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HERO THE BOOKDOG TV
The gags here come from TV coverage, which features jokey graphics underneath this or that extraordinary calamity suggesting a “wealthy person actually goes to jail” and the like. And the rescue critters find themselves endowed with super powers. When Lex Luthor (Marc Maron) comes up with yet another Kryptonite scheme to foil Superman, aka “Mister Outside Underpants,” Krypto has bigger problems than fretting over Lois Lane coming between him and his best buddy. They share their space with the hairless lab-experiment guinea pig Lulu ( Kate McKinnon) who harbors delusions of supervillain grandeur. Kevin Hart voices Ace, a bull-terrier mix and longtime inmate at a pet rescue store, waiting - like PB the pig ( Vanessa Bayer), Chip ( Diego Luna) the squirrel and Merton the sometimes potty-mouthed turtle ( Natasha Lyonne) - “to feel the warm embrace of a middle-aged person who lives alone.” Krypto’s a classic side-kick, there to carry half the load when an explosion knocks out a link of elevated train tracks, which always happens in superhero movies. Still, it’s something.ĭwayne Johnson voices Krypto, given his own cape and partnering duties with Superman ( John Krasinski) as part of their normal “Wake up, it’s WALK o’clock!” dog-owner relationship.
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That doesn’t atone for some of that milk-our-IP-for-every-cent-it-can-earn cynicism. But a couple of moments have a lovely and quite-unexpected pathos to them, about the relationships people - even superheroes - develop with companion animals.
HERO THE BOOKDOG MOVIE
It’s formulaic, rarely funny and seriously cynical for a movie aimed at small kids. They cooked up an origin story of how Superman’s dog, Krypto, came to Earth and how denizens of a rescue pet shop acquire similar super-powers and help Krypto help the Justice League out when Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Cyborg, Aquaman, Flash and Green Lantern get in a jam. They rounded up a big-name voice cast for this dive into the younger-kids-skewing “Super-Pets” comics. Warners owns the rights to everything in the DC Comic Book Universe, and if Marvel can make a mint over an animated “Spider-Man,” “Why not us?” That’s what the comic book adaptation “DC League of Super-Pets” is. There are movies born of obvious inspiration and perspiration on the part of all involved, and then there is “content,” manufactured to maximize potential profits from a piece of intellectual property.