I didn't expect to see another movie that begins with the last day of Krypton so soon, but Netflix announced that it would stop streaming this month. (I get Max now; it just takes me a little longer to set up.) DCLoSP didn't tempt me when it was in theaters, if only because nobody I knew was talking about it, but it does get decent ratings across sites, along with a number of minor award nominations and one win. It
seemed apt for light fare to pass the time.
Krypto (Dwayne Johnson), the last dog of Krypton, likes saving the day with owner Superman (John Krasinski) but becomes overly jealous of the attention Supes lavishes on Lois Lane (Olivia Wilde). In his sulking, he's late to notice Superman's abduction by Lulu (Kate McKinnon), a hairless guinea pig who'd been a like-minded lab subject to Lex Luthor (Marc Maron). Lulu has gotten her paws on orange kryptonite, which bestows random superpowers -- in her case, strong telekinesis -- on nonhuman animals, and tricked Krypto into swallowing just enough green kryptonite to depower him for most of the 105-minute runtime. Her platoon of guinea pigs with other powers apprehends the rest of the Justice League in a bid to take over the world. Fortunately, she has betrayed four other critters in the pet shop, who are now willing to use their incidental powers to team up on Krypto's rescue mission. They just have to get the hang of it fast, because Lulu will wait only so long to kill the Justice League.
The next most prominent new hero is surly boxer Ace (Kevin Hart), who tends not to see eye to eye with Krypto, but they grow on each other. I recognized his name as that of the future Bat-Hound, which puts the dogs' interactions into perspective. He normally doesn't have powers in most canons. Here he gains enhanced if not Kryptonian-level brawn and apparent indestructibility, which kinda sucks when he still feels pain and is expected to shield others.
Two of the others are slight alterations from preexisting characters: Chip (Diego Luna), a nervous squirrel who shoots lightning from his paws; and Merton (Natasha Lyonne), a myopic, repeatedly bleeped old turtle who predictably gains speed. The one completely new member is PB (Vanessa Bayer), a potbellied pig who shifts sizes and admires Wonder Woman (Jameela Jamil). Oh, and the other Justice League members herein are Batman (Keanu Reeves), the Flash (John Early), one of the Green Lanterns (Dascha Polanco), Cyborg (Daveed Diggs), and Aquaman (Jemaine Clement). To be clear, even the last one doesn't understand animal speech.
It's a pretty facetious take on DC properties, at least the ones I know well. Superman's disguise doesn't fool anyone. Batman's not as petulant as in his Lego form, but neither does he come across as brilliant. Even Luthor turns out to be more of a glory thief than a mastermind, as noted in the flat snark of assistant Mercy Graves (Maya Erskine).
The makers do a pretty good job with verbal and physical humor. Yes, there are bodily function gags, but I've enjoyed features with worse. Kids would miss some cultural references even apart from comic lore, tho they might perk up when Lulu derides the Super-Pets as "Paw Patrol." I'm a bit surprised to hear so many real-world brand names spoken in Metropolis.
The morals? Well, they're not problematic like in the same year's other family flick with a villainous guinea pig. They just don't get a lot of focus. Krypto only occasionally gets selfish, especially after Superman's capture, so a holographic warning by father Dog-El (Keith David) rings a little hollow. The rest of the Super-Pets need practice with their powers more than attitude adjustment, which comes almost instantaneously. And Superman doesn't take long at all to understand how neglected Krypto has felt.
Of all the humorous big-screen DC ventures, DCLoSP is my favorite so far. Not that that's a high bar, but it gives me hope for future endeavors.
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