As we stood in the foyer, waiting to enter the screening, I heard a mum say to her child, 'So, what is this Dog Man anyway?'
It surprised me that any parent of a child aged six to 10 might not be familiar with Dav Pilkey's hugely popular graphic novels, as most of the kids in my sons' class are obsessed with this crime-fighting supa cop and his dogged pursuit of the feline supervillain Petey the Cat.
Rarely a day goes by that my sons Odhran, 9, and Reuben, 6, aren't reading a Dog Man book aloud and in dramatic fashion, as they eat at the kitchen table, travel in the back of the car, or climb into bed.
So, needless to say, they were really excited about Dog Man being adapted for the screen by DreamWorks Animation.
The movie begins with inept police officer, Knight, and his loyal and clever dog partner, Greg, chasing after evil Petey the Cat. But when they fail to defuse a bomb set by Petey, the resulting explosion damages Knight's head and Greg's body beyond repair.
A couple of medics decide that the only thing to do is to sew the dog's head on to the police officer's body, and Dog Man the supa cop is created.
Dog Man must stop evil Petey, whose latest plan is to clone himself to double his ability to commit crimes.
But, he doesn't read the manual for the cloning machine correctly and creates the kitten Lil Petey, who is a sweet and sensitive soul.
Things are further complicated when Lil Petey forms an unexpected friendship with Dog Man. But when another villain targets 'do-gooder' Lil Petey, Dog Man and Petey must reluctantly come together to save the kitten.
Dog Man is a spinoff from Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants franchise, and the movie adaptations share the same high-energy and silliness.
He might be the protagonist, but, true to the books, Dog Man whispers and growls but doesn't actually speak, which is why it's the gleefully evil Petey, voiced by Pete Davidson, who steals the show, and Stephen Root, as Grampa, is highly entertaining as Petey's selfish, criminal, father. There are some surprise voices too, with Ricky Gervais as Flippy the Fish.
The animation has a comic book feel in line with Pilkey's brightly coloured graphic novels.
But unlike the humour in Despicable Me, or the emotional depth of Inside Out, there's not a lot in this movie to keep the adults entertained, and the narrative felt unfocused. However, I'm not the intended audience for Dog Man. So, I'll stop barking on, and let the experts speak...
Odhran, 9, says: 'It was really funny and I loved that it included lot of parts from different Dog Man books. There were bits from the original Dog Man, Dog Man Unleashed, and Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties. And I spotted Easter eggs in Petey's lab. I was really happy that Flippy appeared in the movie, and Chief (Lil Rel Howery) and Sarah Hatoff's (Isla Fisher) voices were exactly as I imagined. I wasn't expecting Grampa to be in it, so that was a nice surprise.'
Reuben, 6, says: 'I thought the animation was really cool, and I liked how the movie mixed the different books together. My favourite characters were Petey and Lil Petey. I liked all the fighting at the end, and the sacrifice Dog Man made. I think Petey learned to be a little bit good. I'm looking forward to watching the movie again.'
Go fetch your tickets for Dog Man - in cinemas from 7 February, 2025.