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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Dog Man (Tom Howe)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if Tom Howe's outrageously frenetic music caught your
attention in the film, because you can't appreciate the score on album
with knowing why it's so downright insane.
Avoid it... if you loathe parody scores that jump unpredictably from 1970's to big band jazz and traditional orchestral mayhem for the genre, the personality of this work shifting wildly from cue to cue.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Dog Man: (Tom Howe) Based on three of the books in
the "Dog Man" series that spun off from "Captain Underpants" in 2016,
the cinematic adaptation of Dog Man in early 2025 was met with
critical and popular praise. The concept proposes that a police officer
and his dog are both badly injured in a warehouse explosion and, in an
effort to save the working parts of both, doctors combine the dog's head
with the human's body. Thus, Dog Man is born. But while he laments the
loss of both his former lives, there are still villains to pursue across
his city, and the primary bad guy is a maniacal orange cat named Petey
who caused the aforementioned explosion. That villain clones himself for
purposes of villainy, but that kitten wants no business in evil.
Ultimately, after much battling between the leads and the resurrection
of telekinetic fish, Flippy, that is eventually the true villain, there
is reconciliation and peace to be found. The whole concept is about as
juvenile and ridiculous as "Captain Underpants," so don't expect
intellectual brilliance at every turn. The soundtrack for Dog Man
features a score by British composer Tom Howe and a song, "Supa Good!!!"
by Yung Gravy, that certainly has James Brown rolling over in his grave.
Howe got his start in the business like many in his generation, as a
ghostwriter, in this case contributing to many Harry and Rupert
Gregson-Williams' prominent projects of the 2010's. As he graduated into
a solo career, he toiled with countless television series, and his
recent film score credits have often been tied to the children's
animation genre, which provided him the connections necessary to earn
the trust of DreamWorks and Universal for Dog Man. He wastes no
time plundering just about every kind of soundtrack for animated
concepts, providing a parody score that explodes with energy and rarely
lets up. Although this movie is technically a sequel to Captain
Underpants: The First Epic Movie from 2017, nothing from Theodore
Shapiro's superb score for that film survives here. Instead, Howe treads
towards even wilder territory, admitting himself that the score is
"bonkers." The listening experience is explosively outrageous in its
pilfering of eras and genres of music, but the execution of that
strategy is very well handled, even if it doesn't make for the most
palatable of album experiences.
Howe's approach to Dog Man balances exuberant 1970's police caper tones with dashes of Henry Mancini personality, shifting when necessary to more conventional orchestral children's music, especially in the work's latter half as the characters' sensitivities are fleshed out. The instrumental palette is extremely diverse, combining an orchestra and occasional choral infusions with the vintage stylings led by saxophone, electric guitar, drum kit, synthesizers, and open brass. The big band material carries over to later in the score, sometimes touching upon the attitude of Brian Tyler's rambunctious Now You See Me scores, and the "Best Friends" cue is downright riotous in personality. There are also a wealth of unusual instrumental applications and sound effects, like a panting dog emulated by voice, these techniques reportedly inspired by the composer's appreciation for Ennio Morricone. The extreme instrumental usage can overwhelm at times, and certainly when the tempos and emotions of a cue sway violently within its own confines. Most casual listeners may find that Howe's style pushes Michael Giacchino's The Incredibles frequently, especially when wailing brass gets its moments to shine. The composer offers several themes in the score, the primary one for Dog Man and his antics not as well focused as secondary ideas representing family and the evil fish. The Dog Man theme is preceded by a snazzy caper rhythm and conveys confidence with its ascending heroism. A bright fanfare portion of the theme sounds almost like a villain identity for Petey, and some associations with the initially adversarial cat may be at play here. This main theme enjoys its most 1970's-like performance in the totally wild "Roger That," and it blasts in its dark superhero fanfare mode at the start of "Big Jump." The idea's rhythm at 0:07 joins with some Lalo Schifrin influence and the panting dog effect that is humorously awful, seemingly by intent. The Dog Man theme is heard briefly at the start of "Bomb Squad" and later on bolder brass before bursting in faux newsroom theme mode to begin "Reporting on Dogman," followed by the rhythm; a super-silly version for barking voices and trumpets tests your patience in this cue. The theme undergoes crazy variations in the zany "Arresting Petey" while the fanfare mode stomps throughout "Flippy Stolen." The idea is fragmented throughout "I Want My Life Back" and struggles to complete its phrasing in "The Final Showdown" prior to a silly, pitch-wavering conclusion. The main Dog Man theme doesn't experience as much of a catharsis at the end of Dog Man as hoped, but it does factor in later cues. It flourishes again in the snazzy action of "Dog vs Building," shifts into lazy European pleasantries in "Just Need a Friend," defeats the Flippy theme in "Arresting Flippy," and mingles with the family theme in "Ruff Ruff." That theme for family doubles for the character of Li'l Petey, and it really emerges in the sentimentality during the second half of the score. After occupying all of the keyboarding with its elegance in "Doghouse Memories," the theme's piano and plucking in "Off the Case" is a little more dramatic but still lighthearted. It twinkles with romantic sadness in "Abandoned" before a rude interruption, becomes more hopeful and nearly cheery in all of "Cats & Dogs," and is teased by clarinet and xylophone at the outset of "Just Like Me" before recurring later on piano. The family theme is tender once again at the end of "Searching for Li'l Petey" but explodes in victorious action mode in the last minute of "Everyone is a Hero." Slight during several moments in "Another Final Showdown" against Western parodies, the idea reduces to saxophone, string, and woodwind thoughtfulness in "Petey the Do Gooder" and enjoys a friendly wrap in "Ruff Ruff." On the darker side of the score, the villain theme for Flippy the fish doesn't really shine until it consolidates finally in "Flippy is Back," a funny march with choir and snare before a brass rendition in the middle of the cue is more appropriately ominous. This theme returns with brass and snare force at 0:24 into "They're Related!," stomps in pieces throughout "Getting Help," and is carried by the brass openly in "Everyone is a Hero" with a grandiose moment for choir. As the character is defeated, the theme pounds a few notes to a resolution in the middle of "Arresting Flippy" and a variant interrupts the false ending in "Ruff Ruff" with a huge closing crescendo of parody intent. On the whole, the listening experience for Dog Man is actually quite consistent from start to finish, the softer interludes for the family theme not lasting long enough to really change the mood of the whole. As Howe said, this score is "bonkers," and it makes for 48 minutes of sheer madness on album. Its weakness comes in the inability of the themes, and especially the main one, to remain front of mind during all of the frenetic shifts. As such, listeners may find the score to be outrageously anonymous. Still, it's technically masterful in its execution even if challenging to digest, and Howe shows the capability to parlay this work into a solid animation career if he chooses. Let's hope that the panting dog effects rest in peace.
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 50:24
* performed by Yung Gravy
NOTES & QUOTES:
There exists no official packaging for this album.
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