Film Review: CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS Will Not Disappoint

[Images: Dreamworks]

Captain Underpants (2017)
Written by Nicholas Stroller (based on the global sensation and bestselling book series by Dav Pilkey)
Directed by David Soren
Produced by Mark Swift and Mireilla Soria
89 minutes, rated PG

review by guest contributor Megan Christopher

Captain Underpants: An Epic Novel (in later editions of the book, it was changed to The First Epic Novel) was released in September 1997. Set in Piqua, Ohio, it told the story of fourth-grade best friends Harold Hutchins and George Beard, their nemesis Melvin Sneedly, their cruel principal Mr. Krupp, and his fun-but-rather-dumb alter ego Captain Underpants. Writer Dav Pilkey later added eleven more books to the series, as well as spin-off novels.

Harold and George are known pranksters in their school. They place whoopee cushions on their teachers’ seats, cause science projects to malfunction, and rig the school intercom system to play Weird Al Yankovic songs on full volume. Their true passion, though, is their comic book company, Treehouse Comix Inc. Many heroes and villains star in their comics, but their favorite is the toilet-humor-wrought ‘Amazing Captain Underpants’. Principal Krupp tries to catch the boys amid their pranks, but instead is unwittingly hypnotized. Thus the child-hating principle strips down to his skivvies, dons a red window curtain as his cape, and becomes the boys’ most beloved hero: Captain Underpants. However, as Mr. Krupp/Captain Underpants doesn’t actually have any superpowers, his heist-busting abilities are initially a little underwhelming.

But what about the movie? Pilkey’s characters beautifully came to life in the film version, using Pilkey’s original illustration style to keep it familiar for the book readers. Most of the story is told by Harold (Thomas Middleditch) and George (Kevin Hart), the imaginative and lovable mischief-makers that want to make their classmates laugh in the otherwise dreary, prison-like Jerome Horowitz Elementary School. Mr. Krupp (Ed Helms) establishes his bad-guy cred early on, threatening to send them to different classrooms if he catches them in one of their notorious pranks. The boys decide that maybe they need to hang it up for a while so they don’t have to suffer separation.

Jump to Melvin (Jordan Peele) giving a full-day presentation of inventions that he designed. Harold and George, seeing Mr. Krupp sleeping through the presentation, sneak on stage and force Melvin’s Turbo Toilet 2000 to malfunction, shooting toilet paper rolls and confetti into the auditorium. Their classmates cheer, waking Mr. Krupp. They soon find that one of Melvin’s inventions, a little toy turtle that disguised a nanny cam, caught them in the act. As Mr. Krupp goes to sign the papers to move them into different classrooms, George jumps up on the desk with his 3D Hypno-Ring and out comes Captain Underpants. “TRA-LA-LAAA!” The boys are so excited to have their super hero standing before them — until he jumps out the window to go fight crime.

The toilet humor continues when mad scientist Professor Pippy Pee-Pee Diarrheastein Poopypants (yes, really) (Nick Kroll) – also known as Professor P – comes to fill the school’s opening for a science teacher. George and Harold are suspicious of him because he openly states how much he hates children and laughter. Later on, it’s revealed that he was constantly laughed at because of his ridiculous name. After starring in the boys’ latest comic, Professor P recruits Melvin and his Turbo Toilet 2000 to destroy the children’s laughter once and for all.

I’ll state for the record that Ed Helms was a perfect casting move for Mr. Krupp/Captain Underpants. Mr. Krupp’s almost gravelly sounding groans and violent screaming were as terrifying as I imagined, reading the books as a kid. As Captain Underpants, his consistent overly dramatic hero voice was hilarious, making his inaccurate observations and incredibly dimwitted comments sound as authentic as you’d expect.

I won’t tell you the ending, but here’s what I will say this much: definitely take your kids to see this one. I usually protest movies when the main expectation is poop and fart jokes for an hour and a half, but this was great. As an avid book reader, I was prepared to be disappointed, but was remarkably pleased. My eight-year old, who normally gets bored halfway through movies, was engaged the entire time. The plot is consistent, the toilet-jokes are surprisingly low-key compared to most other kids’ movies (even if they are more literal), and the characters are wonderful. Did they stick to the exact plot from the book? No. However, I think that readers – whether you’re an adult who read it as a kid or kids that are reading the books now – will be thrilled with this movie.

Captain Underpants opens June 2, 2017.

Megan Christopher is based in the Kansas City Metro and enjoys reading, anime, Harry Potter, and anything else that will get her imagination fired up. Megan is a frequent sounding board for another SciFi4Me.com contributor, Jennifer Wise, and was delighted to have this opportunity with SciFi4Me.