Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)

Genres

Action, Animation, Comedy

Director

David Soren

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Kevin Hart, Thomas Middleditch, Ed Helms, Nick Kroll, Jordan Peele, Kristen Schaal, Dee Dee Rescher, Brian Posehn, Mel Rodriguez, David Soren, Susan Fitzer, Lynnanne Zager, Tiffany Lauren Bennicke, James Ryan, Leslie David Baker

Storyline

George (Kevin Hart) and Harold (Thomas Middleditch), two overly imaginative friends, hypnotize their principal (Ed Helms) into thinking he a superhero named Captain Underpants.

Opinion

There's nothing about Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie that led me into thinking it was a great film. If anything (title, poster and what I read on other blogs), I knew for sure I was getting myself into a pretty stupid movie. And guess what? That's exactly what happened.

I never read the children's books, but I have to admit that having a principal switching from angry man to cool superhero when someone snaps their fingers sounds kind of fun. I guess it just wasn't material for a movie because that simple storyline is what the filmmakers used to make a lot of nonsense happen. Most of the stuff that goes on isn't even related to the storyline, they are just random events happening at random.

The characters aren't that bright either. In fact, I couldn't care less about them. The children are neither interesting nor believable, the adults are nothing more than a bunch of stereotypes, and the villain is a joke.

Which brings me to the humour. It is juvenile, to say the least. I doubt anyone older than 5 years will find this amusing since pretty much all the jokes are poop and underpants related, and the number of fart gags is unbelievable. I think I chuckled once while watching this, but I'm not sure whether it was the humour or the stupidity of the movie.

What's worse, however, is that the film lacks an emotional impact. It shows how important friendship is, but it's kind of cold. I guess having people instead of the animation (and over-exaggerated voice acting), although it was nice, could have help.