Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)
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Two fourth-grade pranksters hypnotize their mean principal into becoming a superhero to keep from being separated in different classrooms.
The story
In Piqua, Ohio, best friends George Beard and Harold Hutchins create comic books featuring a superhero named Captain Underpants. As fourth-graders at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, their excessive pranks put them at odds with their cruel principal, Benjamin Krupp. When Krupp attempts to separate the boys into different classrooms, George uses a 3-D Hypno-Ring to hypnotize him into becoming Captain Underpants. The boys discover they can toggle his transformation by splashing water on him or snapping their fingers. They devise a plan to keep Krupp from separating them by convincing the superhero that Krupp is his secret identity.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In Piqua, Ohio, best friends George Beard and Harold Hutchins create comic books featuring a superhero named Captain Underpants. Their pranks at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School annoy their cruel principal, Benjamin Krupp, who tries to separate them into different classes. George hypnotizes Krupp into becoming Captain Underpants, and the boys learn to toggle his transformation with water and finger snaps. They plan to keep him in this state to stay together, but a rainstorm reverts him to Krupp, who successfully separates them. Meanwhile, a new science teacher, Professor Pee-Pee Diarrheastein Poopypants Esquire, seeks to eliminate all laughter. He and the nerdy Melvin Sneedly use a giant 'Turbo Toilet 2000' to turn students into humorless zombies. Captain Underpants tries to intervene but is thrown into toxic waste, which grants him real superpowers. George and Harold are captured, but a joke from their childhood overloads the toilet, freeing them and trapping Melvin in toilet paper. Captain Underpants defeats and shrinks Poopypants. The boys eventually destroy the Hypno-Ring to return Krupp to normal, but after setting him up on a date with the lunch lady Edith, Krupp has a change of heart. However, a group of 'Talking Toilets' attacks the restaurant, and an accidental finger snap transforms Krupp back into Captain Underpants, who flies off with the boys for a new adventure.
- First release year
- 2017
- Runtime (minutes)
- 89
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- David Soren
- Writers
- Nicholas Stoller · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Kevin Hart · George Beard; Ed Helms · Mr. Benjamin “Benny” Krupp / Captain Underpants; Nick Kroll · Professor Pee-Pee Diarrheastein Poopypants Esquire; Thomas Middleditch · Harold Hutchins; Jordan Peele · Melvin Sneedly; Kristen Schaal · Edith
- Genres
- animated; superhero; comedy
- Themes
- friendship; humor; imagination
- Tone and mood
- comedic; slapstick; whimsical
- Setting
- Piqua, Ohio, during the modern era at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School
- Premise and plot tags
- superhero; school life; hypnosis; comedy
- Source material / true-story basis
- Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
- Franchise connections
- Captain Underpants
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics and was generally favorable with audiences giving it a B+ grade.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 69 · scale: 100 · review count: 25
- Production trivia
- The film was the last DreamWorks movie to be released by Fox.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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