Displaying items by tag: Lil Rel Howery

DOG MAN

US, 2025, 89 minutes, Colour.

Voices of: Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher, Billy Boyd, Peter Hastings, Lucas Hopkins Calderon, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Root.

Directed by Peter Hastings.

Since 2016, there have been at least 13, books about Dog Man, written by Dav Pilkey, who also wrote the Captain Underpants series (one of which was filmed).

This is an animation film, with quite a high-powered voice cast, directed by Peter Hastings who also provides the sounds for Dog Man, which is very much geared to a younger audience. With the strange story of Dog Man and his origins, as we watch the film, we will be wondering who is the target audience. A quick enquiry on Google offers some informative help: The series features a half-dog, half-human police officer who fights crime and saves the day in the city. Written in a graphic novel format with comic-style illustrations and speech bubbles, these books are popular with children aged 6-9.

So, there is the answer. Perhaps too much action for the under 6s, perhaps not enough sophistication for the 10s and overs – and, probably a warning that parents and grandparents, unless they are kindly and an demanding, probably will not enjoy the antics so much.

As indicated, the premise seems quite improbable, the officer and his pet dog, Greg, are severely hurt in an accident, the man surviving only by having the transplant of Greg’s head onto his body! He is expected to go into action against the villainous cat, Petey, who wants to eliminate all do-gooders, has his own laboratory and assistant to create menacing machines, but also a little clone cat, Little Petey.

So, a villain, a little cat seeking affection, dog man in action, hounded by the chief of police, and all kinds of chases and mayhem. However, rather a surprise, a cantankerous fish starts to exercise power and menace over all of them (voiced by Ricky Gervais, in villainous English) which leads them to an alliance of Petey  and Dog Man.

So, there we are, possibly for excitable 6 to 9s, probably not so much for the rest of us.

ONE OF THEM DAYS

US, 2025, 97 minutes, Colour.

Keke Palmer, SZA, Vanessa Cambell Calloway, Lil Rel Howery, Gabrielle Dennis, Janelle James, Amin Joseph, Joshua David Neal, Aziza Scott, Maude Apatow.

Directed by Laurence Lamont.

Week review: One of Then Movies. LA, loud. The hood, louder. All kinds of farcical situations, loudest.

This is the story of two friends, one who is successful in a diner and wanting to apply for managing a franchise. The other is an artist, talented, fairly irresponsible, absolutely erratic in her behaviour.

Most of the characters are in their 30s, the focus on women, some talented, some scattered, some fears. And it would seem that the target audience is the same women in their 30s. There are quite a number of men in the cast but so many of them are the subject of comedy, even ridicule.

And, except true character played by Maude Patel, all the characters and their situations are African-American.

Eccentric situation after’s eccentric situation is piled on the other, issues of not paying rent, being evicted, time pressures, issues of money being stolen, getting appear of train issues to sell them online to get the money, personal clashes and fights, suspicious characters, sympathetic characters at the interview for the job, jokes like a thief racing through every time there is a self-serve driving at a diner, all depending on one’s sense of humour.

But, despite everything, the chaotic scene at a blood bank, blood everywhere, there is a happy solution – actually occasioned by the white woman character.

And finally, Hollywood style after all the chaos, one of them happy endings!

(According to the IMDb, many of the target audience than the film very funny, hilarious. But, the question of whether the film would travel outside the good in LA, in other American cities – or beyond.)

REUNION

US, 2024, 90 minutes, Colour.

Lil Rel Howery, Billy Magnussen, Jamie Chung, Chace Crawford, Jillian Bell, Michael Hitchcock, Cassandra Blair, Diane Doan, Nina Dobrev.

Directed by Chris Nelson.

The familiar situation, the class reunion, this time held at a country estate in winter. There are the usual introductions to the guests, the focus on someone who has not achieved much in life play by Lil Lil Howery and the local police officer played by Billy Magnusson.

There is the usual activity, raucous American, drinking, dancing, some sex jokes…

There are also some conflicts in a very strange character played by Jillian Bell, making everyone suspicious. And Nina Dobrev plays an ambitious candidate for Congress. Most of the guests leave but a storm blows up leaving six visitors in the house.

For the rest of the film, it is a variation on Cluedo. There is an investigation of the house after a dead body is found, the host, there is suspicions, behaviour, gradual revelations about some of the characters and financial deals, journalist investigations, political blackmail… And, another corpse is found in the boot of a car.

There is a plausible explanation for the solution, one aspect is a guess by most audiences, someone outside the house, but a surprise to discover who was the collaborator inside the house.

And, Lil Rel Howery gets the opportunity to do a Poirot explanation of all the events to the assembled characters.

This party is obvious and, probably, mostly unnecessary. Audiences may enjoy the untangling of the mystery.

HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON

US, 2024, 90 minutes, Colour.

Zachary Levi, Lil Rel Howery, Zooey Deschanel, Benjamin Bottani, Tanya Reynolds, Jemaine Clement, Alfred Molina.

Directed by Carlos  Saldanha.

Eagerness to see Harold and the Purple Crayon will depend on whether audiences grew up with Crockett Johnson’s classic story and illustrations (and his nine other books in the series as well as the television episodes). Those who do not know Johnson’s books, Harold began life in 1955 as a four-year-old, inhabiting a fantasy world where, if he needed or wanted something, he simply drew it, and there it was. However, in later books, he was an adult.

In this version, Harold is living a happy life, and drawing with his crayon, solving every need with a drawing = and there it is.. He is accompanied by his close friends, Moose and Porcupine. So, a pleasant opening, an introduction into Harold’s world, his conversations, his listening to the voice of his creator, whom he calls Old Man (voiced by Alfred Molina), but with a desire to go out into what he calls “The Real World”.

And, out he goes, in the form of Zachary Levi. Soon after Moose emerges but in human form, played by comedian Lil Rel Howery. But it takes rather a longer time for Porcupine (Tanya Reynolds) who discovers her friends missing, but does not emerge in the real world anywhere close to them, spending a long time in the search, looking for clues – and they are always purple.

And the purple crayon! Whenever Harold draws, it is with his beloved purple crayon. And, when he emerges into the real world, he simply puts his old talent into practice, drawing a purple bike, replacing a flat tire was a purple one, painting of a house, purple no limits – even later, a plane which flies through the city.

Harassed mother Teri (Zoe Deschanel) driving with her son, Mel (a likeable Benjamin Bottani), an intelligent boy who has a secret invisible mini-dragon friend, crashes into Harold and Moose on their bike. Which leads to a whole lot of adventures, searching for The Old Man, all kinds of funny and dangerous escapades and situations, and some villainy in the form of Jemaine Clement, librarian who they think will be able to find The Old Man but, frustrated with his Game of Thrones -like novel not being accepted, steals the purple crayon for dastardly purposes.

The film will appeal to boys of Mel’s age, 13 and down. As regards adult audiences, parents, the difficulty is the character of Harold, a child in an adult’s body, uttering childlike (and childish) comments (and, for this reviewer, difficult because actor Zachary Levi has played the central role in the least liked superhero films, the two Shazams).

But, within the limits it sets itself and the limits for the age audience and identifying with Harold, it can be quite a nice pastime.

1. The original books, the story, the sketches? Television episodes?
2. The intended audience, children, boys identifying with Harold, the age group, 13 down, identifying with Harold but also with Metal?
3. The animation style, bringing Crockett Johnson’s style to life, simple, creative? And the decision to have a purple crayon? And breaking it, Mel having half and being creative, Gary stealing the half, swallowing it, having the power, bringing it up again? The adventures of the crayon?
4. Harold, visually, Moose and Porcupine, visuals? Their adventures, Harold drawing, solving every problem? The voice of The Old Man, the creator? Narrative? Harold wanting to find The Old Man, to go into the Real World?
5. Drawing the door, going into the real world, in the person of Zachary Levi? His voice and tone? Moose following, transformed into human, Lil Rel Lowrey, African-American? Porcupine later discovering they had gone, transformed, into the girl, but not near Harold and Moose, tracking them down? The detectives and their suspicions?
6. Exhilaration in the Real World, looking for the Old Man, the man in the park, his reaction, talking to the detectives? Drawing the bicycle, enjoying the ride, the city, the transition to Teri and Mel, the absent father, the argument, Mel and his invisible dragon friend? The crash? The reaction, the flat tire – and Harold drawing the purple tire?
7. Teri, exasperated, mil wanting them to come home, in the house, the room, painting the house purple, the meals and the pies? Teri and her work, not liking it, at the supermarket, her boss and his comments, getting the two to take her place, Mel and the trouble at school? The chaos in the store, pratfalls and mayhem? Teri sacked?
8. Mel, the friendship, the visualising of the Dragon?
9. The episode of drawing the plane, flying, the exhilaration, the dangers, and the sky writing of Teri’s phone number in the sky, asking for the old man, the incessant number of phone calls?
10. The library, Gary, smug, his novel, the fewer the reading, their walking out? His infatuation with Teri? Mel and his dislike? The issue of the old man? Gary offering to help? The drama, getting them into trouble, Gary doing the drawing, the forcing the crayon out of him?
11. Happy ending, Porcupine finding them, their being together, Mel happy, his mother? And the glimpse of Gary and his imagination and Teri in his fantasy, turning him down?
12. Younger audiences identifying with Mel, with Harold, the impact for parent audiences?