Story
Krypto the Super-Dog (voice of Dwayne Johnson) has been Superman’s (John Krasinski) best friend since they arrived on Earth together when Superman was a baby. Krypto joins Superman on all his missions to fight crime in Metropolis. But Krypto is feeling threatened by Superman’s relationship with Lois Lane (Olivia Wilde).
Meanwhile, Metropolis is under threat from the evil Lex Luthor (Marc Maron), who wants to destroy it. The main threat is Luthor’s laboratory experiment, a trained guinea pig called Lulu (Kate McKinnon). Lulu has managed to obtain a source of orange kryptonite that gives superpowers to pets. Together with her training, the kryptonite turns Lulu into an evil monster.
With help from her band of followers, Lulu captures Superman and all the superheroes who come to his aid. It’s now up to Krypto to save his best friend and Metropolis itself.
Themes
Superheroes; fantasy; animals in peril
Violence
DC League of Super-Pets has a lot of violence. Some of the violence is for comic purposes. It includes a lot of explosions, punches, fighting, crashes and so on, in which no-one gets seriously hurt. For example:
- Superman and Krypto hit each other. Krypto lifts Superman up into the air and drops him.
- A police car chases after robbers and crashes into another car.
- A large robot monster explodes.
- The superheroes all get into fights with the villains.
- Lulu destroys objects in a pet shop and sets the shop on fire.
- Chip, a squirrel, can send electricity out of his hands, which he uses to zap opponents and set things on fire.
- Krypto imagines biting Lois on the leg and throwing her into the ocean.
- Superman and Lulu fight, and Lulu overpowers and traps Superman.
- Krypto gets hit by a vehicle, which sends him flying. He lands heavily on the ground.
- A huge fireball crashes into a plane, which plummets to the ground.
- The guinea pigs trap a cat in a rubbish bin and blow up the bin.
- There’s general chaos in Metropolis. Everyone fights and cars are tossed around.
- Lulu sends Krypto flying, and he lands on a large spike.
- The superheroes all attack Lulu, who bursts into a huge fireball. This sends everyone flying.
Sexual references
DC League of Super-Pets has some sexual references. For example:
- Lois and Superman kiss a couple of times.
- Krypto tells his friend that he has to go to his special place when Lois sleeps over in the big bed.
- Merton, a turtle, often uses innuendo about finding love.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
There’s no use of substances in DC League of Super-Pets.
Nudity and sexual activity
There’s no nudity and sexual activity in DC League of Super-Pets.
Product placement
The following products are displayed or used in DC League of Super-Pets: DC comic book merchandise.
Coarse language
There’s some mild coarse language in DC League of Super-Pets, including ‘butt’, ‘oh my god’, ‘what the heck’ and ‘crap’. There’s also some name-calling, including ‘dummy, ‘stupid’, ‘losers’, ‘chumps’ and ‘dorks’.
Ideas to discuss with your children
DC League of Super-Pets is a fast-paced, action-packed superhero animation.
The movie is full of comic violence, so no-one gets hurt but some characters do appear injured or even dead at some points. There are also a couple of quite scary scenes. In addition, there are some adult jokes, which are likely to go over the heads of children. For these reasons, the movie isn’t suitable for children under 8 years, and we recommend parental guidance for children aged 8-10 years.
These are the main messages from DC League of Super-Pets:
- Superpowers don’t make you a hero.
- Love means putting the needs others before your own.
Values in DC League of Super-Pets that you could reinforce with your children include unconditional love, courage, bravery, heroism and selflessness.
DC League of Super-Pets could also give you the chance to talk with your children about how comic-style, superhero action is unrealistic, and children shouldn’t copy it.