FILM · 2025 · USA
Dog Man
31 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (31)
- #001
The number the Mayor gives to the Chief is a real phone number. In fact, it repeats the same words heard in the film.
- #002
Because her children were fans of the book series, Isla Fisher was already quite familiar with the source material before she began voicing Sarah Hatoff.
- #003
The film's first act parallels the plot of RoboCop (1987), in which a murdered police officer is reincarnated as a 'super cop.' While struggling with memories of his past life, he visits his old home and questions his identity.
- #004
Dav Pilkey, the creator of the Dog Man series, drew inspiration from his childhood experiences with ADHD and dyslexia and channeled the difficulties he faced into creative storytelling.
- #005
Pete Davidson grew up reading the Captain Underpants books and was excited to appear in this film as Petey.
- #006
Although it is never stated in the film, the grandfather's full name (unlike the books, where it is Crud) is 'Garfield F. Heathcliff,' a nod to the three most famous animated cats. The F stands for Felix.
- #007
In one of the police station's background scenes, there is a bulletin board featuring a "WANTED" poster with a roughly drawn stick figure in a cape. This is a subtle reference to Captain Underpants, another famous work by Dav Pilkey.
- #008
A drawing of Li'l Petey's superhero persona Bark Knight from Dog Man can be seen on the refrigerator during the pair's Good-Times Montage.
- #009
George Beard and Harold Hutchins, the fictional creators of the Dog Man comic and the protagonists of Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017), have a cameo appearance. They can be seen sitting on a bench overlooking the city as buildings are destroyed.
- #010
It is based on the Dog Man book series written by Dav Pilkey.
- #011
The art book includes an illustration of Dog Man in his Bark Knight costume, suggesting it was considered for the film at some point but ultimately did not appear.
- #012
When the factories come to life, they can only say "Gooba gaba!" In "Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties," the factories say "Gooba gaba gooba gaba one of us one of us!" a reference to the 1932 Tod Browning classic Freaks (1932).
- #013
The film was actually going to be animated in stop-motion, as implied in the 6th book. However, given their previous collaborations, Dav Pilkey pushed for it to be made in CGI animation only if Peter Hastings directed.
- #014
Some Explanatory Cutaways are done with frozen frames and subtitles on screen, mimicking the running joke from the books, where such cutaways appear on the next chapter's title pages.
- #015
This is Luenell's first animated film to be released in theaters outside of the Hotel Transylvania films.
- #016
In this film, a similar but opposite plot unfolds regarding the secondary villain compared to what happened in Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017). In one film, a good man (Melvin Sneedy) joined forces with the main villain (Professor Poopypants) and turned into a bad guy, while in the other, the villain (Petey) turned good because there was someone worse than him (Flippy).
- #017
On the station's most wanted board, there is a picture of the fairy from the 8th book.
- #018
Dog Man, a creature made from a dog's head sewn onto a human body, is a dark reference to the experiments of Sergei Brukhonenko and Boris Levinskovsky in 1939, in which dogs' heads were severed and the heads were kept alive artificially for days.
- #019
The film's climax reveals that the true villain is not Petey but Flippy, the telekinetic fish Petey resurrects. Interestingly, Flippy's voice actor, Ricky Gervais, had previously voiced a cat in two earlier animated films: The Willoughbys (2020) and Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022).
- #020
Like Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017), the film had only a single trailer before its release, a possible tradition in film adaptations of Dav Pilkey's books.
- #021
Petey is the third character thought to be the main antagonist in the DreamWorks Animation film, and this is proven wrong at the climax, when the true villain turns out to be Flippy the Fish. The other two films were Turbo (2013), starring Kim Ly, where the true villain was Guy Gagne, and Abominable (2019), starring Burnish, where the true villain was Dr. Zara.
- #022
This is Cheri Oteri's first feature-length animated film since Shrek the Third (2007), also from DreamWorks Animation.
- #023
This is Kate Micucci's fifth animated film, after Rio 2 (2014), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015), The Lego Batman Movie (2017) and Seal Team (2021).
- #024
This is the second animated film in which Isla Fisher does not use an American accent for the character she voices.
- #025
It was released three days before Isla Fisher's 49th birthday.
- #026
Peter Hastings cast Yung Gravy for a voice role, and Yung Gravy recorded a song for the film's soundtrack. This was the casting strategy Hastings learned while making The Country Bears (2002), when he cast Krystal, Jennifer Paige, Brian Setzer, Bonnie Riatt, Don Henley and John Hiatt and also featured them on the film's music.
- #027
This is DreamWorks' third superhero film, after Megamind (2010) and Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017).
- #028
This is the second animated film Isla Fisher and Stephen Root have made together, after Rango (2011).
- #029
This is the second animated film Pete Davidson and Lil Rel Howery have made together, after The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019).
- #030
This is Maggie Wheeler's second animated film, after The Addams Family (2019).
- #031
This is Poppy Liu's second animated film, after The Tiger's Apprentice (2024).
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