Both cutesy and comic, this animated film finds a way for kids and families to experience these well-known characters, but older DC fans will enjoy the references to their beloved comic book tales too. “DC League of Super-Pets” isn’t trying to break down the genre or trouble the already well-established world, but rather, find some wiggle room to play with the familiar characters and insert some childlike wonder and earnestness.
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While the plot following Krypto finding his pack and saving the day is exceedingly formulaic and slightly tiresome with its predictable turns, Stern and Whittington fill the space around the structure with a plethora of absurdist humor and sharply written jokes, as well as the teasing self-awareness that marked both “The Lego Batman Movie” (arguably the best deconstruction of the Batman myth) and “The Lego Ninjago Movie.” McKinnon’s performance of the megalomaniacal Lulu proves to be one of the funniest in the film, while Lyonne’s Merton is a sleeper breakout. Krypto has to team up with the motley crew of Ace, pig PB (Bayer), elderly turtle Merton (Lyonne) and a chipmunk named Chip (Diego Luna) to save Superman and the Justice League, who have been captured by the gang of superpowered guinea pigs. That quandary resolves itself when a hairless guinea pig named Lulu (McKinnon), rescued from an animal testing lab run by Lex Luthor (Maron), and obsessed with world domination, uses a shard of orange kryptonite to grant herself and the other rescue animals superpowers. But when Krypto becomes jealous of Lois Lane (Olivia Wilde), Clark wonders about finding his best friend a best friend of his own. Boy and pup grow up together into man and dog, saving the world together in Metropolis. Stern and Whittington’s script imagines a world in which a young Kal-El (who later becomes Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent, voiced by John Krasinski) has a stowaway puppy in the pod that blasts off from the planet Krypton. Johnson and Hart have had quite the success in their odd couple pairing in films such as “Central Intelligence” and “Jumanji,” and “DC League of Super-Pets” relies on their lively banter to sell the enemies-to-friends story at the center of the film. Because moviegoing carries risks during this time, we remind readers to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by the CDC and local health officials.īut most importantly, it teams Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart in the lead roles of Krypto the Super-Dog and Ace, a rescue mutt. The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic.