Smart, warm, bright, and delightful, DC League of Super-Pets is the perfect pill to brighten up these gloomy, rain-soaked days.
Since the baby Kal-El escaped the dying planet of Krypton, his puppy Krypto has promised to take care of him. Many years later, Superman (John Krasinski) and Krypto (Dwayne Johnson) are best friends and the super crime-fighting team of Metropolis.
DC League of Super-Pets
Though Krypto thinks life with Superman is going to be rosy and cosy with “walk o clocks” and watching bake-offs on telly forever, Superman planning to propose to his girlfriend, Lois Lane, (Olivia Wilde) signifies big changes.
Across town in an animal shelter, a dog, Ace, (Kevin Hart) is trying to keep the spirits of the other rescued animals by talking of a farm upstate where everyone can run free. Ace’s shelter mates include a pig, PB, (Vanessa Bayer), a turtle, Merton (Natasha Lyonne) and a squirrel, Chip, (Diego Luna).
Also in the shelter is Lulu, (Kate McKinnon) a guinea pig, Krypto rescued from Superman’s arch enemy, Lex Luthor’s (Marc Maron) lab. Far from being grateful, Lulu believes herself to be Luthor’s colleague and plans to continue with his plans for world domination.
When Luthor uses his tractor beam to reel in orange kryptonite, Superman and Krypto are easily able to defeat him and incarcerate him at Stryker’s Island — the super-max prison. However, Lulu is able to reel in a small piece of orange kryptonite, which gives pets super powers. So apart from Lulu becoming powerful, the other animals in the shelter also get super powers!
Ace becomes super strong, Merton is super fast (tee hee), PG can swell and shrink at will, while Chip has electro-kinesis. As part of her world domination plan, Lulu captures Superman and the rest of the Justice League. With Krypto losing his superpowers thanks to eating a piece of Kryptonite (“it is always in the cheese!”), it is up to PB, Ace, Merton and Chip to free the Justice League, defeat Lulu, put Luthor back in prison and save the world.
The league of extraordinary pets do it all in great style, with wit and warmth, finding forever homes with the Justice League in the bargain. The action is vivid, the art deco inspired, the animation eye-catching and the jokes are zingers.
The voice work is great too, with Keanu Reeves having a lot of fun as the angsty Batman. When he sees a Batman squeezy toy, he growls, “That better be a licensed toy or I will freak out.” There is also Krypto wishing there was a “skip intro” option in his father’s hologram. Krypto’s father incidentally is called Dog-El! And that bushy corgi waiting outside the shelter was a hoot.
DC League of Super-Pets is currently running in theatres
Published - August 05, 2022 02:06 pm IST
