Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie - Review
This review of Captain Underpants is spoiler-free!
Children's stories are a dime a dozen at this point in film history. Nearly every single children's book has been mined for it's material and put to screen in some form, whether it be animation or live-action. So, having come this far down the line without a movie based on the Captain Underpants character was rather shocking. But now, we finally have our first film in this wildly popular franchise. With lead voices from Thomas Middleditch and Kevin Hart, does this movie have the star power and pure childish fun to last or is it just another missed opportunity and a cash grab? Let's dive in.
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is about two young boys: George Beard and Harold Hutchins. They're wildly creative and imaginative, often spending days at a time in their group tree house creating funny comic book adventures to read and draw. When their principal decides that they've become too much of a problem at school he decides to take matters into his own hands and separate them into different classes. Soon the boys realize they want to attempt hypnosis on their principal to reverse this decision, as if it goes through their friendship will surely fall apart. What starts out as harmless fun though results in the creation of a real-life version of one of their favorite characters: Captain Underpants. Let's put it this way: this is a fun children's story and not really anything more than that. It's not groundbreaking and it's not anything especially new, but it is a very fun film. It recognizes that it shouldn't overstay it's welcome and tries to keep it short, sweet, and to the point which I'm very thankful for.
So, let's talk about some of the characters that we meet in this first Epic Movie. The main characters are George, voiced by Kevin Hart; and Harold, voiced by Thomas Middleditch. For me, this is where the movie shines, as it really feels like these two are having the time of their lives inside of these characters. They're lively and joyous and they just make you enjoy the movie even more. I give alot of praise to these two for finding a way to make their characters enjoyable, regardless of how generic they are overall. Following along this path is the titular character of Captain Underpants or his real persona of Principal Benjamin Krupp. Ed Helms voices this ruthless man who happens to also become the hero when he needs to be. Helms invests in this role deeply and you can feel that change in personality affecting the characters psyche. That type of depth to a character in a children's movie is unique.
Truthfully there's not really alot of special discussion that I want to have with the movie but if I was to focus on one thing it would most likely be the overall look of this movie. Being a 3D animated movie obviously doesn't make it feel like it's that unique, but there's something about the cartoonish and charming look that is presented that makes it feel more like those novels we all read as children. For me, I loved the use of color and just how much they matched the looks of the books and it just made it a better experience when watching. Make no mistake, this isn't a movie that's striving to reinvent the wheel or create a whole new world to explore, it's just trying to have a good time. That recognition of its overall goal makes it's that much better.
Reflecting on Captain Underpants, I enjoyed the experience I had but wasn't blown out of the water in any way. It's a children's film that's meant to focus on having a good time for them. It's not built for an adult to sit down and watch by themselves (which is yes what I do with all of my movies). Regardless, I would say this is one of those movies that fits well for a family night if you have young children and still want to have a good time with them. It's a fun hour and a half and you won't regret what you watched, it just won't be all that memorable or something you want to go back and watch over and over again.
