DC League of Super-Pets
July 29th, 2022
MOVIE: DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS
STARRING: DWAYNE JOHNSON, KEVIN HART, VANESSA BAYER, NATASHA LYONNE, DIEGO LUNA, JOHN KRASINSKI, KEANU REEVES
DIRECTED BY: JARED STERN, SAM LEVINE
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 3 STARS (Out of 4)
Making an animated movie about the furry friends of our favorite DC superheroes isn’t only the next logical step, it would seem negligent for a company to not come up with an idea such as this, and yet the execution is what DC League of Super-Pets truly nails. With a brilliant collection of actors to voice the pets with powers, directors Jared Stern and Sam Levine have made an animated adventure that is original, exciting, and constantly funny. DC League of Super-Pets is the surprise new team of four-legged heroes that just might save the day.
It’s an easy start to have Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart voice the two lead dogs, but there’s everything else around the two stars that takes the Super-Pets to a higher level. We see the beginning where before Superman’s planet is wiped out, his dog Krypto (voiced by Johnson) jumps into his pod, where man’s best super friend is there from the start. Now in Metropolis it’s Superman and his trusty dog, both flying high, shooting laser beams from their eyes, and saving the world from bad guys. But now that Lois Lane (Olivia Wilde) is in the picture, Krypto is a bit jealous, and then when an evil guinea pig named Lulu (hilariously voiced by Kate McKinnon), once owned by Lex Luthor, uses orange kryptonite to power herself up, she decides to use these powers to trap the justice league, hoping to rule the world with her guinea pig friends. That leaves it up to Krypto, along with a dog named Ace (Hart), a pig named PB (Vanessa Bayer), a squirrel named Chip (Diego Luna), and a turtle named Merton (Natasha Lyonne) to work together to save the day. Problem is that Krypto has never worked with a team and defeating a hairless guinea pig becomes a lot tougher than they thought, even if they have new found super powers.
On the animation scale, I would call Super-Pets solid, but where this movie truly succeeds is in the writing, with the screenplay by Stern and John Whittington that has a hilarious tongue and cheek approach to the world of pets and superheroes. It reminded me of past combinations of animated comedy, from The Simpsons, Animaniacs’ Pinky and the Brain, the team at Robot Chicken, or what kids have loved in Teen Titans Go!, and still finds a way to make the action exciting. Plus the humor is a perfect blend for parents, where I noticed my wife and I were laughing even more than our son. The Super-Pets check off every box of what I typically look for and love in my animated movies.
If there are any flaws, and as I said, there are not many, but some of the jokes won’t land for kids, while other parts are predictable for adults to sit through. Even those complaints are mild. The rest of the high praise is for Jared Stern and Sam Levine bringing together one of the best movies where the Justice League works together in both human and pet form to fight bad guys. No matter what your opinion is of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, it’s easy to say that these DC Super-Pets are a more exciting group to cheer for.
The final note also should be that the voice cast is great. The MVP is McKinnon who has the evil vocals of a Bond-villain, while Natasha Lyonne surprises as her blind as a bat turtle that finds the speed of Flash, or the brilliant casting of Keanu Reeves as a dejected Batman. That’s not to take anything away from Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, as they still make a delightful duo, but DC League of Super-Pets is a team effort. Yeah, Superman and Batman are cool but these furry friends are worthy heroes. They at least deserve a belly rub.
DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS IS IN THEATERS THIS FRIDAY JULY 29TH, 2022
3 STARS
Written by: Leo Brady
leo@amovieguy.com
