Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)

The Worst Film Ever

the audience applauded

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Captain Underpants was a highly successful children's book series made by cartoonist Dav Pilkey, lasting from the late 1990s up to the middle of this decade. What made the series so beloved by children was its crass albeit hysterical toilet humor, funny drawings, silly juvenile puns, and humorous characters. So, fast forward to last year when Dreamworks Animation adapted the series into a movie, one would expect it to fail on arrival. However, the crew somehow found a way to make the film work based on its source material, as this has to be one of the funniest self aware sophomoric family movies I've seen in a long time.The film centers around two imaginative elementary school pranksters, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who end up hypnotizing their mean-spirited principal, Mr. Krupp, into thinking he is the underwear styled superhero Captain Underpants, while also dealing with an evil scientist for a school teacher. For a premise like that, one would expect a fast-paced energetic tone with a lot of silly puns, and the film more than ever embraces its cartoony premise with plenty of potty jokes, fourth wall breaking, and frantic pacing. One particular scene that displays the books' famed "Flip-O-Rama" technique shows how much attention to detail the filmmakers took in adapting Pilkey's material. While the film does drag on a bit by the climax, it never fails to keep the humor flowing for the whole family to chuckle at.What really sells the movie are George and Harold themselves, as they really feel like genuine friends with their love for gross-out humor and creating stories. In addition, while it may seem odd for Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch to voice two children, they work perfectly as mischievous delinquents, and their chemistry just bounces off the screen. Mr. Krump may seem like the typical evil principal, but there's a side to him that makes even George and Harold feel sorry for the poor old grump, displaying the most amount of heart throughout the film. Ed Helms is also brilliant in bouncing between Krupp and the cheerful Captain Underpants, showing off a comedic split personality vibe. The evil scientist, Professor Poopypants, is just diabolical as he wants to rid the world of laughter, and Nick Kroll registers lots of laughs with his mock German accent, especially with Poopypants using the stale humorless boy Melvin as bate for his plans of world domination.The animation style helps bring the simplistic Dav Pilkey drawings into computer animation while still making them feel 2D, almost like The Peanuts Movie except much smoother. The usage of squash-and-stretch adds much weight to the characters, and the character animation really displays a lot of hilarious facial expressions. The world-building itself also looks very much like Dav Pilkey's own worlds, while getting enhanced for a cinematic experience. The usage of color, while pretty bright, is also handled quite well, as the film keeps the palette mixed in with the environments without having them pop out too much. Also, there are the occasional 2D animated and even sock puppet segments, yet they only arrive whenever a piece of exposition in George and Harold's comics or a bit of foreshadowing come afloat, making their presence all the more unpredictable.In this day and age where many people think movies for the whole family are the lowest of the low when it comes to entertainment, this film comes around to boost up that trope to new heights. Needless to say, while by no means groundbreaking, Captain Underpants is just a constant joy that embraces juvenile humor to an endless degree. Along with its multiple of positive qualities, it has a message about just how important laughter really is, while also realizing the consequences to someone's actions, making it a very memorable experience for children of all ages. If you loved the books yourself or if you have a family of your own, give this film a watch, as it will brighten up your day with its zany comedy that never becomes too stupid for its own good. Hey, when Weird Al Yankovic sings the end credits song, it's hard not to smile at.

Anybody looking for something simple to watch on Netflix, or are looking for a new animated movie to show their child/ren, this is the film to do it. This film was clearly met for children, but as an adult it's still entertaining to watch and sit through.

It is difficult to make a movie that is totally preposterous while not being just plain stupid. This movie succeeds. I do not think there should be a sequel but a tv series based on the books might work.

The books are generally fun and immensely charming, predominantly they are child-friendly but there is no real reason why adults would dismiss them, due to the lively characters, nice messaging, humour and heart.Saw 'Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie' as a huge fan of animation and to see how it stacked up with the books. There was a little trepidation too, because it sounded childish and the humour is usually not my kind of humour and often done badly. Seeing 'Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie', there are certainly far better animated films out there but also far worse. Was scared as to whether it would be pants, but after seeing it it is a long way from that though it falls short of being epic.'Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie' is a little too hectic at times in terms of the pacing. More could have been done with the villain.Out of a host of characters that generally fairly thin in development, he in particular did seem under-explored and not much more than a standard more humorous than expected villain, he also seemed a little too abruptly introduced.However, the animation is very bright and colourful, with lots of rich detail and clever character designs. The music is infectious in its energy and it works with the action rather than against it. There is generally a very nice lively energy to the story, apart from a tendency to be too hectic.Amazingly, the humour worked surprisingly well. Surprisingly seeing as it really isn't my kind of humour at all and something that should have come over in a childish fashion. It is incredibly silly but also remarkably funny, with the jokes and writing coming thick and fast. The potty-themed slapstick will delight children while adults are likely to find themselves laughing out loud at the knowing verbal wit.The messaging makes its point without being preachy. Despite them not being the best development, the characters are thankfully more engaging than they are annoying. Voice actors that one expects to not fit and sound completely wrong in their parts actually work perfectly and sound like they're enjoying themselves, Nick Kroll in particular.In conclusion, surprisingly enjoyable if not perfect. 7/10 Bethany Cox