DCs League of Super Pets
review by Bobby Blakey
After years in development Dwayne Johnson is finally getting ready to join the DC Universe as Black Adam in the film of the same name, but that is just the beginning. Now he has lent his voice to the animated feature DC League of Super Pets as Krypto. In addition to Johnson the film features a great voice cast including Kevin Hart, Kate McKinnon, John Krasinski, Vanessa Bayer, Natasha Lyonne, Diego Luna, Marc Maron, Thomas Middleditch, Ben Schwartz, and Keanu Reeves. Could this new focus on the heroes of DC bring the fun and adventure or should have stayed in the shelter?
DC League of Super Pets follows Krypto the Super-Dog and Superman who are inseparable best friends, sharing the same superpowers and fighting crime in Metropolis side by side. When Superman and the rest of the Justice League are kidnapped, Krypto must convince a rag-tag shelter pack—Ace the hound, PB the potbellied pig, Merton the turtle and Chip the squirrel—to master their own newfound powers and help him rescue the superheroes.
Based on the trailers I think I created a different vision to what this film was going to be as opposed to what it actually is and that ended up being a good thing. I was expecting something a lot sillier and over the top that brought the laughs at super speed, but instead it is a straight up super-hero adventure featuring the animals. Make no mistake there are plenty of laughs and heart, but it firmly plants itself into the superhero genre complete with villains, heroes, action and of course a plethora of mighty heroes.
I loved the original animated Krypto series that also featured Ace The Bat Hound so was looking forward to see how they put this together. The film
kicks off with the familiar origin of the Man of Steel we all know with a new twist to bring Krypto into the mix. From there the film serves as not only a new adventure, but origin story of sorts to the other new heroes that get unleashed thanks to the villain guinea pig Lulu voiced to perfection by McKinnon. The events bring them together and sets them out on a fun filled journey that fans will no doubt have fun with.
Johnson and Hart are great together as always and I enjoyed seeing Hart tone it down a bit for this role to perfectly fit the persona of someone in the Bat family. Especially when teamed with Reeves as Batman who is all kinds of awesome. Krasinski as Superman is great as well and he and Johnson have the much needed chemistry there as well to really get you invested in their friendship. The rest of the cast are great with Bayer’s PB being a ton of fun to watch.
The animation is a bright vibrant feast for the senses that really elevates this film even further. The designs of every character hold that classic visuals while still bringing something new to their looks with Cyborg’s afro being one of my personal favorites. The story to the film is really more than just the superhero antics of these characters, but also a sub message about adopting and finding different things in life we are all needing. This might sound like a down your throat message, but in fact it works and makes the depth of the story that much stronger. If there was any issue with the film it would be the run time as it does drag in spots. It takes a while to get to any of the fun stuff and with just a little snip here and there I think it would have worked a lot better to keep it moving more effectively.
I had fun with the film and so glad that it ended up being something taking it a little more seriously in this fun corner of the DC Universe. I hope this isn’t the last we see of this team and be sure to stick around through the credits for a mid-credit scene and after credit scene that is pretty awesome. Johnson has mentioned numerous times that the DC Universe is changing and there is a bit of that right here that shows maybe he has more pull around this new DCU than we might have thought.
In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including deleted scenes, featurettes and more. Join the team with DC League of Super-Pets available now on digital and then on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on October 4th from Warner Bros Hone Entertainment.