"Oh, oh! Here we go again!" I used to read these books when I was younger. They were really funny, self-aware and cleverly written. I still have the first ten books on my shelf. The story of a mean principal who gets hypnotized into believing he's a superhero is hilarious to me. Especially when he doesn't even know that whenever you snap your fingers he instantly transforms into the hero. The fact that there was a movie coming out made me skeptic. I was afraid the material wouldn't translate well to the screen. Now it turns out that I was sort of right and wrong. I'm just gonna start by saying that Ed Helms' portrayal of Mr. Krupp/Captain Underpants is marvelous! Easily the best part of the movie. I was so happy to see the character done right and leap out of the pages. That being said.. I still have a lot of problems with the rest of the movie.
Our main characters, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, should not have been voiced by adults (Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch). It's so distracting to me that they're not even hiding the fact that they aren't voiced by actual kids. That was a huge mistake. I can be pretty forgiving for making changes while adapting the source material. You do it for different reasons of course, but here I found myself thinking "That wasn't in the books" in every other scene. I could go on and on about what the changed from the books, but I would be writing and entire essay if I mentioned it all. The point is that I'm not a fan of how they didn't follow them more accurately. That grounded school feeling where you need humor and levity gets lost completely when everything is so highly over exaggerated or energized. George and Harold shouldn't be driving a construction work crane all of a sudden. They're kids! They use their skateboards when they chase Captain Underpants. Besides, they were never happy with their decision of making their principal become a hero. It's something they regret and in the end must take responsibility for. Here it's all a big joke with them snapping their fingers and throwing water on him constantly. That's not how it goes. They only make him become the hero when they have no other choice. And whenever that happens it's a tough decision because they know they don't like the actual Krupp to be in danger. There are instances were we get good adaptations of moments from the books. And to be honest I did feel some nostalgia at times.
The introduction of the villain is painfully wrong. Professor P. shows up as a mad evil scientist who even announces to people that he is evil. He was never my favorite villain from the books, but at least you understood why he does become a criminal. He is a brilliant scientist with inventions that can help mankind. But everyone laughs at his ridiculous name, which is such a pain because nobody can take him seriously. You genuinely feel that frustration and I remember feeling bad for him while reading the books. He wants to be a teacher so he can inspire students and be good to them. It's a very nice moment because you have been following his story up until that point. And all you want is for him is to find some happiness sharing his science. So when all the kids at school can't stop laughing at his name he snaps and and goes insane. The thing is that you can sort of root for him. You feel the same pain. In the movie he starts out as already wanting to do evil things. Like, what's his deal? I cannot understand his motivation here. It's just a plain cartoon bad guy. plot. It's so poorly adapted that I started to give up on the whole movie.
I was so happy to see the Flip-o-Rama used towards the third act. That was actually pretty great. You see, the problems I have are mixed. I will get an instance of nice nostalgia by seeing something from the books come to life. But then I will see something so exaggerated, dumb and far from the source material that I have no option but to face palm. Trust me, I had to do that many times. This movie is a test on my patience. How much bad stuff can I endure to see some actual good things? Well, I was gonna give it a better pass until the end happened. Krupp gets real super powers, but not at all like he does in the third book. Which made me so irritated because that's my favorite of the series and now I can never see it be done properly on screen! Noo!!! I'm upset about that. You had a simple job of adapting these fun books, but you had to turn it into a mess. The glimmers of hope I see is everything to do with the Captain Underpants character. He is so well realized that I got some hope that the entire movie would be good. I'm vastly disappointed. It should have been toned down a lot. Less weird exaggerated jokes with tired attempts at song numbers. I'm giving it credit where it's due and that's for the character designs, the comic book parts, breaking the fourth wall/poking fun at itself and for whenever they didn't stray away from what happens in the books. The worst part is that I could see a good version of this movie at occasions, but it wasn't enough. Dav Pilkey deserves way better.
Our main characters, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, should not have been voiced by adults (Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch). It's so distracting to me that they're not even hiding the fact that they aren't voiced by actual kids. That was a huge mistake. I can be pretty forgiving for making changes while adapting the source material. You do it for different reasons of course, but here I found myself thinking "That wasn't in the books" in every other scene. I could go on and on about what the changed from the books, but I would be writing and entire essay if I mentioned it all. The point is that I'm not a fan of how they didn't follow them more accurately. That grounded school feeling where you need humor and levity gets lost completely when everything is so highly over exaggerated or energized. George and Harold shouldn't be driving a construction work crane all of a sudden. They're kids! They use their skateboards when they chase Captain Underpants. Besides, they were never happy with their decision of making their principal become a hero. It's something they regret and in the end must take responsibility for. Here it's all a big joke with them snapping their fingers and throwing water on him constantly. That's not how it goes. They only make him become the hero when they have no other choice. And whenever that happens it's a tough decision because they know they don't like the actual Krupp to be in danger. There are instances were we get good adaptations of moments from the books. And to be honest I did feel some nostalgia at times.
The introduction of the villain is painfully wrong. Professor P. shows up as a mad evil scientist who even announces to people that he is evil. He was never my favorite villain from the books, but at least you understood why he does become a criminal. He is a brilliant scientist with inventions that can help mankind. But everyone laughs at his ridiculous name, which is such a pain because nobody can take him seriously. You genuinely feel that frustration and I remember feeling bad for him while reading the books. He wants to be a teacher so he can inspire students and be good to them. It's a very nice moment because you have been following his story up until that point. And all you want is for him is to find some happiness sharing his science. So when all the kids at school can't stop laughing at his name he snaps and and goes insane. The thing is that you can sort of root for him. You feel the same pain. In the movie he starts out as already wanting to do evil things. Like, what's his deal? I cannot understand his motivation here. It's just a plain cartoon bad guy. plot. It's so poorly adapted that I started to give up on the whole movie.
I was so happy to see the Flip-o-Rama used towards the third act. That was actually pretty great. You see, the problems I have are mixed. I will get an instance of nice nostalgia by seeing something from the books come to life. But then I will see something so exaggerated, dumb and far from the source material that I have no option but to face palm. Trust me, I had to do that many times. This movie is a test on my patience. How much bad stuff can I endure to see some actual good things? Well, I was gonna give it a better pass until the end happened. Krupp gets real super powers, but not at all like he does in the third book. Which made me so irritated because that's my favorite of the series and now I can never see it be done properly on screen! Noo!!! I'm upset about that. You had a simple job of adapting these fun books, but you had to turn it into a mess. The glimmers of hope I see is everything to do with the Captain Underpants character. He is so well realized that I got some hope that the entire movie would be good. I'm vastly disappointed. It should have been toned down a lot. Less weird exaggerated jokes with tired attempts at song numbers. I'm giving it credit where it's due and that's for the character designs, the comic book parts, breaking the fourth wall/poking fun at itself and for whenever they didn't stray away from what happens in the books. The worst part is that I could see a good version of this movie at occasions, but it wasn't enough. Dav Pilkey deserves way better.