Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is that rare kids’ comedy that feels like it was made by people who remember exactly how glorious it is to be nine years old and convinced your doodles could save the world. It’s fast, bright, and gleefully inventive—animation that bounces with comic-book energy, jokes that land with a surprising cleverness, and a warm-hearted core built on the friendship (and vocal chemistry) of George and Harold. Kevin Hart, Thomas Middleditch, and Ed Helms lean into the mayhem with perfect timing, turning the whole thing into a sugar-rush celebration of imagination and harmless rebellion. If you’re allergic to potty humor, you’ll want to steer clear, but if you can meet it on its own delightfully ridiculous wavelength, it’s a genuinely charming family movie that never forgets to be fun.

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is clearly trying to bottle the chaotic, doodle-on-your-notebook energy of the books and turn it into a loud, sugary celebration of kids being kids. When it works, it’s genuinely funny and oddly sweet about friendship, with lively animation and voice performances that commit hard to the silliness. But it’s also relentlessly hyperactive—packed with pop-song momentum, rapid-fire gags, and action that can feel overstuffed and a bit jumbled, like it’s afraid you’ll get bored if it breathes for two seconds. If rude bathroom humor and nonstop noise make you tired rather than amused, this will feel like a long sugar rush; if your family likes fast, goofy, anything-goes cartoons, it’ll probably land exactly as intended.