(Originally posted December 20th, 2017)
Alright, so I wasn't originally intending on doing this, but as it's technically a superhero movie, and I feel the need to talk about this, consider it a bonus review for Cine-cember. Anyway, it's Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017), one of the most stylised and unique films I've seen this month, and the only one for kids, yet one that's better than many of the legitimate superhero movies I've seen this month. Starring Ed Helms as Mr. Krupp/Captain Underpants, Kevin Hart as George Beard, Thomas Middleditch as Harold Hutchins, Nick Kroll as Professor Poopypants, Jordan Peele as Melvin Sneedly, and Kristen Schaal as Edith.
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| Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017) |
Growing up, I was a huge fan of the Captain Underpants books. Whenever a new one was available via Book Club, you can bet I was begging my parents for a copy. That's why when I heard they were making a movie last year, I was cautiously optimistic. This was the company that brought us How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda and Megamind, but was also the company that gave us Shark Tale, Turbo and Boss f***ing Baby. I'm happy to say that this movie slots into the first list as one of Dreamworks' finest.
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| The books |
As I said, I'm a huge fan of the original source material, and was very interested to see how they were going to translate it to the big screen. It's surprisingly a very unique world that exists in the epic novels by Dav Pilkey, and this movie captures that world amazingly. The humour is bang on the money. The movie is about as self-aware as the books are, in that they'll break the fourth wall, address the audience directly, and even tell their own version of the story at some points. When the Flip-o-Ramas were integrated, I actually punched the air. You can tell this movie was made for kids, as the original source material was also for kids. But there are enough jokes for adults here that people of all ages will be entertained by this, and thankfully, when I say 'adult jokes', I don't mean Deadpool humour. This is just really clever writing, a little too clever for its own good, mind, as sometimes I got a little disappointed at the occasion joke clearly aimed at kids where I saw the punchline coming a mile away. Those jokes are few and far between, though.
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| Ed Helms as Captain Underpants |
The animation is beautiful. It somehow finds a way to capture the art style of the books whilst also being its own thing and also not looking to ridiculous for its own good. There's a lot of effort put into the animation here, and the speed at which they're willing to move the characters sometimes is joyous to watch. There's also so much attention to detail even in the backgrounds, which is impressive for how simplistic these character designs are. There are a lot of easter eggs here, and I don't even think I spotted them all. Some are direct references to the books, while others are just cool background details. They really went above and beyond here, and made the world seem bigger than just the conflict being portrayed on screen.
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| Thomas Middleditch as Harold Hutchins and Kevin Hart as George Beard |
The voice talent is especially good. Ed Helms does a great job of not seeming like Ed Helms in literally ever other role he's ever been in, which is just some variation of Andy Bernard. I love his range here, from maniacal grump to goofy hero, he nails both Krupp and the Captain in a way that I don't think anyone else could do. I was a little hesitant on Kevin Hart as George, but he's also great here, and he and Thomas Middleditch have great chemistry with each other, and they also do a great job of not sounding like grown men, which is comforting. Jordan Peele was unrecognisable as Melvin, and I cannot believe the man who wrote and directed Get Out played this character. The man's a god. Kristen Schaal is also impressive as Edith, but I wish there was more of her in the movie. There's a surprising amount of focus on her by the end, but I just would have liked a little more of her to make it feel entirely justified.
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| Jordan Peele as Melvin Sneedly |
But, by far, Nick Kroll is the standout here. When I heard they were doing Professor Poopypants in the first movie, I was excited and a little worried, but Nick Kroll's performance was hysterical. I was laughing out loud at every other line, he's brilliant here. He's also a really imposing villain for this story, and they did his character justice. I love how we uncovered his backstory after first making him seem like just some crazy evil guy. There was a surprising amount of heart with his character. Hell, there was a surprising amount of heart in this movie in general.
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| Nick Kroll as Professor Poopypants |
Basically, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017) was everything I wanted in a Captain Underpants movie and more. Those of you who didn't grow up with the books might find it hard to adjust to the world and the humour, but I was right in from the start and I never wanted to leave. I hope they make more of these movies in the future. 9.5/10.
Later today: it's the movie I actually promised you for today: Batman Begins.
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