A One Mann’s Movies review of “DC League of Super-Pets” (2022).
After seeing lots of so-so reviews of the “DC League of Super-Pets”, I had very low expectations. I was one of six who went to see this: myself, the illustrious Mrs Movie Man, my son and three of my grandkids (7, 5 and 2). And do you know? We all absolutely loved it!
Bob the Movie Man Rating(s):
Plot Summary:
A little known fact is that when Jor-El (Alfred Molina) was packing young Kal-El into his crystal spaceship to escape Kypton’s destruction, the family dog – Krypto – sneaked in with him. And now all grown-up, the dynamic flying duo of Superman (John Krazinski) and Krypto (Dwayne Johnson) have been doing good deeds in Metropolis ever since. But then Lulu (Kate McKinnon), a super-powered guinea pig from the experiments of Lex Luther (Marc Maron), captures all of the Justice League. It is up to Krypto and his rag-tag set of super-charged chums – indestructible boxer Ace (Kevin Hart), electrifying chipmonk Chip (Diego Luna), size-shifting pig PB (Vanessa Bayer) and speedy but short-sighted tortoise Merton (Natasha Lyonne) to mount a rescue and save Metropolis.
Certification:
Talent:
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, John Krazinski, Kevin Hart, Diego Luna, Vanessa Bayer, Natasha Lyonne, Kate McKinnon, Marc Maron, Keanu Reeves.
Directed by: Jared Stern & Sam Levine.
Written by: Jared Stern & John Whittington.
Twitter Handles: #DCSuperpets.
“DC League of Super-Pets” Review:
Positives:
- As a kids animated movie it passes muster as solid summer holiday-filling fare. But every parent/grandparent knows the dread of being bored stiff for 90 minutes by some naff CBeebies-to-cinema effort. This is significantly different in having LOTS of clever comedy dialogue and visuals that will appeal to adults too.
- IN PARTICULAR, any fans of Marvel and DC should enjoy the numerous comic easter-eggs inserted into the piece. There are some nice musical motifs thrown into the mix as well: I hope John Williams got some royalties for this! My personal favourite killer joke was the multiverse gag on the Justice League telephone helpline: “Press 1 for Earth One, press 2 for Earth Two….”. Big LOL!
- All the voice actors do a good job, with Keanu Reeves as Batman being the wonderfully moody standout for me.
Negatives:
- The tortoise, Merton, has a potty mouth, with the swear words being bleeped out. This was neither a positive or a negative for me, but the illustrious Mrs Movie Man saw this as completely unnecessary and a mark down.
- Given the state-of-the-art of animated movies in 2022, the visuals here were nothing to particularly write home about.
Suitable for all kids?
As I said in my introduction, I took my grandkids – Frankie, aged 7, Eva, aged 5 and Jack, aged 2 to see this. Eva was on an enthusiastic return visit. They all really enjoyed it. I was a little worried about Jack, who has been scared by some other PG Movies, not making it through to the end. But he took this one well in his stride, enjoying it and even screaming “GOOD DOGGIE!” at one point! There is a huge, monstrous and possibly scary guinea pig in the finale of the film that might freak some young kids out – but, curiously, not Jack!
Summary Thoughts on “DC League of Super-Pets”:
I’m puzzled as to why there have been so many poor UK reviews of this one: Kevin Maher of The Times and Wendy Ide of The Guardian gave it 1 star; Clorisse Loughrey of “The Independent” gave it 2 stars. (I sometimes wonder if reviewers always see all of these films at the same time, and feed off each other’s negativity!) I’m much more aligned with the views of Charlotte O. Sullivan of the Evening Standard who described it as a “sassy and super self-aware kids cartoon”.
I personally thought it was a hoot, with more than enough depth for adults (and superhero-fan adults in particular) to enjoy. If you are someone who’s been put off by the low stars…. I’d think again. This one gets a “recommended” from me.
Trailer for “DC League of Super-Pets”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJamVNlQMOY .
