Ready for Take Off: Trailer for 'Captain Underpants' Arrives

At long last, the trailer for DreamWorks' Captain Underpants is finally here.

... and just in time for the release of their newest film, The Boss Baby...


I've said it before many times on here, I like that they are going the Peanuts Movie route with the visuals. That way, the look of it can be more faithful to the illustrations in Dav Pilkey's books. The movie itself looks gleefully silly, and some of the action bits are pretty funny. I wasn't blown away by this trailer by any means (then again I didn't really read the Captain Underpants books when I was little), but it looks like a fun romp from DreamWorks. While Boss Baby's latest trailers and spots have left me unsure, this looks pretty straightforward. They also set things up nicely, before it all becomes noise. Typical of 95% of American animated movie trailers, but ya know...

For those who don't know, this is the final DreamWorks movie that's being distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film was outsourced to Mikros Image, the intention was to get this thing done on a lower budget, so I guess that's why Fox waited till now to launch the marketing. Yes I know Boss Baby is right around the corner, but they could've started the campaign earlier. Either way, not much seems to be at stake. I'm going to assume this thing cost around $70 million to make, as opposed to the usual $120 million+ budgets DreamWorks usually blows on features.

And yet, for a lower budget feature, visually it's a lot more exciting than most of the CG films we're getting nowadays. They took full advantage of the budget, and made a very neat, cartoony-looking CG film where everything is done in a simplistic, weirdo style. I dig it.

What do you think of the trailer?

Ready to Fly: 'Captain Underpants' Teaser Poster Surfaces

As they say, have no fear... The first poster for Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is here.

DreamWorks' Captain Underpants is a particularly interesting production. The studio outsourced their adaptation of Dav Pilkey's irreverent gross-out book series to Mikros Image in Montreal. Their plan was to get it made for a lower cost than their in-house films. It was a very smart move, for DreamWorks had been suffering for a while and losing lots of money on costly animated features that perhaps weren't destined to magically pull ridiculous numbers out of hat. Captain Underpants isn't quite an adult-skewing property, so I think they did the right thing.

The film also boasts a more unique animation style, and looks to be a mixed media kinda feature, using stop-motion, sock-puppets and (gasp!) traditional animation. With a smaller budget, I feel you can take more visual risks like that. It seems like DreamWorks won't shy away from outsourcing, as 2019's Everest will be done by their Shanghai studio for - presumably - a much lower cost. These kinds of movies will sit well with the mainline heavies, not dissimilar to how Disney Feature Animation's defunct Orlando unit made smaller pics (Lilo & Stitch, Brother Bear) while the Burbank building unleashed the big, costly films.

Since The Lego Batman Movie is right around the corner, it's time to start plugging this June title. Fox and DreamWorks have currently been marketing The Boss Baby, due out in over a month. I figured they'd have to start the campaign for Captain Underpants soon, but the good thing is, they don't need to make Trolls numbers if the budget for this thing turns out to be something like $70 million. The Boss Baby is the mainline California production, so they need that to be the biggie. Whether it'll make its money back or not, remains to be seen. All I know is, it's all over my theater.

As many of you may know, this will be the last DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox. Universal will take control of the ship after that film is released. Their first DreamWorks movie is Larrikins, set to open a little over a year from now. Where's the concept art, DreamWorks? Where's the first look? What's going on with it?

Anyways, as I've said before, I certainly hope this "First Epic Movie" can stretch the fun of the books to 90 minutes, and engage both adults and kids alike. This movie is a part of Jeffrey Katzenberg's plan that was launched in early 2015, when he sought to be more involved with the animated movies again following the company's big collapse. His goal was to have the studio make innocuous comedy movies that were aimed at "kids and their mothers", and these two pics began production during that time. Katzenberg retired after Comcast bought DreamWorks, so maybe Captain Underpants will be the end of an era...

I dig the poster, though. That comic style is there, and the other images we've seen show how different the animation style will be, how more Peanuts Movie-esque it is. I'm looking to forward to the visuals for the time being, I'm on the fence about the story and writing.

What say you?

Another Breed of Superhero: First Look at DreamWorks' 'Captain Underpants'

Have no fear, your first look at DreamWorks' other 2017 release is here.

Captain Underpants...

Who would've thought, right? I bet many aren't digging the idea of a movie based on the Dav Pilkey book series, others probably aren't shocked that DreamWorks opted to adapt them. Even though DreamWorks has shown for over eight years that they can tell good stories that don't fall back on cheap toilet humor and such, some people out there still believe that every new DreamWorks movie is a fartfest. Captain Underpants moving forward more than "confirms" that for them.

For those not in the know, Captain Underpants is exactly what it says on the box. Two fourth graders hypnotize their school principal, whose is described as tyrannical, into becoming a superhero. A big man with no powers who is only wearing a curtain cape and underpants. It's as ridiculous as it looks, folks. Being a 90s kid, I remember the books being a big staple at every book fair at my elementary school. It was a big deal back then, and other schools weren't as welcoming to the series as mine was. They went as far as banning them, due to their fear of them being inappropriate for young readers and also fearing that they would encourage them to... Yes, disobey authorities.

It has quite a history, and it actually kind of seems like prime material to turn into a silly animated comedy. The first look at the film, provided by Entertainment Weekly, shows something that I think actually has some potential...

No different from the style used in Blue Sky's The Peanuts Movie, what they've got here looks pretty good and is pretty much the illustrations of the books brought to the big screen. What wasn't stated in the report is this: DreamWorks actually outsourced this production to Mikros, who have houses in Canada and France. A smart idea in hindsight, because spending Trolls money ($125 million) on this kind of movie isn't a good idea.

That's not all, though. Director David Soren (who directed DreamWorks' Turbo) said that the film will not only be irreverent like the books, but it will also have a lot of fun with its own visuals: Stylized CG isn't the only thing you'll see in it, you'll also see traditionally animated (!) scenes that will look like comic book panels come to life, and also sock puppets of all things, and more. A real mixed-media kind of animated feature.

Soren also revealed that the story will feel like something made by the two fourth grade protagonists. Back when it was announced, my question has always been, will DreamWorks be able to keep the series' style funny and not cringeworthy for a whole 90-or-so minutes? Unlike some of the DreamWorks movies of the 2000s, Captain Underpants isn't a series that uses toilet humor to get a laugh. It's a series that is pretty much built around grossness, I mean c'mon... That's in the title alone! Just looks at the volume titles, too. The movie could be like the cinematic equivalent of a Ren & Stimpy episode. In another way, it could subvert superhero movies, since those have been dominating.

I know, it's the last thing feature animation in America needs, but it's here, so I say... Might as well hope for the best. With the first look now out, I wonder when the teaser will surface?

What say you?