Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

George Beard and Harold Hutchins are fourth graders in Piqua, Ohio, who spend their time drawing comic books about Captain Underpants, a good-natured but dim superhero who wears only underwear and a cape. The two friends also delight in pranking their bad-tempered school principal, Mr. Krupp, who threatens to put them in separate classes. To stop him, the boys hypnotize him, and he comes to believe he really is their made-up hero; a snap of the fingers turns him into Captain Underpants, while water brings Mr. Krupp back. Their creation is soon tested against a genuine threat, the mad scientist Professor Poopypants, who wants to rid the world of laughter, aided by the sneaky classmate Melvin Sneedly.

The film is an animated adaptation of the children's books by Dav Pilkey, released in 2017 and directed by David Soren, whose earlier features were Turbo and the Madagascar shorts. Nicholas Stoller wrote the screenplay, and the voice cast includes Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch as George and Harold, Ed Helms as both Mr. Krupp and his alter ego, Nick Kroll as Professor Poopypants, Jordan Peele as Melvin and Kristen Schaal as Edith. It runs 89 minutes.

Made for a modest budget, the film earned far more than it cost worldwide, a solid return for an original animated release. Audiences rate it 6.2 on IMDb and 6.3 on TMDB, while critics were more favorable, giving it 7 out of 10 across 135 reviews.