Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

***Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie*** (or simply ***Captain Underpants***) is a 2017 American computer-animated superhero comedy film based on the children's novel series of the same name by Dav Pilkey. It was produced by DreamWorks Animation and Scholastic Entertainment, with animation production provided by Mikros Image Montreal. It was directed by David Soren from a screenplay by Nicholas Stoller, and stars the voices of Kevin Hart, Ed Helms, Thomas Middleditch, Nick Kroll, Jordan Peele and Kristen Schaal. The plot follows two imaginative elementary school prankster students, George Beard and Harold Hutchins (Hart and Middleditch), who hypnotize their mean-spirited principal, Mr. Krupp (Helms), into thinking he is Captain Underpants, a hero in comic books that George and Harold write together.

The film premiered on May 21, 2017 at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles, and was released in the United States on June 2, 2017 in 3D and 2D. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and has grossed $78 million worldwide against a budget of $38 million, making it the lowest-budgeted computer-animated feature of DreamWorks Animation's history. This is the last DreamWorks Animation film distributed by 20th Century Fox, before Universal Pictures will take over distribution in 2019 with *How to Train Your Dragon 3*.

## Plot

In Piqua, Ohio, George Beard (Kevin Hart) and Harold Hutchins (Thomas Middleditch) are two fourth-grade friends and next-door neighbors who often express their sense of humor at their school, bringing joy and laughter to Jerome Horwitz Elementary School. The duo frequently prank the cruel teachers at the school, especially the ill-mannered misanthropic principal, Benjamin "Benny" Krupp (Ed Helms), which puts them at odds with him. The duo also create comic books about Captain Underpants, a superhero who fights crime while wearing only underwear and a cape. They sell these to their schoolmates through a comic company called Treehouse Comix Inc, housed in their treehouse. George and Harold's pranks come to an apparent end after they tamper with a toilet invention called the Turbo Toilet 2000 made by the school's local snitch, intellectual Melvin Sneedly (Jordan Peele), which launches it into chaotic malfunction, resulting in a wild dance party inside the gymnasium, involving toilet paper, and the song, "Think" (covered by Adam Lambert). Melvin snitches on George and Harold, and as evidence, shows Krupp footage of George and Harold tampering with the Turbo Toilet 2000, recorded by an invention Krupp asked Melvin to come up with himself, called the Tattle Turtle 200, a stuffed turtle with a nanny cam hidden inside of its head. This causes Krupp to decide to separate the boys and annihilate their friendship.

To prevent this, George hypnotizes Krupp with a 3D Hypno Ring he received out of a cereal box; the boys first order their principal to act like a chicken and a monkey. Finally, they see that Krupp bears a resemblance to Captain Underpants without his toupee and command him to be Captain Underpants. The boys soon learn the severity of their acts when Captain Underpants begins causing trouble around Piqua and take him to their treehouse. There they discover that they can turn Captain Underpants back into Krupp by splashing water on him and can turn him back by snapping their fingers. Believing that Krupp will continue with his plan to separate them, they decide to settle with Captain Underpants but insist that he be dressed up as Krupp under the pretense of a secret identity to which Captain Underpants agrees. His sudden personality change even manages to attract the attention and affection of the school's shy and clumsy lunch lady, Edith (Kristen Schaal).

Just when George and Harold believe that their troubles have ended, Jerome Horwitz Elementary School is visited by an odd, German-accented scientist named Professor Pee-Pee Diarrheastein Poopypants, Esq. (Nick Kroll). Captain Underpants (disguised as Krupp) hires him to be a new teacher, but George and Harold are suspicious of him. As it turns out, Poopypants is seeking to get rid of laughter altogether, due to the fact that people have made fun of his name for years. He recruits Melvin to help him as his brain is incapable of having fun.

Soon, Professor Poopypants tries to take over the town with a giant version of the Turbo Toilet 2000, fueled by the school cafeteria's rotten leftovers left out by Edith, and uses Melvin's brain to turn the children into glum, humorless zombies. Captain Underpants tries to stop the villain, but due to having no actual superpowers, is effortlessly defeated and thrown into the toilet. George and Harold are captured and turned into zombies, but are able to break the trance and escape when their excessive laughter damages the Turbo Toilet 2000's computer. Upon consuming the mutated leftovers, Captain Underpants acquires superpowers and with George and Harold's help defeats and shrinks Poopypants, though he escapes shortly thereafter.

Knowing that they cannot control Captain Underpants, George and Harold destroy the Hypno Ring in an attempt to permanently change him back into Krupp. Feeling that Krupp would be nicer if he had friends, the boys set him and lovesick Edith up on a date, thus making Krupp have a change of heart; he returns the comics he took away from George and Harold, and even admits their comics are funny. However, the toxic waste from the Turbo Toilet 2000 transforms all the toilets into vicious monsters that attack the restaurant at which Mr. Krupp and Edith are dining. Upon snapping his fingers (accidentally), Mr. Krupp once again becomes Captain Underpants, carrying George and Harold away to help him fight them, much to Edith's surprise and admiration.

In a mid-credits scene, George and Harold realize that the secretary, Miss Anthrope, who they put on the phone before by faking a $1 billion contest has been on the phone for the entire movie. After Miss Anthrope accidentally hangs up and gets angry, George and Harold make a new comic based on her reaction.

## Cast

* Ed Helms as Mr. Benjamin "Benny" Krupp / Captain Underpants, the mean-spirited principal of Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, who is hypnotized into becoming the superhero created by George and Harold.
* Kevin Hart as George Beard, a fourth grade student. He is Harold's best friend and writes stories for the comics he and Harold make.
* Thomas Middleditch as Harold Hutchins, a fourth grade student. He is George's best friend and illustrates the comics he and George make.
* Nick Kroll as Professor Poopypants, a scientist angered after being constantly made fun of and not taken seriously for his name, who decides to take over the world and destroy Captain Underpants.
* Jordan Peele as Melvin Sneedly, George and Harold's nemesis, a child prodigy inventor; he becomes Prof. Poopypants' unwitting sidekick.
* Kristen Schaal as Edith, the shy school lunch lady and the love interest of Mr. Krupp.
* Dee Dee Rescher as Ms. Tara Ribble, the 4th grade teacher.
* Brian Posehn as Mr. Rected, the guidance counselor.
* Mel Rodriguez as Mr. Morty Fyde, the science teacher.
* David Soren as Tommy
* Susan Fitzker as Mrs. Dayken
* Lynnane Zager as Mrs. Beard
* Tiffany Lauren Bennicke as Sad Girl
* James Ryan as Mime
* Leslie David Baker as Officer McPiggly
* Sugar Lyn Beard as Goodie Two-Shoes Girl
* Lesley Nicol as Nobel Moderator
* Chris Miller as Nobel Audience Member
* Coco Soren as Balloon Girl

## Production

DreamWorks' interest in the film rights to the *Captain Underpants* series dates back to when the first installment was published, in 1997, but creator Dav Pilkey did not want to sell them. Early attempts at an adaptation included video games, a live-action feature, an animated series, and a live-action series. To persuade him, DreamWorks gave Pilkey a tour around the studio with everyone wearing underpants over their actual pants, which made him laugh. In October 2011, his representatives indicated Pilkey was ready, and DreamWorks Animation won the rights in an auction. In October 2013, Rob Letterman was announced as director and Nicholas Stoller as scriptwriter. The two had previously worked together on the film *Gulliver's Travels*. In January 2014, the cast was announced. Ed Helms joined as Mr. Krupp a.k.a. Captain Underpants, Kevin Hart as George Beard, Thomas Middleditch as Harold Hutchins, Nick Kroll as the "insidious villain" Professor Poopypants, and Jordan Peele as George and Harold's "nerdy nemesis" Melvin Sneedly.

In 2014, DreamWorks Animation announced a January 2017 release date. Following DreamWorks Animation's reorganization in early 2015, the studio announced that the film would be produced outside of the studio's pipeline at a significantly lower cost. It was instead animated at Mikros Image in Montreal, Canada, and therefore looks identical to Pilkey's artwork, as well as differently than most of DWA's films. A month later, Letterman left the project but came back as an executive producer, and David Soren, the director of *Turbo*, entered talks to direct the film. During production, Pilkey got to work closely with Soren. He was relieved that Soren was directing since he was a fan of *Turbo*. In an interview with *Los Angeles Times*, Pilkey said: "Once I met David, it was like a huge load fell off my back; I was like, 'I don't even have to think about this anymore. Just send me a couple of tickets to the premiere.'" Commenting back, Soren said, "In a way, the controversy over the books ended up being liberating for the film. Normally on an animated movie you're trying to appeal to every possible demographic, and often that results in your content being watered down a little bit. Obviously we hope we get as wide of an audience as possible. But it's likely that if people have issues with the books they may have issues with the movie too, and we didn't feel like we needed to waste a lot of time trying to rope them in. It allowed us to make the purest version of the movie." Although it is a CG-animated feature, the film includes scenes that are traditionally animated, a short cutout animation segment, and a sock puppet sequence created by Screen Novelties.

## Music

The film score was composed by Theodore Shapiro. "Weird Al" Yankovic wrote and performed the theme song for the film, which was featured in a lyric video. It currently stands at over 5 million views (as of June 6). Andy Grammer wrote another original song for the film, titled "A Friend Like You". The film also features music from Adam Lambert, Cold War Kids member Nathan Willett, and Lil Yachty. An 11-track soundtrack album was released digitally on June 2, 2017, by Virgin Records. "Oh Yeah" by Yello is featured in the film, but does not appear on the soundtrack.

**Songs**

* "Captain Underpants Theme Song" by "Weird Al" Yankovic – 2:14
* "A Friend Like You" by Andy Grammer – 3:40
* "Saturday" (cast version) by Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch – 0:48
* "Think" by Adam Lambert – 2:59
* "1812 Ofarture" by The Students of Jerome Horwitz Elementary School – 1:08
* "Hallelujah" by Hart, Middleditch and Ed Helms – 0:39
* "Oh Yeah" by Lil Yachty – 2:51 (Half-cover of the Yello song)
* "Saturday" by Nathan Willett – 3:29
* "Comic Book Opening" by Theodore Shapiro – 1:54
* "Saving the Day" by Shapiro – 7:22
* "The Prank for Good" by Shapiro – 5:38

Total time: 32:42

A soundtrack for the score of the film was released on June 9. It features 24 pieces of music, and an exclusive digital booklet on iTunes. Three of the scores are also available on the soundtrack (those being "Comic Book Opening", "Saving the Day", and "The Prank for Good").

## Release

*Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie* was previously scheduled to be released on March 10, 2017, but in September 2015, *The Boss Baby* took over its date. The film was then moved to June 2, 2017, and was released by 20th Century Fox. Other territories such as Europe and Asia will receive the film between July and October 2017. It premiered on May 21, 2017, at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles.

### Box office

As of July 10, 2017, *Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie* has grossed $70.6 million in the United States and Canada and $8 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $78.6 million.

In North America, the film was released alongside *Wonder Woman*, and was projected to gross around $20 million from 3,434 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $8 million on its first day and $23.9 million in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office, behind *Wonder Woman* ($103.3 million). The film would go on to gross $12.2 million in its second weekend, $7.2 million in its third and $4.3 million in its fourth.

### Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 85%, based on 72 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With a tidy plot, clean animation, and humor that fits its source material snugly, *Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie* is entertainment that won't drive a wedge between family members." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 69 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars. Although Seitz pointed out that the film is hampered by "a rushed, jumbled quality" and has "tiresome" features that he says are common to DreamWorks, such as "frenetic action scenes... and the use of workhorse pop songs", he emphasized that "[t]hey've approached this compendium of elemental slapstick and unabashed childishness with the reverence that the Coen brothers brought to *No Country for Old Men*." He further added that the inclusion of the flip book interludes are the film's best parts, especially in having the pages accidentally be torn similar to the real books, stating that "[i]t's not often that a movie puts a spotlight on a mundane ritual in your own life that you never realized was profound and says, 'You probably forgot about this, but I want you to remember it and savor it, because it meant something.'"