My Movie Review on Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie · 2:45pm Apr 1st, 2021
April Fools Day, my friends!
This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, to celebrate the occasion, I'm gonna give you guys my take of Dreamworks's "Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie".
Here's the rundown of this adventure:
George Beard and Harold Hutchins are two best friends who often pull pranks and write comic books together at school, specifically as a sort of rebellion against their mean teachers and their school's tyrannical principal, Mr. Krupp.
However, after finally having enough of their shenanigans, Mr. Krupp decides that the only way to end George and Harold's friendship is to put each of them in separate classes. Especially after the school's tattletale, Melvin Sneedly, presents proof that the two of them are behind a prank at an invention show.
In a desperate attempt to keep Mr. Krupp from separating them, George and Harold use a magic ring to hypnotize him and do the unthinkable: Turn him into the main character of their comic book, Captain Underpants. A superhero who fights crime and only wears underwear and a cape. But, a life with their principal thinking that he's a superhero will not be as easy as they thought, and when a supervillain called Professor Poopypants starts coming into play...well, things can only get more complicated from there.
In all honesty, I originally planned on making an analysis of this movie last year. But, as with many of my original plannings, time snuck by me so quickly in ways I hardly expected, so I ultimately decided to save reviewing the movie for this year instead. I thought it'd be perfect for specifically celebrating April Fools Day with since laughter and comedy play a significant part in the film.
So, what do I think of this movie?
Not gonna lie, this movie was absolutely awesome!
For instance, the direction by David Soren, and the screenplay by Nicholas Stoller, were fantastic.
As a person who read some Captain Underpants books as a child, I loved how faithful to the source material the film was. Everything about it directly captured the spirit Dav Pilkey gave his stories, and there was even a great sense of appeal for all ages just like with the books. The movie also contained heart and emotion that helped it be more than just a comedy, which came in the form of the friendship between George and Harold in particular.
On the subject of the comedy, I will admit that there was a gag or more revolving around Captain Underpants's lack of intelligence that didn't get me rolling on the ground with laughter, and that there were some disgusting ones that happened during the whoopee cushion orchestra scene that weren't too appealing. But, I'm proud to say that the rest of the comedy provided by the movie were a hilarious blast to watch! Every step of the way, I noted that there was an innocent quality to the gags that I couldn't resist laughing at, even some of the toilet humor like the joke revolving around Uranus.
I'd also like to add that the moments where George and Harold break the fourth wall by interacting with the audiences were both fun and neatly worked, and they didn't detract from the story at all.
The animation was amazing too.
Similar to Blue Sky Studios's work on "The Peanuts Movie", I loved how Dreamworks got the visual style to distinctly match the illustrations of Dav Pilkey's books, and there was a cinematic quality to it all that made everything appealing to the eye. Likewise, there was a great sense of risk and passion in the animation that showed how much fun Soren and the animators were having working on this project. Some of the most accomplished moments in the movie were the hand-drawn animated comic and sketch parts, which helped give more diversity in terms of animation style. I also enjoyed how fluid the character animation was throughout the movie.
The music by Theodore Shapiro was marvelous as well.
With this movie being the second animated film he composed for, Shapiro once again proved how capable he was at creating compelling music for animated features. His score was filled to the brim with a personality that brilliantly reflected that of the movie's, and in every scene his music carried emotion. The songs that the film had were fun too, especially the Captain Underpants theme song by "Weird Al" Yankovic, the film's rendition of "Think" by Adam Lambert, and "A Friend Like You" by Andy Grammer.
Finally, the voice acting, characters, and character development were stupendous.
I will admit that the castings of Kevin Hart as George Beard, Thomas Middleditch as Harold Hutchins, and Jordan Peele as Melvin Sneedly may be kind of strange considering they're adults playing characters that are children. But, I also don't think I can picture anyone else qualified for the parts but them. They portrayed their characters with a personality and innocence that was perfect for their parts, and the comedic-timings they provided were hysterical. Both George and Harold were likewise fun protagonists to hang with, and they had great character development too. The friendship and chemistry the two of them shared was one of the film's most fun parts.
In addition to this, Ed Helms was awesome in the role of Mr. Krupp/Captain Underpants, and so was Nick Kroll in the role of Professor Poopypants. Both performers portrayed their characters with amazing emotion, personality, and comedic-timings that were extremely spot-on, and there was an incredibly vast sense of three-dimensionalism in the performances that helped Krupp and Poopypants come to life. Plus, both characters weren't without development.
In conclusion, "Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie" may not be a flawless endeavor, but it's still one of the most hysterical and fun movies I've ever watched. Dreamworks and Captain Underpants mix perfectly together like peanut butter and jelly, that's for sure.
So, I rate "Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie" 4½ out of 5 stars.
To Dreamworks: Even though it's been years since this movie was made, I encourage you highly to create a sequel or more at some point. Whether it's just me is something I don't know, but I believe this movie has the potential to be expanded into a franchise and go beyond just one movie. As a matter of fact, I've frequently been on the lookout for reports on whether or not a sequel was planned or in the works.
And yes, I know that a television series based on Captain Underpants was made and released on Netflix a while back. However, based on the research I did on the program, it's apparently not in the same universe as the movie.
I still hope for a sequel.
YO, WE GOT TWO MORE CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS FANS HERE... YOU AND 5487875
(Also, hype for the confirmed Dog Man movie)
5488016
Yep.
Also, about the development, I feel like out of the books, show, and movie, there is a bit of slight character development with Krupp at the end (when he gave the boys the comics back and admitted they were funny. You don’t see that in other content)