Before We Begin This Review
Even if this news is not related to the review, I wanted to take this moment to thank Queen Elizabeth II for the 70 plus years of her reign as the Queen. While we come together to mourn this great loss, let us celebrate her life, her achievements and her impact on the world. Thank you, Your Majesty.
Queen Elizabeth II
1926 – 2022
Introduction
Assemble, fellow adventurers! Blaziker has returned to begin preparing for another adventure. This time, we’re going to Metropolis! And why are we heading there? Because I heard there are superpowered pets joining forces with Krypton to save Superman and the other DC heroes, plus Kevin Hart as a dog, but that’s not the whole point.
Warner Animation Group (together with Animal Logic) returns in another animated movie, this time focusing on Superman’s pet dog Krypton (voiced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), who also has superpowers just like his owner. One day, a guinea pig, with the help of some kryptonite, kidnapped Superman and other DC superheroes, and it is to Krypton and a few other super-powered pets to become the heroes and save the DC superheroes before it is too late.
Despite its lacklustre marketing and the fact that it costs a whopping US$90 million, this movie somehow garnered positive reviews from critics and moviegoers apart during its late-July release, but with my country only getting it recently, will I vouch for the positive response, or will it fall flat just like its marketing?
Key Information
- Director: Jared Stern, co-directed by Sam J. Levine
- Animation Studios: Warner Animation Group and Animal Logic
- Country of Origin: United States of America, Australia
- Rating: PG-13
- Release Date: 1 September 2022 (in Singapore theatres)
Trailer
The Review
Story and Characters
To start out with some negatives, expect pretty much a similar storyline to that of any typical underdog animated movie story, and that is, a three-act structure, the same storyline about a veteran (or in this case, a super-dog) who lost their way and had to team up with a group of misfits to get back on track, some comedy hijinks along the way and a supervillain who wants to take over the world. Do not expect something refreshing and original from this movie.
However, expect to laugh as much as you can, because what lacks in originality, Super-Pets made up in the comedy department. A lot of the jokes are juvenile, but what makes these jokes stood out compared to other similar animated movies, such as Paws of Fury, is that they have great built-up and punchlines, plus character quirks that make them hilarious at times, which we will get to later.
What I especially love about the jokes is the pacing. I often complain about jokes coming in too fast and jokes without proper build-up and, worse, cringe-worthy jokes that do not sit well. Almost none of the jokes have these issues. Each joke has a solid build-up and gives time for the audience to breathe before the next punchline hits, something that is missing a lot from typical mainstream animated movies.
Even though the plot is box-standard, its writing is also a strength. I do not see obvious plot holes and the story flow is relatively smooth. Perhaps it was due to the familiarity of previous animated movies that I felt surprised by how solid the writing is, despite the plot being pretty generic.
As for the characters, there were questions raised over the recruitment of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Kevin Hart as Krypton and Ace respectively, given that celebrities tend to dominate the starring roles. Thankfully, given they both collaborated a few times, they both rose to the occasion. Krypton is a super-powered dog that has his fair share of flaws, such as interacting with other pets, but as he adapts to his new environment with Ace and the other pets, he develops himself and understands that he cannot control what Superman does, like dating Lois. I think there is a lesson to be learnt about, but it will be a spoiler moment. The point is, moviegoers can relate to Krypton, and The Rock delivers a solid performance.
However, the surprise goes to Kevin as Ace. Honestly, given that Kevin worked on questionable projects recently, including his terrible N*T animated series “Confessions from the Hart”, his character and his voice acting has the, pun intended, Hart I was looking for. Not only was Ace hilarious (in fact even funnier than Kevin himself), but the moments of him with Krypton and the other pets are proof he can play serious roles too, if he puts his energy into it.
The other pets have their moments as well, with Vanessa Breyer being a massive fangirl of Wonder Woman as PB, Diego Luna controlling his fears as Chip, and most importantly, Natasha Lyonne as the speedy but hilarious and grumpy Merton (to make for being part of an otherwise mediocre season 2 of Russian Doll). The three supporting pets do not shy away from the spotlight when it mattered the most, which is very important.
All the other characters are fun too. Kate McKinnon’s bald and evil guinea pig Lulu is your stereotypical but well-developed villain, John Krasinski exchanged Mr Fantastic for Superman for a day and Keanu Reeves finally gets to play the dream role of playing Batman himself (and has the voice to back it up as well). These fun characters, and the surprising strong voice acting, add to the wonderful writing this movie surprisingly possesses.
Animation
Animal Logic, the same studio who animated the outstanding The Lego Movie franchise, returns to help Warner Animation Group once again in the animation department. Given the US$90 million budget provided, I was expecting them to hit another home run with the animation. Personally, even though the budget was a tad overstated, the animation is pretty solid.
A key thing to look out for are the action sequences and most of them stick the landing (unlike Ace in one particular scene). Sure, some of these action sequences might be long, but not only are these moments well-thought, they are also well-timed, which prevents the action from being too hectic. It also helps that the character movements are buttery smooth (even with Merton who suddenly gained her speedy powers), plus the background designs are pretty nice and properly rendered.
Personally, it is the character designs that sold it for me. Seeing that some of the Super-Pets (like Krypton, Ace, and Chip) have featured in classic DC comic books, I loved their full adaptation into this movie. While they kept their feral selves, each pet has their unique animation style that stays true to them throughout the movie, and as for Lulu, well, she has her own set of evil tactics and her army of guinea pigs, each with different powers, but with some not looking that hot, if I were to be honest.
Speaking of which, the issues are that for a US$90 million movie, it felt like a US$60-80 million movie, given that the animation is not so detailed and that there are certain rendering and framing issues that are not so obvious unless you know where to look at. Also, given the frantic pacing during the action sequences, some of the animated elements do not flow well during these sequences, unfortunately. More focus on the little things, and Animal Logic would nail the animation perfectly, but at the end of the day, the mistakes are not even fatal to begin with.
Special Sauce
Let us look at some other interesting elements and facts about Super-Pets:
- Local flavour: In the Singapore version of Super-Pets, for the song “Count on Me”, rather than the original track by Jac Ross, the Singapore version used a cover of “Count on Me”, sung by former Campus Superstar (a popular 2000s’ singing competition aimed for young pre-university singers) contestant Ben Hum. This might also explain the delayed release date, being released in Singapore in early September rather than the end-July release, like other countries.
- Delays, delays, delays: Yet another animated movie pushed back from its original release date. It had a May 2021 release date before being pushed back a year to May 2022 to make way for The Matrix: Resurrections, before being further delayed to July 2022. Man, how much of a slip-up Warner Bros. Discovery made when they made that decision…
- Can you smell what The Rock is cooking: Speaking of The Rock himself, he will also play Black Adam in the titular movie which is coming out towards the end of the year, while voicing Krypton. Hmm…
Conclusion
I will be honest, did anyone expect Super-Pets to be this good? When the first trailer came out, most of us began to dismiss it as a good movie. Well, a year later when it finally came out, I had a feeling we all expected little positive reception for this movie, and honestly, I’m actually glad I was wrong.
DC League of Super-Pets might not bring in any original ideas or top-notch animation, but it brings in a lot of laughs and a lot of heart that goes beyond your typical, generic, mainstream animated movie. This movie has solid fundamentals, from the rock-solid writing to the abundance of high-quality animation, pretty good animation and some very strong voice-acting. This is a movie that no one expected it to be that good, but given that shaky track record of DC movies, I can say Super-Pets is one of the better ones out there.
Thank you so much for reading this review. I still need to cover a few more animated movies before we go for a break till around November (unless there are more animated movies announced for October), so until then, k thanks bye!
Rating
- Story and Writing: 4/5
- Animation: 3.5/5
- Special sauce: 3.5/5
- Overall score: 11/15
Rating: Worth the Popcorn
