Stephen Root

Dog Man (2025): Part Dog, Part Man, All Mid

Posted on by Jack Drees

“Dog Man” is directed by Peter Hastings, who also provides a few voices in the film, including the titular character. Joining him is a casting including Pete Davidson (The King of Staten Island, Big Time Adolescence), Lil Rel Howrey (The Carmichael Show, Get Out), Isla Fisher (Tag, Now You See Me), Poppy Liu (No Good Deed, Sunnyside), Stephen Root (Office Space, Finding Nemo), Billy Boyd (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Outlander), and Ricky Gervais (Night at the Museum, The Office). This film is set after an event so nonsensical it might just work… Sewing a dog’s head onto a man’s body so both sides can live on as a singular being. The film follows Dog Man’s mission to bring a halt to Petey the Cat’s desire to stop all do-gooders.

My interest in “Dog Man” was almost next to none. There was no way I saw myself paying my hard earned money to see something like this. The trailers barely did anything to motivate me to go see it. I enjoy a good animated flick, but there was nothing about “Dog Man” that made me think it would be worth my time. The humor did not seem to land with me. The general tone felt overly silly for my taste. That said, I ended up watching the film at a free screening a week before it came out. They say the best things in life are free right? Well, that is not always true. Because “Dog Man” is just okay.

“Dog Man” is the latest DreamWorks animated movie. I am rather fond of DreamWorks. I grew up watching several of their animated titles. In fact, I recently rewatched one of my childhood films, “Kung Fu Panda,” and found more layers to unpack from it that I probably did not realize were there when I was watching it for the first time at eight years old. Not every DreamWorks movie hits, but “Kung Fu Panda” packs a mighty punch. Similar to that movie, I can see kids watching “Dog Man” when they are young, revisiting it at a later age, and unpacking more of the film’s lessons. The problem is, I am wondering if they will enjoy the movie as much as they did when they were growing up. This film definitely has material that adults can appreciate, but I think the kids will end up latching onto this film more.

The film cleverly handles Dog Man’s communication. A lot of animated movies will personify animal characters, including dogs. Dog Man is an exception to the rule. Despite having man in his name, the communication style is strictly canine. He does not speak English. He only communicates through barks and howls. Sometimes it is a little over the top, but there are also times where it works. As for the character himself, he is a decently fleshed out center of the film. The story does a good job at meshing the personalities of the two characters we see during the first few minutes as they merge and become one.

You can kind of say this about other major studios too, but I feel like we are experiencing an era in DreamWorks history where each film delivers a different animation style than the previous one. Sure, “Kung Fu Panda 4” felt rather familiar to its predecessors. But if you look back at “The Bad Guys” or “The Wild Robot,” you would probably get a sense that you are looking at something that could only exist in its respective universe. Granted, those two properties are also based on books that have a distinctive style of their own. “Dog Man” is no exception. I saw one review that compared the animation style to “Captain Underpants,” another book series that also became a DreamWorks movie. Turns out, both book properties are by the same author, and “Dog Man” was originally teased in a “Captain Underpants” book. It only makes sense that the two productions look alike.

For the record, I did not watch the “Captain Underpants” movie. If I had to pinpoint something “Dog Man” reminds me of, and I do not know how many people would actually agree with me, the first thing that comes to mind is the “Backyard Sports” series of video games. Remember those? You had the animated characters with the crazy thin eyes? Every time I look at a character’s eyes in this film, I am convinced they were borrowed from a “Backyard Sports” game.

If you go into this movie expecting realism, you are going to be severely disappointed. I mean, come on. The movie is literally about what happens following the stitching of a dog and a man. The movie has a fast-paced, TikTok sort of style to it, to the point where just about every line of dialogue is incredibly piped up and quickly edited. It throws a lot of information in such a short runtime. The film does poke fun at certain tendencies we see in everyday life, especially from pets. We see Dog Man on the chase, completing his task, but he gets distracted by a squirrel. The main rivalry of the film is between a dog and a cat. The cat has a variety of evil plans to capture his rival, including the use of a vacuum cleaner. What is this, “Spaceballs?” The movie reminds me a bit of “The Mitchells vs. the Machines.” Because upon my first watch of both projects, I got the sense that there were so many blink you’ll miss it details to the point where you would have to watch the movie a second time to see what flew over your head. Thankfully, I understood the film’s basic plot, structure, and character motivations. It is not like the film is broken. The film is paced like “Run Lola Run” and contains perhaps a thousand times more instances of dialogue.

That said, even if I did have any interest in picking up on details I missed the first time, I simply do not see myself watching “Dog Man” again. The film is not for me. I do not have a lot of younger children in my social circles, but I have heard from people either in conversation or online that they know kids who love the books on which this film is based. Maybe they will enjoy the movie, but I am not sure how the film will age. The film has good lessons about being a role model and how some people emulate their parents, but it is surrounded by a visually obnoxious series of scenes that almost overwhelm the senses.

Speaking of details, that is also where the devil seems to lie. By that I mean, the devil probably came in and fiddled with them. Because there are parts of this film that are genuinely funny. In fact, there is one gag involving characters exchanging money that had me in stitches. It makes no sense but that is why it works. But going back to this film’s TikTok pace, that can most definitely apply to the humor as well. Forget a mile a minute, the humor in “Dog Man” flies at a kilometer per minute! Having so many jokes could be a good thing. Again, going back to “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” that film had me laughing nonstop and uncontrollably. That is a film where if I watched it with the windows open, I would probably get a noise complaint from a neighbor. They would probably think I’m a madman. But in the case of “Dog Man,” the movie shoves so much comedy into its script that a lot of it inevitably fails to stick the landing.

The film also has a noticeable amount of news exposition. This is common in a lot of movies and television, but I will give credit to the news sequences in this film having a unique flair to them. Granted, they did add to the film’s overall obnoxiousness, but I will not deny that Isla Fisher does a good job in her role as Sarah Hatoff, a news reporter with tons of screentime.

In the end, “Dog Man” is just fine. I am not a dog person, and I am barely a people person. But I can say, as a movie person, this is as middle of the road as animation gets. There is nothing remotely offensive about “Dog Man.” At times it is undoubtedly creative, but the film ultimately prioritizes quantity over quality. This is particularly noticeable when it comes to comedy. Having a lot of jokes is great, but it is better when all of them land. A noticeable number of them did not do that for me. This is not my least favorite DreamWorks film, but I am still going to give “Dog Man” a 5/10.

“Dog Man” is now playing in theaters everywhere. Tickets are available now.

© thelove.me

Thanks for reading this review! My next review is going to be for “Love Me,” the brand new sci-fi film starring Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun. Stay tuned! If you want to see this review and more from Scene Before, follow the blog either with an email or WordPress account! Also, check out the official Facebook page! I want to know, did you see “Dog Man?” What did you think about it? Or, do you have any experience with the “Dog Man” books? Are they any good? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Four Good Days (2020): Glenn Close and Mila Kunis Deliver Dramatic Excellence and Spot on Chemistry

Posted on by Jack Drees

“Four Good Days” is directed by Rodrigo Garcia (The Affair, In Treatment) and stars Glenn Close (The Wife, The Hillbilly Elegy), Mila Kunis (Family Guy, Bad Moms), and Stephen Root (The Man in the High Castle, Get Out) in a film where a mother and daughter reunite after an extended falling out. Molly (Kunis) commits to sobriety and hopes to do so with the help of an “opioid antagonist.” Throughout that time, she lives with her parents and receives assistance from her mother in trying to become clean.

I consider myself to be in a position that makes me feel rather blessed. I come from a family that does not have much of a history when it comes to drug abuse. Sure, I know people who smoke. I know people who drink. I’ll admit I maybe drink a little more soda than I should. But currently, I do not know of any scenario in my family where someone has a serious drug problem that has affected everyone around them, at least none that come to mind. Speaking of keeping things to keep in mind, I want you to keep this in mind because this sort of will have to do with my opinion regarding this film.

I saw this film over a week ago because I was intrigued by a clip I saw on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” during an interview with Mila Kunis, I will not go into everything just yet, but I walked out of the theater feeling floored. Between the performances of the two leads, the directions in which they took the story from point A to point B and so on, and even the notion that this was based on reality, I was amazed by “Four Good Days.”

Then I went to IMDb, and I noticed a bunch of low scores. I then wondered, “Why?”

Now, I am not trying to say that everyone should simply be swayed by what other people say on the Internet, but again, I have little experience when it comes to life involving drugs, which may be a good thing. But I noticed that there are some negative reviews suggesting that this movie would generalize people on drugs. In a way, I can kind of understand that. There is a movie that I refuse to watch to this day, even if it is the greatest film ever made, because of its supposed message regarding the autistic community, specifically Sia’s “Music.” And this involves not just content of the movie itself, but also some behind the scenes work.

Even so, having seen the negative reviews, I wondered if this movie was really as good as I said it was. The answer, yes, it is still great. As a story, this film is a goldmine from start to finish. Yes, it has cliches, and it is slightly predictable depending on what moment we are talking about, but the film succeeds in having me as a viewer root for Molly in order to follow a path to cleanliness. Like, REALLY root for her.

I also want to address Molly’s looks. Now, Mila Kunis is often described as one of the most attractive actresses on the planet. It is honestly ridiculous to consider how great she looks. But in this movie, you can see she’s had slight alterations to her appearance from oddly dyed hair to fake teeth. The movie did do a great job at making me think Mila Kunis was somebody else, because even in her best (non-Family Guy related) performances, I can still see a shade of her every now and then.

This film is based on a true story, which was captured in a newspaper article you can find through the Washington Post. The article, written by Eli Saslow and titled “‘How’s Amanda?’ A story of truth, lies and an American addiction,” is almost the same thing as the movie from start to finish. It shares a lot of the same quotes, events, some of the names almost interlink, but I also noticed that Amanda, at least in the pictures the article provides looks more like a person that really has not deteriorated much over the years. That is compared to Molly, played by Mila Kunis. This is where all the previously mentioned negative reviews come in, and I understand those. This may be the one glaring negative I have about the film, because other than this, “Four Good Days” sucks your soul out in perhaps the greatest way possible. The last time I think I’ve said this about a film was probably “Parasite” because that film is so well done and incomparable because of how dark it can get and how much it can satisfy you despite occasionally having a terrifying turn every step of the way.

One of the other shining positives of “Four Good Days” is the perspective of the parental side of things. I very much enjoyed seeing Glenn Close, who is excellent in this film, question herself on whether she is doing the right thing. Parenting is a difficult task on its own, and this movie takes it up to another level. We see at the beginning that the mother daughter duo are not quite connected at that point. The relationship evolves through the film as you may guess, but seeing the disconnect and somewhat forced attempt at making a connection at times between these two felt rather authentic. I can tell it is really hard for the mother, otherwise known as Deb, to reestablish a bond with a daughter who has obviously changed over the years.

In a way, this reminds me of films in recent years like “Green Book” or “Summerland” or “The Last Shift” because it has that tendency to highlight unlikely bonds and put two people together that would not go well together on paper. Except that in this case, it literally involves a family that was once close but eventually separated by an object.

There is a reason why I love “Four Good Days” so much, and potentially more than a lot of people, and that is because of the bond between the mother and daughter character. Again, I say this as someone who does not have much experience with the dangers of drugs or people whose lives are taken over by drugs along with the person taking drugs. This is a story that I am glad went from text media to visual media because it is honestly bombastic as a visual story. I felt immersed, I cared for everyone involved from the main to the supporting characters, and the drama that builds up towards the end gets into your head and starts to destroy it second by second.

In the end, “Four Good Days” is a movie that I loved the moment I saw it, questioned my love for it afterwards, then validated said love moments later. Time will have to tell as for whether this will make my top 10 movies of the year. Given how little I have seen so far, it is definitely one of the better ones. I would love to sit with someone who has experienced a situation like this, watch this movie with them, and see what they think of it, because I think their perspective could help me formulate a full on opinion of this film. Until then, as a story, this film is magnificent. As art, it is moving. It also delivers Mila Kunis’s best performance of her career. As a piece of entertainment, I could definitely watch this again. So for those reasons, I am going to give “Four Good Days” a 9/10.

“Four Good Days” is now playing in select theaters and will be available through VOD services such as Fios On Demand, VUDU, and Prime Video starting May 21st.

Thanks for reading this review! My next review, which I do not know when it will be posted, will be for “Wrath of Man” starring Jason Statham. But, I also wanted to announce that this June I plan to do another update on my Blu-ray collection. I enjoy doing these posts and I’ve glad to talk about this concept at least once over the past couple years.

Speaking of big announcements…

7 DAYS OF STAR WARS!

IT’S HAPPENING! IT’S REAL! THE REVIEWS ARE BEING WRITTEN! The circle will be complete this month! I’ve reviewed every mainstream “Star Wars” film since “Rogue One,” including Episodes VIII and IX, but I have yet to talk about the episodes that came before, I through VII. THIS SUNDAY, MAY 23rd, I will be releasing my review for “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.” And of course, every other film will follow. Episode II will be released on May 24th! Episode III will be released on May 25th! Episode IV on May 26th! Episode V on May 27th! Episode VI on May 28th! Episode VII on May 29th! I have legitimately been planning for a time to talk about these movies, and with Scene Before existing for over half a decade and next week being the 44th anniversary of the franchise, I’d say this is perfect timing. Stay tuned, follow Scene Before with an email or WordPress account, like the Facebook page, be updated, be in the know, and until then, may the force be with you. Emphasis on the may. I want to know, did you see “Four Good Days?” What did you think about it? Or, did you read the “How’s Amanda?” article, tell me your thoughts on that! Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!