The Wasteland Reviewer

Dog Man (2025) Written Review

How good can an animated film about a police officer and his dog being combined into a hybrid “Supa Cop”? Well, when you have the creative mind of Dav Pilkey behind it, you just might have yourself a charming and fun film on your hands. When you have a police officer, and his dog gets blown up and leaves only the dog’s head and the human’s body functioning…you must get creative! Dog Man is born and must fulfill his destiny of taking down his arch nemesis, Petey the Cat. What seems like a simple story of a cool dog/hybrid cop taking down a nefarious cat soon delivers plenty of layers and threads. 

How does Peter Hastings (writer/director) bring Pilkey’s fun world to life on screen? What is strange is that Hastings’ only features directorial effort is the much maligned The Country Bears film. Hastings seemed to find the right project for him to get creative with. First off, the animation perfectly matched the fun and quirky drawings of Pilkey’s books. There is a toy feel to the world and the characters feel like action figures coming to life in an interesting way. The style also has a lower frame rate and gives it a stop motion feel as well. The action in the film has plenty of energy and personality that makes it loads of fun. Hastings also does a great job channeling both laughs and emotions. There are plenty of silly laughs along the way with word play, subversion of expectations, and a healthy dose of physical comedy. The heart lies in the relationships with unexpected characters including a surprising new role for Petey the Cat along the way. 

Does the film deliver with its writing as well? As stated earlier, there is a healthy bit of humor that is executed well from some clever writing. It might seem silly in the situation, but Hastings certainly delivers some sharp writing elements to make this film deliver laughs on quite a consistent basis. The pacing of the story though is one of the more interesting elements. For the first fifteen minutes or so, this really works as a condensed Robo-Cop for children. You might be surprised by how quickly we get Dog Man and how quickly he captures his archrival. But there is a lot more to this film than you might expect. The narrative does get bogged down by a lot of moving pieces including a bunch of subplots like the Chief having feelings for the famous city reporter. What is most interesting is how this film diverges into a story equally about Petey that tackles generation trauma (yes…in Dog Man). This element of the story is charming and endearing. Throw in an unexpected bigger bad guy with wilder implications and you have quite the wild ride. 

How about that cast though? Pete Davidson was an interesting choice for the film’s antagonist, Petey. Davidson digs down and draws upon his own trauma to channel some real feeling into Petey’s arc. This is honestly a surprising development…unless you watched Bupkis. There are some fun supporting performances from the likes of Lil Rel Howery and Isla Fisher. They both channel their comedic energies and add some quality charm to the film. Stephen Root is a despicable addition as Petey’s father. Even Ricky Gervais arrives as a bigger band with his devilishly nefarious charm. Hastings himself delivers the performance as Dog Man which is quite believable. Apparently, Hastings can channel dogs quite well. There are plenty of fun familiar voices to liven up the proceedings as well. 

Is Dog Man the surprise hit film of January? Honestly…it really is. Never doubt Pilkey and his irreverent charm again! There is so much personality in Dog Man with Hastings finding the perfect blend of humor, heart, soul, silliness, and shenanigans. A game cast, fun animation, and a big bold story craft such a silly and sweet ride along the way.