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STUDIO: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
MSRP: $14.98
RATED: NR
RUNNING TIME: 110 Minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Tour of Krypto’s spaceship
• Unaired promo
The Pitch
"Laika,
come home!"
The Humans
Sam
Vincent, Michael Daingerfield, Brian Dobson.
The Nutshell
Poor
Krypto gets launched into space (presumably as a test to see if the rocket for
Kal-El will be safe for Kryptonian carriage) and eventually finds his way to
Earth, where he meets up with a kid named Kevin. Together with Kevin, the
superdog saves subrurbia from a variety of minor threats while Big Blue is occupado.
What kind of monster could give a bad review to a face like this?
The Lowdown
The only
reason Krypto the Superdog succeeds even a little bit is exactly the
reason that Superman is the least compelling of all superheroes. The Man of
Steel’s superglued moral compass is about as fascinating to watch as a flagpole
in a light breeze — however, that kind of rigid good-heartedness is a perfect
quality for a canine companion. Krypto is Superman as a dog, in which form he
functions far more believably than he ever did as a biped.
As for
the show itself, well, it’s not that
successful. The writing is overly descriptive, and its combination with the
more action-oriented plotlines makes it difficult to guess the target audience.
The humor, always a vital component in children’s programming, is flat and recycled.
Krypto’s sidekick Kevin isn’t even as memorable as some other character in some
other film that I can’t quite put my finger on right now. Contrast him with
Timmy, or Cosmo and Wanda, from The Fairly Odd Parents; those
characters are individuals, and though they are not deeply drawn they are at
least sketched on something larger than a thumbnail.
This is going to end up like that time the guy tried
to masturbate with a belt sander, isn’t it?
As I see
it, the problem with Krypto the Superdog is that children
are more interested in characters than fables at their age. Moralizing survives
as vague impressions in a child’s mind, but characters can single-handedly
attach a face, voice, or even a whole monologue to whatever lessons or
entertainment a given show’s director wants to communicate. Apart from the
titular beast, who survives in the imagination simply because he’s an analogue
of an established character, there’s no one much to latch onto.
The Package
There are
five episodes on this disc, and all are presented in a crisp 4:3 aspect ratio
with Dolby digital stereo soundtracks. For bonuses, you get a fun little
interactive tour of Krypto’s spaceship, and a brief promo spot that never
aired.
5.7 out of 10