Back in elementary school, I have heard and read the Captain Underpants books. And, even though I was not a huge fan of the books, I found them quite entertaining on that level. Now, I have not seen a great animated movie this year and quite frankly, I do not see much potential in this year's slate. But, there are exceptions. This may not be the most colorful movie or a great breakthrough in animation, but the message about friendship that is carried along throughout the movie provides us with comedy and wit and it is enough to surprisingly recommend it.
The movie is set in Ohio in which next-door neighbors and best friends, George Beard (voiced by Kevin Hart) and Harold Hutchins (voiced by Thomas Middleditch), are in the fourth grade as they bring joy and happiness to the school called Jerome Horowitz Elementary. However, they spend time excessively pranking all of the cruel teachers, especially principal Benjamin "Benny" Krupp (voiced by Ed Helms). After tampering with the toilet with intellectual snitch, Melvin Sneedly's (voiced by Jordan Peele) invention, Krupp separates the boys, thus, ending their friendship.
Before it was all annihilated, they were writing comic books about a superhero called Captain Underpants, who solely wears a cape and underwear and has superpowers. They sell to other kids through a company called Treehouse Comix Inc. located at their treehouse. However, George receives a 3D Hypno Ring that was in a cereal box to hypnotize Krupp. Initially, they tell him to act like a chicken and a monkey. And, once George and Harold sees that he resembles Captain Underpants, they command him to become Captain Underpants. However, Krupp turning into Captain Underpants causes havoc for the school.
This movie is harmless child-like entertainment but it will not cause parents to roll their eyes and groan with discontent. I mean, the whole movie is basically a writer's imagination turned into a child writer's imagination and I think that is a smart approach because imagination and a great message can drive an animated film like this forward with heart, action and a flashback to your childhood when you were reading these books. But, however, the conclusion to how they figure out the situation regarding how to change the principal back to his normal self was more different than I thought due to the tone of the film and I thought that was refreshing.
When I saw that the distributor of the film was not going to release the movie to critics until a few days or a day before release, I thought, "You had a good movie here and it should have been marketed a lot better." There is usual slapstick comedy and frenetic action accompanied by pop songs that is a bit distracting and it is usual by most Dreamworks movies as of late. But, this is another surprise in the last few weeks in which a movie of dire expectation that improves into something much better. It is quite a fantastical, child-like and whimsical movie that children with laugh and adults with chuckle at reminiscing their imaginative childhood.
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