The Adventures of Captain Underpants. The first epic novel vs the first epic movie.
It was wonderful to finally see Captain Underpants come to life on the big screen! I remember way back when, getting the first epic novel from the Scholastic book fair, and plowing through it the first night. I was hooked, and immediately became a lifelong fan of Captain Underpants and his creator, Dav Pilkey.
The movie was a flashback come to life. Those lovable pranksters, Harold and George, were just as I remembered from the books.
The movie follows the first book closely. We are introduced to Harold and George in much the same way as in the book. The difference here is that in the movie, Harold and George introduce themselves to the audience, whereas an off-page narrator introduces them in the book. For the most part, the same beats are followed.
Just like in the book, we get to see the headquarters of Tree House Comic, INC. The run-through of the different characters the two boys have created differs slightly. They go through, more or less, the same list of heroes they have created in the book, but then one extra character is added in the movie, and that’s the Sad Worm. To my knowledge, it only appears in the movie and not in any of the books.
Even the comic they have drawn and shown in the book is shown in the movie. We get to actually see Captain Underpants use his shoot underwear at the Inedible Hunk monster. It was a great way to open the movie.
One huge difference between the movie and the book is that Melvin Sneedly is introduced in the first animated outing.
In the books, Melvin wasn’t introduced until the second book, Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets.
The movie introduces Melvin in the first epic movie. In doing so, he is now the reason behind George and Harold getting caught pulling pranks. And instead of pranking the big football game, like in the first epic book, George and Harold are recorded pranking Melvin’s smart toilet invention by Melvin’s “Tattle Turtle”.
The montage part of the books of George and Harold completing the blackmail list from Principal Krupp is cut from the movie. As is the part where the boys order and wait for the 3-D Hypno-Ring.
In the movie, they are caught rifling through Krupp’s filing cabinet for the Tattle Turtle. While they are searching for the turtle, they discover, like in the book, that Krupp has every issue of Captain Underpants. They also discover the Hypno-ring that had been confiscated from them.
In both the book and the movie, it was great to see the boys use the ring and make Krupp act like a chicken and a monkey. It was also awesome to see Krupp toss his principal's clothes to the side, along with his toupee, throw the red window curtain around his neck and sing “Tra-La-Laaaaaaa” to become Captain Underpants. It was also hilarious to see him jump out the window leaving behind a man-shaped cutout.
Unlike the book, the boys didn’t hesitate and quibble about what to bring with them from the file cabinet drawer full of their contraband. They just sprang into action, jumping through the window and sliding down the flagpole in pursuit of their pudgy principal.
From there, the movie adds extra small adventures for our hero while in the city. In the movie, He frees a mime from an invisible box, then he helps an old lady into a tree to fetch her cat. He also gets into a fight with an inflatable gorilla perched atop a building which led to the boys commandeering a construction crane and chasing the Captain around the city until they stop in front of the bank.
Captain Underpants doesn’t allow the bank robbers to be captured because they have laughed themselves into submission. In the movie, Captain Underpants, by happenstance, lands on the criminals, stopping them in their tracks.
There is no skateboarding away with Captain Underpants on the boys’ shoulders as they escape the cops to help the Captain from being arrested.
The last part of the first epic novel is completely cut from the movie. There are no robots stealing crystals. Captain Underpants’ cape doesn’t accidentally get caught on the van of the escaping robot robbers. And finally, there is no Dr. Diaper in the movie. Dr. Diaper was replaced with the lead antagonist from book 4, Professor P. aka Professor Poopy Pants.
All in all, there were a few tweaks here and there to adjust for the medium change. They also had to combine several of the books together to fill out the movie’s run time. The first epic movie’s main story consists of book 1 and 4, and ends with book 2.
If you enjoy the book series, then you will definitely enjoy the movie. It’s a faithful adaptation of the characters and spirit of the books.
Be sure to check out our "Book Reviews and Recommendations" blog to see how our review on the first book of Captain Underpants!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.
Other books By Dav Pilkey that you might enjoy!
Other books that are similar to The Adventures of Captain Underpants that you might enjoy!
Other movies By David Soren that you might enjoy!
