A superhero film starring Keanu Reeves as Batman, John Krasinski as Superman, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as producer might sound like the cinematic reboot the DC Extended Universe needs ⏤ at least until you realize this is the description of the animated kids’ film DC League of Super-Pets, an entry in the comic book movie genre that is already dividing critics.
However, when the bar is set a bit lower for a film that is mostly aimed at entertaining small children, there were plenty of positive reviews of the movie.
“SuperPets manages to be a fun cartoon full of truly sweet moments that kids will adore, and that’s all it needs to be,” DiscussingFilm wrote in a Twitter post.
Variety even went so far as to proclaim most superhero films “a kiddie cartoon” anyway, so why shouldn’t DC League of Super-Pets — which is perhaps the antithesis of Zack Snyder’s brooding taking on the world of DC — get the spotlight, for once?
In his review, Owen Gleiberman called the film “an animated romp that has a cheeky light brashness.”
The Hollywood Reporter similarly called DC League of Super-Pets a “cutesy animated romp.”
The movie also stars the likes of Johnson as Krypto, Superman’s dog, and Kevin Hart’s Ace, Batman’s canine. However, the duo of actors who brought audiences comedic chemistry in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle couldn’t quite save Super-Pets from being “eminently forgettable,” according to SlashFilm.
Zaki Hasan said he was “absolutely delighted” with DC League of Super-Pets for his review with the San Francisco Chronicle.
Do any of the review aggregate sites offer a score for the film yet? Based on 11 reviews, Metacritic has given DC League of Super-Pets a rather dismal score of 57/100 — with three positive reviews and four mixed reviews included in the calculation. With the film just days away from releasing in theaters, it has yet to generate a critical score on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing.
DC League of Super-Pets comes to theaters on July 29, 2022.
