Im not going to say my nine-year-old daughter is a better film critic than I am.First of all, canyou imagine the disses social media would send me way if I admitted that? Plus, I dont think thats necessarily true. (You should see what she wrote about Last Year at Marienbad. She didnt get it at all!)Nevertheless, Ive reached a point in my life where I am far more interested in my daughters thoughts about kids movies than my own. She is the target audience for these films, not me, and shes also an extremely thoughtful and articulate little person. In 2023 (when she was still only seven) I realized our post-movie conversations werebecoming far more enjoyable than the films we talked about. So I began turning them into articles, starting with Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, and continuing through all the 2024 kids movies we saw together (along with her younger sister) like Despicable Me 4, Wicked, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3.I was especially interested in her thoughts on the Dog Man movie because we have read every single Dog Man book together. For a long stretch of 2023 and 2024, they were our bedtime stories of choice. The Dog Man graphic novels by artist Dav Pilkey are filled with juvenile humor and silly jokes and surprisingly personal messages about goodness and kindness and pain. I read all the Dog Mansout loud to the kids, and they liked them so much theyve since gone back and re-read most of them on their own. They genuinely love Dog Man.So after the press screening of the Dog Man movie, over some hot dogs at Grays Papaya, we discussed our personal reactions to the film. Did it capture the flavor of the books? Did it get anything wrong? What does this movie have to say about do-gooders and bad guys?At times the conversation involved my nine-year-old savagely roasting me formy stupidity. (Im used to that at this point, sadly.) At others, it evolved into a surprisingly serious discussion about grief and loss. What follows is a very lightly edited transcript of what was said.Dog ManUniversalloading...READ MORE: The Best Movies to Show Kids to Get Them Hooked on FilmDAD: So what did you think of the movie?It was super good.But was it supa good?Supa.[Laughs]Did you think that they did a good job capturing the books?Yeah. They, like, they showed it all. Everything that was important. They might have left a few things out, like seeing more of Lil Peteys grandpa. The books, as you read them, he comes up a lot. But I liked it. Its really good.Yeah, I liked how they captured the feel of the books. It looked like the books, they had some dialogue straight from the books. Is your hot dog okay? Youre not eating.Yeah. Its just hot.Oh okay. I also liked they had so many of the characters. They really crammed a lot of the characters from many books into one movie. Lil Petey wasnt in the first couple novels. 80-HD wasnt in the first couple novels.The first two books were all about Dog Man.Right.And then Lil Petey comes along and steals the show. I feel like once Lil Petey comes along he makes everything better.Hes kind of the best character.[with mouth full of hot dog] Mmmhmm. [imitating Lil Petey] Whyyyyyyyy?They did that multiple times. One of our favorite running gags from the books.Yeah, thats really funny.Not when you do it to me.Yes it is. You know it is.Okay, its a little funny.UniversalUniversalloading...Now when we read the books, we do our own voices for all the characters. I always thought I did a very good Petey especially. What did you think of the voices in the film? Were they good?A few of the characters had accents. Like Sarah Hatoff. [Voiced by Isla Fisher]And Flippy. [Voiced by Ricky Gervais]I feel like Peteys voice was a little different than how I imagined it. But in the books you kind of make up the characters voice yourself. It doesnt have to be the exact same as how youd do it. I think they did a really good job. I liked Chief [voiced by Lil Rel Howery] a lot.You liked Chiefs voice?In every book, Dog Man jumps on Chief and Chiefs always like No, get off me! Bad Dog Man!And that was in the movie too.I really liked that.One question I had was about Living Spray. In the film, there is this Living Spray factory where they make some kind of Living Spray which brings things to life. And of course then it brings all kinds of evil monsters to life; it brings Flippy to life and then it even brings buildings to life. Why would you make Living Spray?! All it does is create monsters that destroy the city! Isnt that a bad idea?[sigh] Dad. This is a book, a made-up book. Living Spray isnt real.Oh.Also, what else would make Flippy alive?Thats true.Speaking of Flippy, in the beginning they dont really talk about Flippy [getting more animated]Just be careful. Dont, dont [waves hot dog more dramatically] Hes a dead fish, but like Youre waving around your hot dog.I just dont want you to drop it before you can finish it.[Puts down hot dog] They dont even explain what happened to Flippy.They sort of explain it, but I agree with you; that was a little hard to follow. They just kind of rush through who Flippy is. He needed his own movie, instead of being part of a movie where hes thrown in as the bad guy as an afterthought. Its like if you didnt read the books, its kind of like What?[At this point, her mouth was entirely full of hot dog, but I thinkthat is what she was trying to say.]Dog ManUniversalloading...Right ... if you didnt read the books, I do think a lot of Dog Man would be a little confusing. The movie flies very fast through a lot of plot and characters. Heres something I feel, and I want your opinion about it. Even though its called Dog Man, Dog Man is not the best character. Is that fair? I feel like Petey is much more interesting.Petey and Lil Petey. I think this is because you cant always see how Dog Man is changing.Well, he cant talk.Yes. But he howls. He whimpers. You can see how hes feeling. But seeing a character whos gone through so much...Sure, Dog Man was a man who had his head replaced with the head of a dog. Thats a lot to go through, youre right.No! I mean how much Petey has gone through.Oh.His Dad left him!Yes, youre right. Thats a lot to go through also. Hes a tragic figure.His story is so hard. Not every part is happy, but its so interesting to see a character like that. And Lil Petey, he is a do-gooder. Hes very heroic and generous. I think its just called Dog Man because the first book was all about him.Dog ManUniversalloading...One big difference I noticed between the books and the movies is that the books have whats called a framing story where you see that Dog Man is actually a comic book thats written by these two kids, George and Harold. The movies ignore that aspect completely. Did it bother you that that wasnt a part of the movie at all?Well, I didnt read the Captain Underpants books until after I read Dog Man. I didnt really care about the George and Harold part. [George and Harold were introduced in the Captain Underpantsbooks.] Its a Dog Man movie. What would they even include? Like, George and Harold flipping pages?They could. It would explain why the world of Dog Man is so silly and strange and kid-like.Meh. Its great as a movie.So you didnt miss them. No. The story is really the thing that I care about. I dont mind if George and Harold arent there. When I read the books, I sometimes might skip the beginning [Exaggerated gasp] You ... skipped ... the George and Harold parts, didnt you?!?[Laughs] Well...Youre in big trouble.When we read it all together the first time, we definitely read that stuff. But now that Im familiar with them, and its not important to the story, I might skip ahead.So thats why they could cut them out.Yeah, or maybe they said This movie is long enough.Dog ManUniversalloading...Did you have a favorite part in the movie?I liked it all.You liked it all?I really liked it when Lil Petey says Whyyyyyyy? I feel like thats Lil Peteys catchphrase.Is there any part of the movie you didnt like?I didnt like how it didnt explain Flippy at all. What did you think about the movie? You keep asking me what I thought.I liked the movie fine when it started, but I thought once they introduced Lil Petey it got better. Kind of like the books, actually. The books are cute at first, but once Lil Petey comes along and Petey becomes a more complicated character, then theyre not just silly or funny they also have a nice message. Like, did you notice the thing that Lil Petey uses to help save the day? Im not sure...What does he always give to people to cheer them up?[Laughs] Comic books.Comic books are like a secret weapon in this movie. And I think thats really cool, that the thing that helps people deal with their problems, or figure out their lives, or understand how other people feel, are these comics. I love that idea that these seemingly silly little comics can actually help people. Because when I was a kid, thats what comics were for me. They helped me a lot. And it doesnt have to be a comic; a movie can do that, a book can do that. But because Dog Man is based on these very sweet comics for kids, that idea works even better.I feel like now were getting into the lessons of the movie. Another lesson that shows up that I really like is they dont really explain this in the movie but its in the book but Peteys mom died when he was young and his dad leaves him, and he gets kind of lonely and its hard for him. Its hard when people leave you. But we have to move on in life, and we have to know that these things happen and the memories of our loved ones are never going to be gone.UniversalUniversalloading...Thats very true. Is there a character that you relate to or you feel like was close to who you are and how you feel?I feel like everyone can relate to Petey in some way, where they might lose someone or something that is very close to them and it changes them in a negative way. And I feel like that happens to all of us at some point in our life, where someones very close to us, and something happens to them. We can all relate to that. And its okay to feel the things we feel.I agree with you. It is okay to feel the things we feel. Feelings are important. Okay, is there a character who reminds you of me?Chief.Chief? Why Chief?Hes so funny and youre so funny.Oh, thank you. Its not because he yells at Dog Man all the time?He doesnt yell at him all the time. I feel like its more of a protective thing.Ah. Well then maybe he is like me. Maybe Chief is yelling at Dog Man because he loves him very much.You and mom tell me and my sister things like No no no, you cant do that! Thats not safe! And we sometimes think thats unfair. But I kind of feel like thats for our safety?Now youre getting it.Get our free mobile appThe Scariest Kids Movies in History