As I like to say, Hollywood doesn't make enough movies about hybrid human/canine crimefighters! Actually, I never say that but let's discuss 2025's Dog Man anyway.

In Ohkay City, Police Officer Knight (voiced by Peter Hastings) and his furry pal Greg (also Hastings) often combat villainous schemes enacted by anthropomorphic cat Petey (Pete Davidson). When Petey's bomb explodes and severely injures both Greg and Officer Knight, surgeons graft the dog's head onto the human's body.

Despite this new hybrid status, the cop now known as "Dog Man" continues his battles against Petey's unrelenting naughtiness. He also works to come to terms with his status as an unusual creature.

Going into Dog Man, I felt heavily reminded of 2017's Captain Underpants. Both came based on popular children's books, both offered somewhat similar visual styles, and both boasted a frantic comedy energy that threw rapid-fire gags and action at the viewer.

Both films also come from the same “cinematic universe”. In Underpants, young characters George and Harold create their own comics, and Dog Man exists as one of their titles.

I really liked Underpants and the trailers for Dog Man seemed exceedingly promising, as they implied a clever movie with lots of humor that would amuse adults as well as kids. What could go wrong?

Nothing, really, as I can't identify anything here that fails. However, Dog Man also just doesn't hit the mark as I hoped.

Some of this stems from my feeling it just enters "tries too hard" mode too much of the time. Dog Man comes with a fairly frantic vibe that rarely gives the viewer a moment to soak in the gags.

Granted, I suspect a lot of this emulates the source, but writer/director Hastings doesn’t adapt to the different format. A comic book can be taken in at the reader’s pace, whereas a viewer lacks any control over how a movie progresses.

I think Underpants fared better than Dog Man as well due to a superior screenwriter. While his filmography comes littered with duds, Underpants author Nicholas Stoller nonetheless displays strong talent at times.

Again, Hastings doesn’t pen a bad script. I just think he can’t find the consistent sense of cleverness and wit that Stoller generated for Underpants.

I do like the artistic style, as Dog Man offers a good compromise between the intentionally crude drawings of the original comics and the slick vibe of CG cartoons. The film even makes the animation a bit stiff to remind us of the “flipbook” animation kids like to draw in their notebooks.

We also find a fine cast. In addition to those named, we hear from Isla Fisher, Stephen Root, Lil Rel Howery, Laraine Newman, Ricky Gervais and others, all of whom bring charm to their parts.

Actually, maybe my favorite performance comes from an amateur: Lucas Hopkins Calderone as Petey’s clone Li’l Petey. The son of the editor, Calderone initially just performed the lines as scratch recordings.

However, Calderone did so well that the filmmakers kept him, and they made the right choice. Calderone gives off a delightful sense of the character’s innocence but also reads the dialogue well and gives the material a real performance.

Ultimately, I can’t complain too much about Dog Man, as it musters decent entertainment across its 89 minutes. However, I simply expected something more from it, so it delivers sporadic pleasures without as much real cleverness as I hoped to find.

Dog Man appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. We got a terrific presentation here.

Sharpness felt appropriate. No softness materialized, so the image felt tight and concise.

At least no issues with jaggies or shimmering occurred, and edge haloes were absent. Of course, the image lacked any print flaws, so it remained clean at all times.

Colors became a strong element. The movie went with a somewhat pastel palette, and it displayed consistently vivid hues within its chosen range.

Blacks were dense and tight, and shadows were fine. Overall, this was a great-looking Blu-ray.

In addition, the film’s Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack opened up the film in a satisfying manner. Though the mix didn’t give us wall-to-wall theatrics, it managed to use the spectrum well.

A lot of directional dialogue came along for the ride. Movement showed smooth qualities as well.

As expected, the film’s action sequences boasted nice breadth and activity, and these elements created a fine sense of involvement. While the soundscape didn’t stun us on a frequent basis, it provided more than enough to succeed.

Audio quality seemed consistently solid. Speech appeared natural and distinctive, so no edginess or other issues marred the dialogue.

Music sounded warm and full, while effects showed good clarity and accuracy. When necessary, bass response came across as deep and tight. All of this lifted the track to “B+” status.

As we shift to extras, we launch with an audio commentary from writer/director/actor Peter Hastings. He brings a running, screen-specific look at the source and its adaptation, story and characters, cast and performances, visual design and animation, influences/references, music, editing, and connected domains.

Overall, Hastings gives us a solid chat. He touches on a nice variety of subjects and does so in a manner that allows the track to move well and keep us engaged.

Eight Deleted/Extended Scenes occupy a total of 10 minutes, 35 seconds. That includes intros from Hastings.

These mix extensions and some new segments, such as some related to Petey’s robbery at the “Bank of Jim”. We get some decent clips but nothing terrific.

A few featurettes follow, and Meet the Pack runs five minutes, 15 seconds. It comes with remarks from Hastings, editor Hoppy Hopkins, producer Karen Foster, and actors Pete Davison, Ricky Gervais, Lil Rel Howery, Luenell, and Isla Fisher.

We get thoughts about cast, characters and performances. The comments don’t add lots, but we get some enjoyable glimpses of the actors in the studio.

The Making of Dog Man goes for five minutes, 43 seconds. It brings statements from Davison, Hastings, Fisher, Howery, Gervais, head of story Anthony Zierhut, art director Christopher Zibach, head of character animation John Hill, and production designer Nate Wragg.

This one boasts a general overview of the production. It seems basic but probably useful for kids who don’t know much about how animated flicks get made.

Two similar segments ensue via Howl to Draw (12:24) and Howl to Make Doughnuts for Dogs (5:24). As implied, the first offers a tutorial on how to sketch four movie characters, while the second teaches us how to create goodies for pooches.

Head of Story Anthony Zierhut leads “Draw”, while an anonymous narrator covers “Make”. Both are cute and probably fun for kids, and “Draw” brings some insights from Zierhut about design choices.

Because it throws a lot at the screen, Dog Man manages to create moderate entertainment. However, it lacks the clever spark of better animated flicks so it ends up as a minor disappointment. The Blu-ray boasts excellent visuals, solid audio and a reasonable roster of bonus materials. As much as I wanted to love Dog Man, the final product only sporadically hit the mark.