Captain Underpants:
The First Epic Movie
Dir: David Soren
2017
****
Based on the Children’s novel series written by Dav Pikey, Captain
Underpants finally made it to the big screen after many years of development.
Pikey was approached by Dreamworks Animaton back in 1997, just after the
release of the first book but he was apprehensive about selling the film
rights. Years later, Dreamworks invited Pikey to their head quarters for a tour
and to his surprise was greated by every single member of staff wearing their
underpants outside of their trousers. He was won over and Dreamworks got the
gig. However, it took them seven years in total from gaining the rights to
actually getting the film in cinemas. Weirdly, it was initially going to be a
live-action film starring Pikey’s first choice of actor Chris Farley, but when
Farley tragically died young the idea was scrapped and an animated version was
wisely sought. I loved it. It will no doubt be remembered for being the last
DreamWorks’ animation to be distributed by 20th Century-Fox
before Universal take over but I think that people have been quite harsh
towards DreamWorks. I think the amount of money these films are projected to
make are ridiculous, I still can’t quite understand why a film that trebles
it’s total cost and brings in $3 Million + is seen as a failure but I guess I’m
not in that business. I think Dreamworks Animation have been on top form and
the best they’ve ever been in the last few years, while many of their
competitors have been a bit wobbly. I hated the Shrek and Madagascar films, I
feel at long last Dreamworks is producing high-quality viewing, but most don’t
see it that way because of the money they’re not making. The animated movie
business is ridiculous. I digress. Captain Underpants is a wonderful adaptation
that is both faithful to the original novels and rather inventive. The editing
is is the best I’ve seen in this genre of movie and the way the story
incorporates more traditional animation techniques, flash animation, cutout
animation and an awesome sock-puppet scene, as well is its core 3D animation,
is utterly brilliant. It’s the first film Dreamworks have outsourced and the
cheapest they’ve produced - and by far the most creative. It is far from the
disaster the money men will have you believe. It’s a wonderful celebration of
creativity, the wonder of childhood and the importance of friendship, as well
as a good lesson in the importance of being silly. The voice acting is perfect,
with each actor suitably cast. If that wasn’t enough, it has nods to films such
as Metropolis and Joe versus the Volcano, as well as a few Three
Stooges references for the grown ups and a theme tune written and
performed by none other than ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic. It’s the sort of film I
wanted when I was a young child but one I’m very comfortable watching as an
older child. I’ve been shouting “Lala laaaa” for several days since watching it
and my wife is going nuts. What a great film.
