‘DC League of Super-Pets’ review: 5 reasons to watch

MANILA, Philippines — I’m not the paw parent type. We had three turtles during the height of the pandemic – Leonardo, Rafael and Donatello, and a fighter fish – Michelangelo, but I never cared for them for over a year they had been with us before the three found new adoptive pet parents, and Michelangelo met his end in the three’s bellies.

Nonetheless, I found myself holding back tears when I recently watched Warner Bros. Pictures’ advanced screening of its latest offering, "DC League of Super-Pets." If you’d decide to spend the following weekend watching the movie alone or with your friends and/or family, then maybe you, too, would find the film a tearjerker and worth every penny mainly for the following reasons:

It reminds one of a dear hero pet

It is about time our real-life hero pets get a “big movie” treatment. 

Though I suck at pet-caring and often too busy to have a pet under my care, the movie did bring to mind how our childhood dog rescued my sister and I from danger. 

Our half-stray, half-Labrador pooch we just mindlessly named “Tutatoots” was with us since he was a puppy, hence the name. I did not give him any care or attention. I usually shooed him away of the house and made him stay outside to eat leftovers. But my younger siblings cared much for him – hugged him, patted him, walked him, gave him baths, and most importantly, cleaned his poop and mess – which is also a major reason why I don’t like having pets.

One afternoon, as my sister and I were heading back home from playing at a friend’s house, a pack of stray dogs blocked our way. Hungry, salivating, rabid — the canines had my sister and I hugging and crying for dear life. But just as several dogs were about to bite and attack us, out of nowhere came Tutatoots and took all the bites to himself, enabling me and my sister to escape. From a distance, as we flee, we saw Tutatoots, even as he was weakened by the bites, continuing to fight off the other dogs alone so that my sister and I can run home safely.

About an hour later, Tutatoots came home after us — he seemed to have dragged himself to walk with broken bones and flesh torn from bites. He slept peacefully in his usual place outside our house, never to wake up again.

Time and again, we hear of hero pets like Lassie, Hachiko or that nameless dog who passed-on tradition says was shot by his owners thinking that he bit their baby, only to find out that he was bloody actually because he bit the snake that was supposed to eat the child. And so “DC’s Super-Pets” reminded me not only of Tutatoots, but also of regret that I should have been kinder to my very own hero dog.

It could convince one to have a pet soon

Thanks to the variety of pets presented in the movie, one could be rooting for a favorite, just like how people usually pick their choice among the superheroes in the Justice League. The film effectively highlights how love and happiness works both ways for pets and pet owners when they are together.

It’s so realistic, sometimes you’d forget it’s animation

Don’t underestimate this film just because the main characters are animals and not humans. Even on a two-dimensional screen, the movie’s superb editing and effects are so convincing that the characters seem to pop out from the screens and into the real world. There were scenes that could fool you into thinking that it’s a live-action movie. 

From the plot to the technicals, it’s definitely apt for all ages.

It’s star-studded but it doesn’t matter

Although you could imagine Kevin Hart’s funny face whenever you’d hear his character Ace making quips, or be smitten away with the sexy voice of the equally gorgeous Diego Luna as he voiced Chip, you’d actually not feel star-struck and see Dwayne Johnson more than his character Krypto or Keanu Reeves as The Batman. These Hollywood A-listers disappear in the movie because the witty dialogues and the heartstrings-tugging storyline would enable one to see the characters as they are and not the big names behind them.

It would make you want a sequel

Unlike other superhero movies with political agenda or conflicts so burdensome they would challenge your life’s philosophies or even life’s purpose itself, "DC League of Super-Pets" is actually just pure feel-good and fun. Even the nemeses are so cute and cuddly that you’d also wish to see them again.

WATCH: 'DC League of Super-Pets' trailer

— Video from Warner Bros. Philippines via YouTube

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