pranksters named George and Harold hypnotise their principal into thinking he’s a ridiculously enthusiastic, incredibly dimwitted superhero named Captain Underpants.
Running Time: 89 Minutes
Rotten Tomatoes Score: Critics 86% Audience 61%
Why I Watched it: It looked like a lot of fun and the reviews were very good, now I watched it with my two daughters 8 and 5 years old, I’ll get this out of the way they didn’t like it.
What I Liked: This was a throwback animated film for me, it was under 90 minutes and it was just cold old fashioned fun, no parents were killed and sure a lot of the humour was poop and fart jokes but they were funny. The real fun thing was this was made for kids, from the best selling books, but it wasn’t talking down to kids, they tried to make the jokes funny not only for kids but about what kids find funny. So many times not animated films throw pop culture references, or jokes for the adults here we had kids humour aimed at kids.
The thing it did so well was tell a story about two best friends who happen to be little kids and what I liked was they never stopped being friends, no big fight, no big break up just two friends who were scared of being separated. The tone was light and fun and wasn’t at all mean spirited. I have to say I love the character of Captain Underpants, he made me laugh a lot and what was refreshing that even though the principal was the bad guy, the kids actually felt bad for me, made all the characters seem human and not just cliched types.
The look of the film was nice and bright and I really liked the animation it felt old school and it worked for the story they told. I have to talk about Professor Poopie Pants, he was a rather funny villain as you could see why having that as your name could make you a little grumpy. He was also a fleshed out character and brought some humour to it as well.
What I didn’t like: Not a whole lot, now maybe this is more geared for boys but I think comedy is comedy it’s funny or it’s not, but I know this is more popular with little boys than little girls, but i think there’s something for everyone though all the lead characters are boys/men. Also I do think younger kids will lap this up more than older kids.
Final Thoughts: I thought this was well done and a very sweet and fun movie.
Rating: 8/10
Movie Burner Entertainment 