Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie – REVIEW

I have to be honest, I was not looking forward to this movie at all. I simply went because I get opportunities to check out early screenings and I happen to have kids that wanted to see it. So I grabbed the kids and my wife and off we went and if for some reason this movie was going to suck, I had a chance to hang out with my family. Win, Win! The movie is directed by David Soren, he has done other projects for Dreamworks like Turbo and a Merry Madagascar and he even did some voice work for Boss Baby.
The movie is centered around two boys that are best friends played by Kevin hart and Thomas Middleditch. One is the artist and the other boy comes up with the stories. Aside from delving into fantasy and imagination, as kids should always do, they are also the “rowdy” “jokers” of their school by giving their teachers and especially their principle a hard time. They see this as an opportunity to save the other kids of the boring and pathetic life they have to endure while at school. Almost as if they are the heroes for their school that always gets in trouble.

The boys had met their match on their latest joke with the principal and were going to probably face their most dreaded and life changing punishment. So the only thing they could do was to hypnotize their principle to believe that he is their fantasy comic book superhero Captain Underpants. The movie for me was stolen by the boys, their dialogue, the witty remarks and real life experiences that any kid or parent who can remember what it was like being a kid. I laughed at many moments in the movie because I was able to relate to them, that is why this movie was a success for Dreamworks. I have to believe that when a story is written for a kids movie they have to take into consideration that adults are going to be there and need jokes in there for them. There was one that still stands out about teachers and their pay which every person at our screening laughed at because its true. Also the reactions of certain situations and how kids would behave during them were spot on.
In some cases the movie pushed the boundary to almost over the top, but they managed to hold back enough to not cross the line. They knew where the line was and never crossed it which was the right choice by the film makers, especially with a kids movie. The movie has your bathroom, potty jokes that kids and adults would laugh at, again never going to deep into something that parents would be embarrassed to be around their kids. Some of the best moments in life between adults and kids are in this movie, if you have a kid you have seen those moments and if you think back to your own childhood you will have a great nostalgic feeling of the “good times” in life.

The movie does focus on the kids imagination and because of that they bring their comic book ideas to life. Of course we need to have a villain and the hero that saves the day. The Villain is played by Nick Kroll who is the villainous Professor Poopypants and yes the jokes are all over the place with that. We get all of this making it an epic movie indeed. Ed Helms did great voicing Captain Underpants and Principle Krupp who at first I didn’t realize was him.
I recommend this movie to everyone because of the story, wit and many experiences that you will recognize. I can see several more of these movies coming out and with good word of mouth that could happen. These are the kinds of movies that somehow get missed by the public, I do no recall any special marketing for this movie. My kids mentioned they had seen commercials for it, but I never saw it coming and I was surprised especially since this is a Dreamworks movie. It is a 2GO movie from me to you, go see it with your kids and have a blast.