The animated superhero action comedy, DC League of Super-Pets directed by Jared Stern and Sam Levine, is based on a script co-written by Stern and John Whittington (The LEGO Batman Movie and The LEGO Ninjago Movie). DC League of Super-Pets stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Superman’s dog Krypto and Kevin Hart as the voice of Ace, the pup who is an animal shelter with a variety of other animals who have grown to become a sort of family. The central relationship is the friendship (and love) between Superman (John Krasinski) and Krypto (Johnson) since they were babies. Things begin to change when adult Superman wants Lois Lane (Olivia Wilde) to be his bride and Krypto doesn’t understand. If you have not looked up who are the actors that voice the other varied characters, you will be pleasantly surprised.
Superman decides his pet partner can use a play companion, but Krypto doesn’t understand animals that don’t have superpowers like him and won’t play/interact well with them. While looking for the new pet at the animal shelter, the audience is introduced to the shelter animals. The dog Ace (Hart); a potbellied pig; PB (Vanessa Bayer), who wants to be like Wonder Woman; Merton the turtle (Natasha Lyonne); a nervous squirrel named Chip (Diego Luna) and a guinea pig named Lulu (Kate McKinnon) who obviously has plans for herself without regard to the others. Ace constantly is trying to escape and promises the rest of the animals he will come for them to go live on a farm far away.
The good-natured bickering between Krypto (Johnson) and Ace (Hart) appears just as much as it does when these two actors are in their other films. Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live) is outstanding in her role, clearly relishing being the evil Lulu with plenty illusions of grandeur. She has stolen a piece of orange kryptonite to use for superpowers and accidentally, the rest of the shelter animals are zapped. The rest of the cast is fine in their respective roles, and the voice that also stands out for me is Diego Luna’s after hearing him in several films, including Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Elysium and Milk.
While Krypto, Ace and Lulu have stories of their past in the script, the supporting characters of PB, Chip and Merton are not as developed. It would have been better to have known more about them as the others, but it is understandable that the film would have been that much longer. There is a favorite scene where Ace relays his story with a family who misunderstood his actions and he landed in the animal shelter. Hart does so in a non- abrasive, more soft-spoken and sincere way. It is very touching.
DC League of Super Pets sets out the story for kids and families to learn who the characters are before heading into the actions by Lulu and others who try to destroy the world and superheroes. It has its level of warmth and charm to satisfy multiple levels of generations. With all the distancing during the pandemic and increased used of social media, the live connections in our lives have taken a step back. Those connections of friendship and love are important, and this is a great animated film with a good story to remind us of getting back to it.
Runtime: 101 minutes and is rated: PG for action, mild violence, language and rude humor.
DC League of Super-Pets is in theaters on Friday, July 29th.
Source: Warner Bros.