Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

Dav Pilkey's hugely popular series of children's books about an obese superpower-endowed dimwit who rocks tighty-whities and a red cape inspired this frantic, colorful animated film that sports a subtitle clearly indicating the hopeful start of a franchise. The first third, devoted to fairly ordinary elementary-school high-jinks, is the best, focusing on George (voiced by Kevin Hart) and Harold (Thomas Middleditch), incorrigible fourth-grade pranksters who drive Principal Krupp (Ed Helms) crazy. Using a hypnotic ring, George turns Krupp into the Captain, and the movie morphs into a tepid spoof of the superhero genre as arch-villain Professor Pippy P. Poopypants (Nick Kroll)—a character name that indicates the level of humor found here—aims to take over the town with a giant robo-toilet. The amusing set-up gives way to tedious action featuring the stumblebum Captain and Professor P., whose one-liners are surprisingly flat. The CGI animation is fine and the voice work enthusiastic, but the action drags on and on with material that seems better suited to a kids' cable series than a feature-length movie. Still, Pilkey's books have a large fan base, so this should be considered a strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include the behind-the-scenes segments “The Captain Underpants Guide to Being a Hero” (4 min.) and “The Professor Poopypants (Totally Original and Supercool) Guide to Being a Villain” (4 min.), deleted scenes (11 min.), a motion comic (3 min.), “A Friend Like You” lyric video by Andy Grammer (4 min.), Captain Underpants Lyric Video by “Weird Al” Yankovic (2 min.), a “Tighty-Whitey Q&A With the Stars” (2 min.), a “Kevin Hart and Ed Helms Surprise Fans” cast segment (2 min.), brief “Lunch Lady PSA with Kristen Schaal” and “Sock Puppets Real Stars” spoofs, and galleries. Bottom line: a decent extras package for an uneven kid's flick.] (F. Swietek)