Review by Woodrow Phoenix

Dog Man and Cat Kid is the fourth in a series of fun adventures for children by author Dav Pilkey, channeling the writing and drawing of two grade-school boys called George and Harold. Originally spun off from Pilkey’s hugely popular Captain Underpants books for children, Dog Man, a heroic combo of police man and police dog, battles to keep the city safe from criminal mastermind Petey, an orange cat who is as inventive as he is evil.

As seen in A Tale of Two Kitties, things have changed for Dog Man with the arrival of the child-sized clone of Petey, called Li’l Petey. He now shares his kennel with both the super-intelligent kitten and his robot friend, HD-80. There is plenty of space for them in there because apparently all cartoon dogs must have kennels with tardis-like interiors. This one looks like a tiny red wooden shed on the outside but features multiple rooms on different levels, including a bedroom, a ballroom (literally a room full of balls to play with), and lots more spaces for them to hang out in.

Exciting news for everyone in the police department is that a fancy Italian movie star is in town to star in a film based on Dog Man’s life, and Dog Man himself is assigned to be her bodyguard in return for tummy rubs. Of course Petey the evil cat is extremely upset about this news: “DOG MAN MOVIE?!!?That’s the DUMBEST movie idea EVER!!!” His attempts to sabotage the making of the film lead to the usual mix of escalating silliness from lots of props in the coincidentally right or wrong places. The joke hit-rate remains very high in this story with multiple running gags that kids will love, along with a certain amount of touching character development as Li’l Petey tries to redirect his creator towards using his powers for good instead of evil. Will he succeed? The adventures continue in Lord of the Fleas.