Review – Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is a movie that takes us into the mind of child.  Our main characters, George (voiced by Kevin Hart) and Harold (voiced by Thomas Middleditch) are a couple of imaginative, yet troublesome elementary students who love pranking people and writing a comic book called “Captain Underpants”.  The boys are inseparable and hang out every single moment of every single day.  However, standing in their way is Principal Krupp (voiced by Ed Helms) a strict curmudgeon who tries every attempt to catch George and Harold doing one of their pranks.  When he does, he threatens to separate the boys into different classes, causing the boys to panic and worry about the future of their friendship.  The boys then take a hypnosis ring they got from a cereal box and hypnotize Krupp and turn him into their comic book character, Captain Underpants.  Hijinks ensues, as the boys try to keep Captain Underpants, who is rather dimwitted and has no powers whatsoever, from causing complete chaos while also having a great time without their strict principal.  When an evil science teacher by the name of Dr. Poopypants (voiced by Nick Kroll) comes to the school and tries to rid all children of laughter, it is up to George, Harold, and Captain Underpants to save the day.

Captain Underpants?  Dr. Poopypants?  Turning a strict adult into a superhero?  Worried that you won’t be friends with your best friend because you’re in different classes even though you’re neighbors and share a tree house?  This is more about the inner-workings of a child’s mind more than Inside Out (2015).  And the best part about this?  It’s awesome.  I absolutely loved this movie.  It isn’t a groundbreaking piece of art or a revolutionary film in the animation genre, it is just good ol’ fashion fun.  I had a smile on my face from the opening scene that stayed the entire film.  All of the voice work is great, particularly by Hart and Middleditch.  Even through their voices, you feel their bond as friends.  Kroll also rocks a German accent like a boss as Poopypants and actually has a decent backstory to make him a formidable villain.  The animation is cool, using different methods like 2-D and even sock puppets to tell this story.  It’s really fun and unique and adds to the movie’s awesomeness.

Both kids and adults will like this movie (I like to think I’m a hybrid of both).  Kids will love the bright colors, the stupidity of Captain Underpants, and the potty humor.  Adults will like the cool action, the unique animation style, the voice work, and the smarter humor.  There are a lot of superhero movies coming out in 2017, make sure you take time out to see Captain Underpants.  You won’t regret it.

MY RATING – 3/4

Did you see Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.