Since the 20th century, across comics, literature, film and TV and video games, people young and old have been mesmerized by superheroes such as Captain America, Batman and Mr. Incredible. There are so many superhero characters with decades of stories behind them, but one superhero stands out among the bunch, created by Dav Pilkey in the 1990s and having starred in twelve books as well as a movie and a few animated TV series. And that superhero is Captain Underpants.
The gist is simple. Captain Underpants was an ordinary school principle named Mr. Krupp, who was grumpy and hated fun, then two kids, George and Harold, hypnotized him and he became the red-caped, underwear-clad crusader of justice Captain Underpants from the kids' homemade comics. Krupp becoming Captain Underpants eventually becomes more than just fun for George and Harold, especially when real bad guys start causing trouble, bad guys such as Professor Poopypants or the Talking Toilets. Produced by Dreamworks, the Captain Underpants movie released in 2017 and I've seen it a few times with my dad and it is wonderful and funny.
Dreamworks' movie adapts both the first Captain Underpants book, the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants and some elements of Attack of The Talking Toilets, covering Captain Underpants' beginnings, featuring Professor Poopypants as the film's main villain, and the ending sees Captain Underpants, George and Harold dealing with Talking Toilets after, spoilers, Poopypants is defeated and his toilet robot is dumped at a scrap yard with its toxic waste transforming a pile of toilets. Captain Underpants is a special kids' movie, full of juvenile potty humor that can fly over a child's head and is picked up by someone older, but it is still family-friendly.
If anyone wants to see a kids' superhero story involving a superhero running around in his undies while fighting bad guys and you're looking for a laugh, Captain Underpants' books by Dav Pilkey are for you, along with this movie. The film is beautifully animated, full of wacky scenes, and most of the music is incredible. Mr. Krupp aka Captain Underpants is voiced by Ed Helms with George and Harold being voiced by Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch respectively, Helms shows range as Krupp and Underpants, emphasizing Krupp's stern, fun-hating demeanor which contrasts with Captain Underpants' playful, friendlier side. You can't go wrong with "tra-la-laaaaaaaa". And I rate this film 9 out of 9. Worth a watch, never boring for a moment.
-James M
