Captain Underpants is an American 3D computer-animated superhero comedy film based on the children's novel series of the same name by Dav Pilkey. Produced by DreamWorks Animation and Scholastic Entertainment, and animated by Mikros Image, it is being directed by David Soren, and produced by Mireille Soria and Mark Swift. The screenplay is by Nicholas Stoller. Dav Pilkey will be the executive producer. It features the voices of Kevin Hart, Ed Helms, Thomas Middleditch, Nick Kroll, and Jordan Peele. It has been released on June 2, 2017.[1] This was the last DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox; post-2017 DWA films will be distributed by Universal Pictures, starting with How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World in 2019. In 2022, a sequel called The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants (aka. Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie 2) will be released.
DreamWorks Animation announced on October 19, 2011 that they had acquired the rights to make a film based on the series. DreamWorks had been attempting to secure the rights since the series was first published in 1997, but Pilkey wasn't interested.[2] However, after seeing "the subtle way that morality and personal responsibility were handled" in How to Train Your Dragon and the Kung Fu Panda movies, he realized a film could "properly convey what he was trying to do with the books".[3]
The film was a critical and box office success, grossing $125 million worldwide against it's $38 million budget.
Storyline
Captain Underpants is based on Dav Pilkey’s popular book series and centers around two scheming fourth graders, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who hypnotized their principal Mr. Krupp into think he is a kind hearted , elastic waistband super hero named Captain Underpants.
Plot
In Piqua, Ohio, George Beard and Harold Hutchins are two fourth-grade friends and next-door neighbors who often bring joy to their school, Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, by excessively pranking the cruel teachers, especially the mean-spirited principal Benjamin Krupp, which puts them at odds with him. The duo also create comic books about a superhero named Captain Underpants, a character who has superpowers and wears underwear and a cape. They sell these to their schoolmates through a comic company called Treehouse Comix Inc, housed in their treehouse. George and Harold's pranks come to an apparent end after they tamper with a toilet invention called the Turbo Toilet 2000 made by the school's local snitch, intellectual Melvin Sneedly. This causes Krupp to decide to separate the boys and annihilate their friendship.
To prevent this, George hypnotizes Krupp with a 3D Hypno Ring he received out of a cereal box; the boys first order their principal to act like a chicken and a monkey. Finally, they see that Krupp bears a resemblance to Captain Underpants without his toupee and command him to be Captain Underpants. The boys soon learn the severity of their acts when Captain Underpants begins causing some problems around Piqua and take him to their tree-house. There they discover that they can turn Captain Underpants back into Krupp by splashing water on him and can turn him back by snapping their fingers. Believing that Krupp will continue with his plan to separate them, they decide to settle with Captain Underpants but insist that he be dressed up as Krupp under the pretense of a secret identity to which Captain Underpants agrees. His sudden personality change even manages to attract the attention and affection of the school's shy lunch lady Edith.
Just when George and Harold believe that their troubles have ended, Jerome Horwitz Elementary School is visited by an odd, German-accented scientist named Professor Pee-Pee Diarrheastein Poopypants, Esq., or as he calls himself Professor P. Captain Underpants hires him to be a new teacher, but George and Harold are suspicious of him. As it turns out, Poopypants is seeking to get rid of laughter altogether due to the fact that people have made fun of his name for years. He recruits Melvin to help him as his brain is incapable of having fun.
Soon, Professor Poopypants tries to take over the town with a giant version of the Turbo Toilet 2000, fueled by the school cafeteria's rotten leftovers left out by Edith – and uses Melvin's brain to turn the children into glum, humorless zombies. Captain Underpants tries to stop the villain, but due to having no actual superpowers, is effortlessly defeated and thrown into the toilet. George and Harold are captured and turned into zombies, but are able to break the trance and escape when their laughter damages the Turbo Toilet 2000's computer. Upon consuming the mutated leftovers, Captain Underpants acquires superpowers and with George and Harold's help defeats and shrinks Poopypants, though he escapes shortly thereafter.
Knowing that they cannot control Captain Underpants, George and Harold destroy the Hypno Ring in an attempt to permanently change him back into Krupp. Feeling that Krupp would be nicer if he had friends, the boys set him and lovesick Edith up on a date, thus making Krupp have a change of heart; he returns the comics he took away from George and Harold, and even admits their comics are funny. However, the toxic waste from the Turbo Toilet 2000 transforms all the toilets into vicious monsters that attack the restaurant at which Mr. Krupp and Edith are dining. Upon snapping his fingers, Mr. Krupp once again becomes Captain Underpants, carrying George and Harold away to help him fight them, much to Edith's surprise and admiration.
In a mid-credits scene, George and Harold realize that the secretary that they put on the phone before by faking a $1 billion contest has been on the phone for the entire movie. The secretary accidentally hangs up and gets angry, while George and Harold make a new comic based on her reaction.
Cast
- Ed Helms as Mr. Krupp/Captain Underpants
- Kevin Hart as George Beard
- Thomas Middleditch as Harold Hutchins
- Nick Kroll as Professor Poopypants
- Kristen Schaal as Edith
- Jordan Peele as Melvin Sneedly
- Dee Dee Rescher as Ms. Tara Ribble, the 4th grade teacher.
- Brian Posehn as Mr. Rected, the guidance counselor.
- Grey DeLisle as Miss Anthrope, the school secretary.
- Fred Tatasciore as Mr. Meaner, the school gym teacher.
- Mel Rodriguez as Mr. Morty Fyde, the science teacher.
- David Soren as Tommy
- Susan Fitzker as Mrs. Dayken
- Lynnane Zager as Mrs. Beard
- Tiffany Lauren Bennicke as Sad Girl
- James Ryan as Mime
- Leslie David Baker as Officer McPiggly
- Sugar Lyn Beard as Goodie Two-Shoes Girl
- Lesley Nicol as Nobel Moderator
- Chris Miller as Nobel Audience Member
- Coco Soren as Balloon Girl
Gallery
Video
Trivia
- This is the final DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox. The next film in spring 2019, How to Train Your Dragon 3 will be the first DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by Universal Pictures.
- Despite being a box office success, this is DreamWorks Animation's lowest grossing CGI film.
- This is first DreamWorks Animation DVD to release in September.
- One of the things changed in the film was Ms. Anthrope was changed from Mr. Krupp's much-abused secretary to the school lunch lady and Mr. Krupp's love interest.
- This is the second DreamWorks animated production where the main characters deal with school life, the first being Trollhunters.
- While production of the film is done by DreamWorks Animation, the animation is done by Mikros Image.
- This movie is the 6th DreamWorks production that has been based on a book.
- The last DreamWorks Animation film to have a home media release to be distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
- The fifth DreamWorks Animation film to be released in June, after Chicken Run, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and How to Train Your Dragon 2.
- Due to the word "a**s" being said twice (which partially caused its PG rating, despite the fact that words like that would usually be said in films rated PG-13 or R), this is the first DreamWorks Animation film to use mild language since 2010's Megamind.
References
- ↑ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/schedule/?view=changes&p=.htm
- ↑ DreamWorks Animation Wins Auction For ‘Captain Underpants’ Feature Film Rights, Deadline Hollywood, October 19, 2011
- ↑ DreamWorks Animation Plans Captain Underpants, Coming Soon.net, October 19, 2011
External links
- Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
