Krypto the Superdog: The Movie

Theatrical release poster

***Krypto the Superdog: The Movie*** is a 2019 American-Canadian animated superhero action comedy film based on the Cartoon Network animated television series *Krypto the Superdog*, which is based on the DC Comics superhero dog of the same name. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is directed by Scott Jeralds (in his feature directorial debut) and co-directed by Mike Milo and Chris Headrick, from a screenplay written by Jeralds, Alan Burnett and Paul Dini with additional material by Victoria Strouse, Tim Cahill, and Rodney Rothman. Several cast members from the original series reprised their roles, including Sam Vincent (voicing Krypto), Scott McNeil (voicing Ace and Ignatius), Brian Drummond (voicing Streaky and Eddie Whitney), Nicole Oliver (voicing Mary Whitney), Peter Kelamis (voicing Tail Terrier), Kelly Sheridan (voicing Mammoth Mutt), Terry Klassen (voicing Tusky Husky and Artie), Kathleen Barr (voicing Isis and Delilah) and Michael Daingerfield (voicing Superman). They are joined by newcomers Ralph Fiennes, Sandra Bullock, Jim Cummings, Ben Stiller, Kath Soucie, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Brad Pitt, Matthew Broderick, and introducing Josh Zaharia in his film debut as Kevin Whitney.

Taking place after the show's series finale, the film follows Superman's pet dog Krypto who work with other animals to save Metropolis from Dr. Drex.

Warner Bros. first announced the film on January 15, 2018, with the show's original voice cast set to reprise their roles. Fiennes and Bullock were added to the cast in leading roles three months later.

*Krypto the Superdog: The Movie* premiered in the Grauman's Chinese Theatre on November 17, 2019, and was theatrically released in the United States and Canada on November 22. The film received generally positive reviews from critics for its humor, animation, themes, characterization, soundtrack and action sequences, but criticized for its pacing and writing, and became a box office success, grossing over $108 million worldwide against a $24 million budget.

A computer-animated standalone film, *DC League of Super-Pets*, was released on July 29, 2022.

## Plot

The film follows Krypto and the various animals who are called upon to save the day from their new foe Dr. Drex before he destroys the City of Metropolis and takes over the world.

## Voice cast

### Main Cast

* Sam Vincent as Krypto the Superdog, the film's main protagonist and Kevin Whitney's pet dog.
	+ Wyatt White as Puppy Krypto from the TV commercial.
* Josh Zaharia as Kevin Whitney, the deuteragonist and Krypto's new owner. Zaharia replaces Alberto Ghisi from the series.
* Berkley Silverman as Andrea Sussman, Kevin's love interest and one of the three deuteragonists. Silverman replaces Tabitha St. Germain from the series.
* Glee Dango as Melanie Whitney, Kevin's baby sister and one of the three deuteragonists. Dango replaces Germain from the series.
* Scott McNeil as Ace the Bat-Hound, Batman's pet dog.
	+ McNeil also voices Ignatius.
* Ralph Fiennes as Dr. Drex, the film's main antagonist and Lex Luthor's pet dog.
* Sandra Bullock as Glitch, the film's secondary antagonist, Dr. Drex's assistant and a hamster.
* Brian Drummond as Streaky the Supercat, the tritagonist and Andrea's pet cat.
	+ Drummond also voices Edward ''Eddie'' Whitney, Kevin and Melanie's father.
* Nicole Oliver as Mary Whitney, Kevin and Melanie's mother.
* Jim Cummings as Hugh Whitney, Kevin's grandfather.
* Wendi McLendon-Covey as Zapper.
* Brad Pitt as Night Watch.
* Matthew Broderick as Mastermind.
* Paul Rudd as Stewart, Dr. Drex's henchpet.
* Cam Clarke as Tim, Dr. Drex's henchpet.
* Ellen Kennedy as Brainy Barker
* Michael Dobson as Bulldog
* Kevin James as Mayor Rob Morrisroe
* John Goodman as Officer Gilligan
* Tom Scharpling as Sergeant Dave
* Dave Pettitt as Paw Pooch
* Peter Kelamis as Tail Terrier
* Trevor Devall as Hot Dog
	+ Devall also voices Waddles The Penguin.
* Kelly Sheridan as Mammoth Mutt
* Will Bhaneja as Snooky Wookums. Bhaneja replaces Nicole Bouma from the series.
* Mark Oliver as Mechanikat
* Ethan Pugiotto as Bailey. Pugiotto replaces Cathy Weseluck from the series.
* Terry Klassen as Tusky Husky
	+ Klassen also voices Artie.
* Michael Daingerfield as Clark Kent/Superman, a superhero from Krypton who protects Metropolis and Krypto's original owner.
* Andrew McNee as Felix Flennigan
* Deann DeGruijter as Laraine
* Zach LeBlanc as Don
* Brian Dobson as Lex Luthor, Superman's arch-nemesis and Dr. Drex's owner.
* Kathleen Barr as Isis, Delilah
* Lee Tockar as Stretch-o-Mutt
* Ty Olsson as Drooly
* Matt Hill as Griff
* David Paul Grove as Robbie the Robin
* Kath Soucie as Mrs. Mustkiss
* Ben Stiller as Coach

### Additional Voices

* Jason Simpson
* Sunni Westbrook
* Blair Williams
* Mark Acheson
* Kimberly-Ann Truong
* Graham Verchere
* Veena Sood
* Daniel DeSanto
* Erin Mathews
* Mateo Carnovale
* Rebecca Husain
* Garry Chalk
* Sabrina Pitre
* Adam Kirschner
* Paul Braunstein
* Devon Sawa
* Alex Paxton-Beesley
* Nicole Bouma
* Alistair Abell
* Ian James Corlett
* Cole Howard

## Production

### Development

After the cancellation of *Krypto the Superdog* in 2006, DC Comics and Warner Bros. announced that an animated film adaptation of the Cartoon Network series would be released into theaters on November 22, 2019 with the original cast reprising their roles. Director Scott Jeralds, who did *Krypto the Superdog*, returned to direct a theatrical film version. Its production budget had cost $24 million to produce.

The film was announced on January 15, 2018. Prior to the announcement, work continued on the screenplay from 2016 onwards, taking place at Warner Bros. Animation where Alan Burnett first pitched Krypto the Superdog in the 2000s, before the series premiered in 2005. The writers spent six months discussing a plot, and each of them offered sketchy ideas. Paul Dini suggested Krypto and the rest of the super animals fighting against a much more bigger archenemy. Jeralds really like this idea, as he felt that Krypto and the super pets would be better off fighting a new villain so they would get the big screen treatment.

Having eventually decided on the basic outline of the plot for the film, the writers then separated it into seven sections. Jeralds, Burnett, Rodney Rothman, Dini and Tim Cahill wrote 25 pages each, and the group met one month later to merge the seven sections into one "very rough draft". The film's script was written in the same way as the television series: the writers sitting around a table, pitching ideas, and trying to make each other laugh. The script went through over 10 revisions, and at one point the film was a musical. However, the film started using pop songs for its soundtrack and the idea was dropped. Jeralds described his desire to also make the film dramatically stronger than a TV episode, saying that he wanted to "give you something that you haven't seen before".

### Casting

The series' regular voice actors: Sam Vincent, Scott McNeil, Brian Drummond, Nicole Oliver, Peter Kelamis, Kelly Sheridan, Terry Klassen, Kathleen Barr and Michael Daingerfield, as well as semi-regular performers Ellen Kennedy, Michael Dobson, Trevor Devall, Mark Oliver, Brian Dobson, Lee Tockar, Ty Olsson, Matt Hill, and David Paul Grove, reprised their roles. By April 2018, it was later announced that Ralph Fiennes, Sandra Bullock, Jim Cummings, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Brad Pitt would play new characters, respectively. On June 11, Matthew Broderick, Kevin James, John Goodman, Tom Scharpling, Kath Soucie, and Ben Stiller were confirmed additions to the cast. For the role of Kevin Whitney, more than 1,400 people auditioned before 12-year-old Josh Zaharia from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, got the role.

### Animation

Veteran Walt Disney Animation Studios animator Eric Goldberg announced that he would return to Warner Bros. Animation to work on the film. In May 2018, fellow Disney animator Jeff Johnson, also worked on the film. That same month, a Warner Bros. Animation veteran Kirk Tingblad, was named as director of animation.

In August 2018, Stevan Wahl, known for *Curious George*, was hired to work in the animation department as well. Andreas Deja, best known for *The Princess and the Frog*, started doing animation for the film in September of the same year. In July 2018, Frans Vischer, who worked extensively on *Winnie the Pooh*, announced that he will serve as an animator on the film. By December, Vischer shared the design for Krypto the Superdog and Kevin Whitney online, revealing that the film will stay true to previous designs of the *Krypto the Superdog* characters. There are 246 film crews with a team of about 55 devoted to the animation. Their biggest challenge was creating high-quality theatrical 2D animation that didn't lose the sense of the series.

Animation services were provided by Dong Woo Animation in Seoul, South Korea, Top Draw Animation in Manila, Philippines, AKOM Productions in Seoul, South Korea, Brilliant Pictures in Taipei, Taiwan, Yowza! Animation and Tonic DNA in Canada, A. Film A/S in Copenhagen, Denmark, Premise Entertainment in Orlando, Florida, HGN Produções in Brooklin, São Paulo, Brazil and Folimage in Paris, France. The visual effects and compositing services were provided by Deluxe Animation Studios in Los Angeles, California and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The film was for the most part tradigitally created with Toon Boom's Harmony software.

### Music and sound

Christopher Lennertz composed the score for the film with Kier Lehman serving as the music supervisor. In addition to using the original series' music work from William Anderson on the film, he also composed themes for each of the film's characters. Krypto the Superdog's action score was the major focus and he also composed themes for Kevin Whitney, Ace the Bat-Hound, Streaky the Supercat, Zapper, Andrea Sussman and Night Watch, and Dr. Drex. The orchestral score was recorded at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, Tennessee and mixed at Sonic Fuel Studios in El Segundo, California.

The sound production work was done at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California.

## Soundtrack

 Released
 Length
 Label

On August 6, 2019, it was announced *Krypto the Superdog: The Movie* *(Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)* would be released on all digital music streaming platforms on November 15, 2019, by Atlantic Records. Two singles released from the soundtrack are "Our Time To Shine" by Twenty One Pilots, and "We Got This Together" by David Archuleta and Justice Smith, featuring Sabrina Claudio.

The soundtrack includes brand new original songs by various artists, including Ally Brooke, Sia, Cash Cash, Meghan Trainor, Lil James, and Ritt Momney, as well as other songs by The Click Five, Dream Street and Strawberry Alarm Clock.

The soundtrack also contains a rendition of the franchise's theme song by Panic! at the Disco, and modified remakes of "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "I'm Your Superman" by Jordan McGraw and Paramore.

## Release

### Theatrical release

The film was released in theaters in the United States on November 22, 2019, by Warner Bros. Pictures; its yellow and red-carpet world premiere was at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on November 17, 2019. The film's theatrical release was preceded by *Bigger Electric*, a short film based on the television series *Static Shock*.

### Marketing

In early spring 2019, American fast food chain Sonic Drive-In announced that they will be the official partner of the film. Other brands that partnered with the film include Toyota, IDW Publishing, Kellogg's, Wells Fargo card, Mattel, and GameStop.

#### Video game

Based on *Krypto the Superdog: The Movie*, the videogame was announced on July 23, 2019 and was released in North America on October 18, 2019 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows; on December 4, 2019 it was released on macOS.

### Home media

*Krypto the Superdog: The Movie* was released on digital and Movies Anywhere on February 4, 2020 and was released by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray on February 25, 2020. It includes the mini-movie *Kevin's Playhouse*, the *Static Shock* short *Bigger Electric*, deleted scenes, outtakes, audio commentary, and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

## Reception

### Box office

The film started its opening weekend at $15 million; making back its budget, then grossed $42.1 million during December, followed by $56 million the next in January. On its final month in theaters, it had grossed $108 million.

### Critical response

Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 84% approval rating based on the 97 reviews and its average rating is 6.5/10 on IMDb. The critical consensus reads, "*Krypto the Superdog: The Movie* make the world with fluid animation, great characters, and a spectacular voice cast that will make some of today's animated movies look awesome and should give its youthful target demographic exactly what they're looking for". Metacritic assigns the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore gives the film a "A–" on its A+ to F scale, and PostTrak rated it 4 out of 5 stars; social media monitor RelishMix noted their online responses were "great".

However, some critics were critical in the film for lazy writing, poor pacing, and a lackluster story. RogerEbert.com's Christy Lemire gave the film a negative review, saying, "*Krypto the Superdog* has enough action to keep young fans entertained, but parents will likely be bored by the dragging pace and complicated plot."

## Gallery

*Main article: Krypto the Superdog: The Movie/Gallery*
## Standalone follow-up

*Main article: DC League of Super-Pets*
A computer-animated standalone film, titled *DC League of Super-Pets*, was released on July 29, 2022. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

## Trivia

* This is the first ever feature film of the series.
* This is the first animated *Krypto the Superdog* movie to hit theaters.
	+ This is also the first ever *Krypto the Superdog* movie in general to hit theaters.
* This is Cartoon Network's fifth original movie to be released theatrically, after *The Powerpuff Girls Movie*, which was released in 2002, *Regular Show: The Movie*, which was released in 2015, *The Lego Ninjago Movie*, which was released in 2017, and *Teen Titans Go! To the Movies*, which was released in 2018.
	+ Although, *Teen Titans Go!* and *Krypto the Superdog* are only aired on Cartoon Network, and made by Warner Bros.
* The twelfth Warner Bros.' animated film to be released in November, after The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie (1981), Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer (1985), The Nutcracker Prince (1990), Space Jam (1996), Pokémon: The First Movie (1999), Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), The Polar Express (2004), Happy Feet (2006), Beowulf (2007) and Happy Feet Two (2011).
* Kath Soucie's first theatrically released traditionally animated Warner Bros. film since *Clifford's Really Big Movie* (2004) 14 years prior.
* This is the fourth theatrical 2D animated superhero movie in 26 years after *Batman: Mask of the Phantasm* (1993), *Teen Titans: The Movie* (2012) and *Teen Titans Go! To the Movies* (2018), if one doesn't count *Batman: The Killing Joke* (2016).
* This is Warner Animation Group’s second traditionally animated film.
* This is Warner Bros. Animation’s third theatrical animated film, the first was Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) and the second was Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018).
* The eighth DC Comics animated film to be released theatrically, after *Batman: Mask of the Phantasm*, *Teen Titans: The Movie*, *Batman: The Killing Joke*, *Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders*, *The LEGO Batman Movie*, *Batman and Harley Quinn* and *Teen Titans Go! To the Movies*.
* Warner Bros. Animation's third feature film based on one of their own television shows.
* For the role of Kevin Whitney, over 1400 young actors auditioned from all over the USA and Canada, before Vancouverite middle school student Josh Zaharia got the part.
* The last 2D animated film with the 1967 MPAA logo.
* The fifteenth theatrical release based on a Cartoon Network show.
* This is Warner Animation Group's second film to be produced in a 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio after Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018).
* Third 2D animated DC movie released in theaters.
* Warner Bros. Animation's most recent 2D animated theatrical movie until Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021).

## Transcripts

### Main

To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

### Trailers

To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.

## Credits

*Main article: Krypto the Superdog: The Movie/Credits*