Film Review: DOG MAN (2025): Peter Hastings’ Animated DreamWorks Comedy is Full of Laughs but Light on Plot

Dog Man Review

Dog Man (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by Peter Hastings, written by Dav Pilkey and Peter Hastings and starring Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher, Ricky Gervais, Poppy Liu, Billy Boyd, Rahnuma Panthaky, Maggie Wheeler, Peter Hastings, Luenell, Melissa Villasenor, Stephen Root, Yung Gravy, Cheri Oteri, Lucas Hopkins Calderon and Laraine Newman.

Dog Man is a high-concept idea stretched way beyond the length that would be appropriate for this animated film to be capable of being a true success. Creator Peter Hastings has a genius idea that could certainly fill a half-hour or forty-five minutes successfully but, this time out, there’s too little plot to warrant the 89-minute length of the movie. This picture also suffers from not knowing who its audience is and, therefore, it tries to please every demographic as it throws a lot of darts, some of which hit the bulls-eye while many others fall well out of the appropriate range. Still, the DreamWorks film could appeal to kids for its interesting imagery even if what the actors are saying will most likely fly well over these young people’s heads.

Peter Hastings provides the barking sounds (I suppose) of “Dog Man.” A guy and his dog end up getting in an explosion and the dog’s head is OK but the man’s head isn’t. Consequently, the guy’s body is good but the dog’s is not. When the doctor puts him together as a “Dog Man.” the new man/dog hybrid works hard at his job as a police officer but every time he arrests Petey the Cat (Pete Davidson), the criminal feline escapes making Dog Man look bad with the mayor. Petey also clones a younger version of himself, Li’l Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon) and Big Petey doesn’t pay proper attention to the cute, caring little tyke that is his clone.

Isla Fisher voices a reporter known as Sarah Hatoff. There is a slight physical resemblance between Fisher and the animated reporter character that makes the voice a good fit as the reporter rambles on with sayings that adults may find some humor in but won’t really gel with children. A wickedly humorous Ricky Gervais comes into the movie very late as an evil fish character known as Flippy who Big Petey has ordered to stop all “do-gooders” and Flippy goes after Li’l Petey with eventually heartwarming results.

Stephen Root is also on board and voices Big Petey’s dad who Li’l Petey finds in order to make Big Petey realize the importance of family. In the interim, Dog Man and Li’l Petey have formed a bond when Big Petey had kicked Li’l Petey away from his house. Lil Rel Howery also appears as the Chief of Police who works with Dog Man to bring down Petey who has a big change of heart as the action focuses to catching Flippy before he destroys Li’l Petey for being a “do-gooder.”

There are some funny bits here for sure. Billy Boyd plays a TV camera man named Seamus whose actions make for a laugh or two and a real estate agent (Melissa Villasenor)’s interaction with Dog Man is quite cute as she tries to see if he’s interested in buying a house and then sends him on his way. Isla Fisher provides most of the funny humor as the reporter and Pete Davidson predictably turns his character into a lovable villain who can occasionally crack a one-liner while interacting with his little clone. Big Petey says he’s going to get milk at one point because he’s a cat and cats drink milk, right? Well, they don’t so it’s funny. Davidson’s vocal talents are properly utilized here.

There are also a number of extended action sequences that pad the running time as some buildings take over the city and Dog Man and the two Peteys must team up to stop them. This could work with kids but, for me, it played as simply time-filler as we wait to see Petey finally understand the importance of his clone’s love for him. Dog Man gets lost in the shuffle at the end and the loose end of his human side’s former girlfriend gets unfairly sidetracked.

While Dog Man is somewhat diverting entertainment at times, it’s not the best of DreamWorks Animation. It’s based on a book series and people who are familiar with it will come to the movie with more than the average moviegoer. They’re likely to comprehend the concept more and have more accessibility to the peculiar characters here if they liked them in the books. Before Dog Man, there is a short featuring the Bad Guys from the movie of the same name. In it, the Bad Guys must get to an appointment with their parole officer but all that could go wrong does go wrong. Like Dog Man, it is filled with humor that adult audiences may enjoy more than kids. As the short is quick and fun, it’s a good segue into Dog Man which ultimately needs more bark and less comic bite.

Rating: 6/10

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