Dog Man review – the beloved comic book character makes a gloriously funny big screen debut

The DreamWorks animation run of top quality continues. Dog Man, with its chew-toy-textured animation style and madcap, rapid-fire silliness is quite a contrast to last year’s lush and soulful The Wild Robot. But both films are superb in their own distinctive ways, managing to hit that elusive Venn diagram intersection of appealing to both kid and adult audiences.

Dog Man, the half-dog, half-cop protagonist of Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants spin-off book series, is a gloriously funny creation – a squirrel-obsessed kung-fu expert crime fighter who, like Aardman’s Feathers McGraw, conveys multitudes without the use of dialogue. Dog Man’s nemesis is Petey (voiced by Pete Davidson), the most evil cat in the world; secondary villainy comes courtesy of a deranged telekinetic fish called Flippy (Ricky Gervais) and some rampaging mecha buildings. All this and an Apocalypse Now gag to boot.

• In UK and Irish cinemas