By John Corrado

★★½ (out of 4)

DC League of Super-Pets is an animated comic book movie about Superman’s best friend; a super-powered dog named Krypto (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) who came to earth with him as a baby from the planet Krypton and continues to be his closest companion.

Krypto has settled into a comfy life in Metropolis with his Supes (John Krasinski), taking daily flights with him and stopping crime around the city. But Krypto gets jealous of Superman’s blossoming relationship with Lois Lane (Olivia Wilde), and worried that he will be replaced by her.

When Superman and the Justice League – Batman (Keanu Reeves), Aquaman (Jemaine Clement), Wonder Woman (Jameela Jamil), The Flash (John Early), Cyborg (Daveed Diggs) and Green Lantern (Dascha Polanco) – are taken by Lex Luthor (Marc Maron), Krypto must accept help from a team of shelter animals who gain their own super powers from a piece of orange Kryptonite and correspond with the Justice League.

There’s hardened dog Ace (Kevin Hart), a boxer mix who gains strength; potbellied pig and Wonder Woman fangirl PB (Vanessa Bayer), who is able to grow and shrink in size; the elderly turtle Merton (Natasha Lyonne), who gains super-speed; and anxious squirrel Chip (Diego Luna), who can harness electricity. They also have to contend with a hairless guinea pig named Lulu (Kate McKinnon), a former lab animal with a major chip on her shoulder and a passion for world domination.

From here, DC League of Super-Pets goes exactly where you predict, playing out like a cross between The Secret Life of Pets and a riff on superhero movies. The story is not exactly revelatory compared to any number of other animated films, and the broad messages about teamwork and recognizing each other’s strengths are exactly what we expect, but Super-Pets offers them in a colourful and fairly enjoyable package.

The Warner Animation Group film is brought to life through lively vocal performances from the celebrity voice cast, and there is some nice animation by the Australian studio Animal Logic (particularly during a well done flashback showing Ace’s backstory). The mostly appealing visual style of the film mixes the cute animals with some lush backgrounds – including an Art Deco-inspired Metropolis – and more caricatured, action figure-y designs of the human superhero characters.

The film is often goofy and cartoony, and filled with obligatory callbacks to the DCEU, but the story also has a surprising amount of heart as it shows the bond between dogs and humans, as well as encouraging people to give shelter animals a second chance. It’s definitely a movie that is made more for kids, with some jokes being geared towards the younger crowd, but there is some stuff here for adults to enjoy as well. I didn’t mind watching it, and it’s cute and amusing enough to pass the time.

Bonus Features (4K Ultra HD):

The 4K offers an expectedly sharp and colourful viewing experience, and the set comes with a regular Blu-ray disc where the bonus features – a selection of featurettes and deleted scenes – are held. A code for a digital copy is also included in the package, which comes with a slipcover.

• How to Draw Krypto (6 minutes, 48 seconds): Animation supervisor David Burgess teaches us how to draw Krypto the Super-Dog.

• Behind the Super Voices (14 minutes, 39 seconds): The main cast members talk about their characters, with director Jared Stern and others sharing what it was like to work with them.

• Super-Pets Animation 101 (8 minutes, 18 seconds): Producer Patricia Hicks, writer/co-director Sam J. Levine, animation supervisor David Burgess, layout supervisor Régis Schuller, discuss the designs of the animal characters and how they resemble with their human counterparts.

• The World of Super-Pets (7 minutes, 41 seconds): Hicks, Levine, Stern and Burgess are joined by art director Kristen Anderson and production designer Kim Taylor to discuss the design of the world.

• Find the Easter Eggs (3 minutes, 39 seconds): Levine and Stern take us through some of the many Easter Eggs and DC references in the film.

• Deleted Scenes (Play All – 20 minutes, 48 seconds): A dozen deleted scenes presented mostly in storyboard form.

• Storm Scenes

• SC 50: Meet the Rescue Animals (Backstory Version)

• SC 100: Krypto Powerless

• SC 110: Wild for the Night

• SC 135: Lulu Visits LexCorp

• SC 170 Hero Team Assemble (Previous Version)

• SC 190: Meanwhile at the HOJ (A)

• SC 220: Meanwhile at the HOJ (B)

• SC 285: Capturing the JLA

• SC 340: Stryker’s Island

• SC 367: Lulu Gathers the Troops

• SC 377: Krypto’s Solo Flight

DC League of Super-Pets is a Warner Bros. Home Entertainment release. It’s 105 minutes and rated PG.

Street Date: October 4th, 2022