126.
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie
5/10
Don't judge, I said I would try to see as many movies as possible and this includes the kid's ones to I suppose. This movie is based on a book series that came out and was released on its 20th anniversary. I never read the books myself so I had no idea what I was getting myself into and once the children in the cinema calmed down, I could come to my senses and release how many kid's toys adverts are actually on before films based for the younger audience. I didn't expect the cast of Kevin Hart and Ed Helms to be included, so that's a plus point. Let's don our tight- whities and hope we don't get a wedgie.
See are set on a story around two school friends, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who start by telling us the story of one of their comics. It's an origin story to the superhero that they have created, Captain Underpants. It's kind of like Superman, as the origin planet was set to blow, the parents of the hero, sent their son to Earth for safety. As they finish, their issue is ripped up by their Principal, Mr Krupp. The scene freezes as the little lads break the forth wall and address the audience, explaining who Krupp is and that he never wants people to have fun. The boys are brought to his office and although he lacks evidence for the pranks that they have recently pulled, he makes a promise that it'll all be coming to an end. As the two lads head back to class, they explain that they only do it to cheers up the miserable students. We see one boy climb into his locker to hide from the day, as other pupils mope around slowly. Getting to class, they both sit behind the nerdy, teacher's pet, who has no sense of humour at all and instead of laughing, has to constantly ask what is funny. Over the tannoy system, Krupp announces that Saturday, at 8am, there shall be an invention convention in the school and all must attend. They should be done by 9 though, 9pm. Everyone slams their head onto their desks, except Melvin, who couldn't be happier.
The boys finish school and head straight to their treehouse, which is pretty much a shrine for their superhero. They delve back into how they first became friends, in kindergarten, when the teacher spoke about Uranus and called it a 'gas giant' the two burst out laughing and became lifelong friends. The two finally leave as the sun goes down and we see that the two friends live next door to each other. Saturday comes and both as singing in their houses about how much they love the day. Things they love to do, birds are signing, and the sun is shining in this cut screen montage, until their mothers tell them to get dressed for school. In this instant, the rain pours down and everything takes a turn for the worse. All the pupils are seen walking in pairs, into the school doors, like some prison scene and their feet are going in rhythm. Melvin is the only one with invention on the stage and the rest of the pupils are already half asleep. Hal way through and even Mr Krupp is asleep, so the boys take note and plan some pranks to living the room up. Heading onto stage to tamper with Melvin's turbo toilet, it begins shooting toilet roll across everyone as the music begins to kick in. We even seen one of the inventions, a turtle, turn its head to look at the boys playing the prank. I think that's a camera. The boys think their work is done, that's until they are called into Krupp's office. Melvin strolls in like a kid who just won a lifetime of candy and pulls the head off the Turtle, which he has name the Tattle Turtle. It's a nanny cam and clearly shows the two lads messing with the toilet. Krupp finally has his evidence and brings out some forms to transfer one of them to a different class, keeping them apart as friends. Harold freaks out and imagines a world where both are sent to other ends of the corridor and they awkwardly bump into each other in the mall, but don't recognise each other anymore. Until a giant version of the turtle walks in and starts shooting lasers with robots fighting each other. Kid's imaginations run wild. He's displaying these thoughts with the use of his socks as puppets. They both agree that they need to stop anything from happening.
At school, the boys are waiting to sneak into Krupp's office, they hide in a store room, as Krupp and the diner lady Edith have an awkward exchange and an attempt at flirting. As he follows her down the corridor, the boys make a break for the office but the secretary enters before they have the chance, so they head back to the closet and distract her by calling her phone saying that she was won money but she needs to go on hold. Finally getting in, and to a filing cabinet that holds their personal files and confiscated toys. One toy is a hypno-ring, which we are shown a montage about the fact that they were won in a cereal box. Krupp walks in and catches them in act. Out of desperation, George uses the rig and to their surprise is actually works. Having a bit of fun, turning him into animals, the boys finally decide to turn him into their greatest creation, Captain Underpants. Ripping off his clothes, and wrapping the curtain around his neck as a cape, he stands proud in his undies. With a tra-la-laaaaaa, he leaps out of the window and gets hit by a car before getting back up and runs into some nearby gardens. His voice is not completely different, a more higher pitched, happy tone. The boys run after him as he tries to break a mime out an invisible box and fight a giant, inflatable advertising ape on a roof top. At the end of the fight he actually lands on two bank robbers and saves the day. Meanwhile, a short older man sees a flyer about an opening for a science teacher at the boy's school. The boys take their hero back to their treehouse and realise that when he gets wet, he turns back into Krupp but snapping their fingers, gives them back their superhero. Instead of turning him fully back, they will give Captain Underpants a secret identity, which is obviously a head teacher. They run into Edith, who the hero compliments with ease, before the boys take him to his office and ask him to remain there for the day. The little man is already there asking for a job, which he gets as he pulls out many weapons from his case. The boys aren't happy about this and rad his resume, which clearly points out his master plan for some sort of revenge. Underpants obviously hires him on the spot.
Professor P begins his first lesson and already likes Melvin for being the suck up that he is. He talks to the children about their brains and focuses on the part that contains laughter. The boys make a joke that the class laughs at and the boys are sent back to the head teacher's office. Sitting on the desk, thy laze about and moan about their new teacher as Underpants sits there staring at them. Little do they know, that in the meantime, he has found a water pistol in the boy's draw and soaked himself, turning him back into Krupp. After a confrontation, they simple snap their fingers and have their man back, using him to get the new Professor's file from the secretary. His name is Professor Poppypants. Of course it is. The Professor comes into the canteen to laughter, the boys have told everyone his name and it triggers a flashback to when he won a prize for inventing a gun that shrinks and enlarges things, which could solve world hunger. When the judges realise his real name, they break out in laughter and he shrinks a woman for not taking him seriously. This is the main reason he wants revenge. The boys are taken to see Krupp, who is still the hero but ends up getting knocked out so the boys take him home and walk inside his normal looking house. They realise he is just really lonely and is taking it out on the people in school. Poopypants, in the meantime, has found Melvin and plans on using his lack of humour to his advantage. He scans his brain and realises that he doesn't actually have the part of the brain that responds to humour, which could be crucial to his plan.
In order to liven the school and its pupils, Captain Underpants who is still acting as the Principal, throws a carnival for everyone. Things start taking a turn as, 'wet the teacher', water pistols and other things keep getting Krupp wet. As the boys chase him around, he's feeding the kids sugar, causing them all to get hyperactive and leaving Captain Underpants to his own devices. In the end, he goes to drive a bus over a stunt ramp but gets wet at the last minute, turning him back into Krupp, where he reverses into the Ferris wheel, which comes loose and rolls towards the school. He runs across the top until is crashes and leaps off with a parachute. Krupp shows once again as it rains and the clicking no longer works. Back inside the school, the finally puts the boys in different classes.
Poppypants and Melvin are now ready to take on the world. The Professor has used his enlarging gun and grown the toilet invention from earlier in the movie. Problem is that they don't have fuel, so Melvin leads them both to the school canteen where there is toxic leftover food to use. The boys are in separate classes and see the massive toilet coming through the trees so decide on a toilet break. The see Melvin raised out of the top, as the Professor sits in the toilet's control room, powering a laser through Melvin's head and into the school. The beam is changing the pupils and making them into humourless kids. The two boys run to get Captain Underpants, as the forth wall is broken once again. They use a flip-o-rama book to show the fight scene because the actually footage would be too violent and expensive. The toilet wins easily and drops the hero to its bowl. It grabs Harold and George, upping the voltage on the beam and slowly draining them of their humour. We cut to see the inside of their heads and their brains pleading with each other to remember the funny times. Poppypants gives them a lease of life as he mentions Uranus and the boys remember the joke from kindergarten. The toilet begins to malfunction as it cannot change the boys and Melvin jumps from the top as the giant toilet crashes into the ground. Poppypants pulls out his grow gun but instead of hitting the boys, he hits the school and a bird. Back inside the toilet bowl and Captain Underpants has drunk some of the toxic waste to turn him into a real super hero for once. He flies out of the bowl and fights the Professor before the boys make him tiny with him own gun. Turning things back to normal along the way, as we see the Professor escape riding a bee. There's some more humour as the gun enlarges and shrinks parts of the boy's and Professor, but it doesn't make sense why it would only do something like a hand when other times it clearly does the whole object.
The boys are back with Captain Underpants in their treehouse, knowing that it is time to turn him back into Krupp. They know that maybe they should grow up and realise that they can still be friends, even when they are in different classes. George breaks the ring and Krupp is back, freaking out and running home as the lads realise the difference between Krupp and Captain Underpants. The Captain has them, whilst Krupp has no-one. Back at school ad Krupp notices a letter from Edith in his mail box. The boys have written it in order to set them up and done the same with Edith too. Krupp faces the boys in a corridor and is happier than normal, even give them their comics back and complimenting them on the writing and artistry. Krupp and Edith are later on their date and agree that although they can play a nice kind of prank, they won't do it too often. Around the corner, the giant toilet is in a recycling area with smaller toilets and the toxic fuel is spilling into the smaller ones, bringing them to life and making them run riot around the town. Krupp snaps his fingers to act for the check and accidentally turns himself back into the superhero. He flies out of the restaurant and fights all of the toilets and continues to fly, into the sky, with Harold and George holding onto him, ending the movie.
I understand that this is a child's movie but the three major flaws with the story, were playing on my mind for all of the viewing. Firstly, once they got back inside after the carnival, out of the rain, why didn't they snap their fingers to make him the hero again, because they sure did when needing him for the fight. Secondly, where the hell id the control room inside the toilet come from? Thirdly and probably story ending, why didn't they just hypnotise him into being a nice principal from the start instead of cause all of the trouble? There was some moment of humour for adults watching, but mainly the story focused on 'poop' jokes, which after the first one, each one got less and less funny. The graphics were pretty interesting, with a mixture of animation and real-life action at times, it was an interesting mixture and worked. I didn't know that this was based on any books and too be honest, I won't be rushing for a sequel.
At school, the boys are waiting to sneak into Krupp's office, they hide in a store room, as Krupp and the diner lady Edith have an awkward exchange and an attempt at flirting. As he follows her down the corridor, the boys make a break for the office but the secretary enters before they have the chance, so they head back to the closet and distract her by calling her phone saying that she was won money but she needs to go on hold. Finally getting in, and to a filing cabinet that holds their personal files and confiscated toys. One toy is a hypno-ring, which we are shown a montage about the fact that they were won in a cereal box. Krupp walks in and catches them in act. Out of desperation, George uses the rig and to their surprise is actually works. Having a bit of fun, turning him into animals, the boys finally decide to turn him into their greatest creation, Captain Underpants. Ripping off his clothes, and wrapping the curtain around his neck as a cape, he stands proud in his undies. With a tra-la-laaaaaa, he leaps out of the window and gets hit by a car before getting back up and runs into some nearby gardens. His voice is not completely different, a more higher pitched, happy tone. The boys run after him as he tries to break a mime out an invisible box and fight a giant, inflatable advertising ape on a roof top. At the end of the fight he actually lands on two bank robbers and saves the day. Meanwhile, a short older man sees a flyer about an opening for a science teacher at the boy's school. The boys take their hero back to their treehouse and realise that when he gets wet, he turns back into Krupp but snapping their fingers, gives them back their superhero. Instead of turning him fully back, they will give Captain Underpants a secret identity, which is obviously a head teacher. They run into Edith, who the hero compliments with ease, before the boys take him to his office and ask him to remain there for the day. The little man is already there asking for a job, which he gets as he pulls out many weapons from his case. The boys aren't happy about this and rad his resume, which clearly points out his master plan for some sort of revenge. Underpants obviously hires him on the spot.
Professor P begins his first lesson and already likes Melvin for being the suck up that he is. He talks to the children about their brains and focuses on the part that contains laughter. The boys make a joke that the class laughs at and the boys are sent back to the head teacher's office. Sitting on the desk, thy laze about and moan about their new teacher as Underpants sits there staring at them. Little do they know, that in the meantime, he has found a water pistol in the boy's draw and soaked himself, turning him back into Krupp. After a confrontation, they simple snap their fingers and have their man back, using him to get the new Professor's file from the secretary. His name is Professor Poppypants. Of course it is. The Professor comes into the canteen to laughter, the boys have told everyone his name and it triggers a flashback to when he won a prize for inventing a gun that shrinks and enlarges things, which could solve world hunger. When the judges realise his real name, they break out in laughter and he shrinks a woman for not taking him seriously. This is the main reason he wants revenge. The boys are taken to see Krupp, who is still the hero but ends up getting knocked out so the boys take him home and walk inside his normal looking house. They realise he is just really lonely and is taking it out on the people in school. Poopypants, in the meantime, has found Melvin and plans on using his lack of humour to his advantage. He scans his brain and realises that he doesn't actually have the part of the brain that responds to humour, which could be crucial to his plan.
In order to liven the school and its pupils, Captain Underpants who is still acting as the Principal, throws a carnival for everyone. Things start taking a turn as, 'wet the teacher', water pistols and other things keep getting Krupp wet. As the boys chase him around, he's feeding the kids sugar, causing them all to get hyperactive and leaving Captain Underpants to his own devices. In the end, he goes to drive a bus over a stunt ramp but gets wet at the last minute, turning him back into Krupp, where he reverses into the Ferris wheel, which comes loose and rolls towards the school. He runs across the top until is crashes and leaps off with a parachute. Krupp shows once again as it rains and the clicking no longer works. Back inside the school, the finally puts the boys in different classes.
Poppypants and Melvin are now ready to take on the world. The Professor has used his enlarging gun and grown the toilet invention from earlier in the movie. Problem is that they don't have fuel, so Melvin leads them both to the school canteen where there is toxic leftover food to use. The boys are in separate classes and see the massive toilet coming through the trees so decide on a toilet break. The see Melvin raised out of the top, as the Professor sits in the toilet's control room, powering a laser through Melvin's head and into the school. The beam is changing the pupils and making them into humourless kids. The two boys run to get Captain Underpants, as the forth wall is broken once again. They use a flip-o-rama book to show the fight scene because the actually footage would be too violent and expensive. The toilet wins easily and drops the hero to its bowl. It grabs Harold and George, upping the voltage on the beam and slowly draining them of their humour. We cut to see the inside of their heads and their brains pleading with each other to remember the funny times. Poppypants gives them a lease of life as he mentions Uranus and the boys remember the joke from kindergarten. The toilet begins to malfunction as it cannot change the boys and Melvin jumps from the top as the giant toilet crashes into the ground. Poppypants pulls out his grow gun but instead of hitting the boys, he hits the school and a bird. Back inside the toilet bowl and Captain Underpants has drunk some of the toxic waste to turn him into a real super hero for once. He flies out of the bowl and fights the Professor before the boys make him tiny with him own gun. Turning things back to normal along the way, as we see the Professor escape riding a bee. There's some more humour as the gun enlarges and shrinks parts of the boy's and Professor, but it doesn't make sense why it would only do something like a hand when other times it clearly does the whole object.
The boys are back with Captain Underpants in their treehouse, knowing that it is time to turn him back into Krupp. They know that maybe they should grow up and realise that they can still be friends, even when they are in different classes. George breaks the ring and Krupp is back, freaking out and running home as the lads realise the difference between Krupp and Captain Underpants. The Captain has them, whilst Krupp has no-one. Back at school ad Krupp notices a letter from Edith in his mail box. The boys have written it in order to set them up and done the same with Edith too. Krupp faces the boys in a corridor and is happier than normal, even give them their comics back and complimenting them on the writing and artistry. Krupp and Edith are later on their date and agree that although they can play a nice kind of prank, they won't do it too often. Around the corner, the giant toilet is in a recycling area with smaller toilets and the toxic fuel is spilling into the smaller ones, bringing them to life and making them run riot around the town. Krupp snaps his fingers to act for the check and accidentally turns himself back into the superhero. He flies out of the restaurant and fights all of the toilets and continues to fly, into the sky, with Harold and George holding onto him, ending the movie.
I understand that this is a child's movie but the three major flaws with the story, were playing on my mind for all of the viewing. Firstly, once they got back inside after the carnival, out of the rain, why didn't they snap their fingers to make him the hero again, because they sure did when needing him for the fight. Secondly, where the hell id the control room inside the toilet come from? Thirdly and probably story ending, why didn't they just hypnotise him into being a nice principal from the start instead of cause all of the trouble? There was some moment of humour for adults watching, but mainly the story focused on 'poop' jokes, which after the first one, each one got less and less funny. The graphics were pretty interesting, with a mixture of animation and real-life action at times, it was an interesting mixture and worked. I didn't know that this was based on any books and too be honest, I won't be rushing for a sequel.
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