Ugh.
My confidence in James Gunn's ability to handle properly the DCU on the big screen has always been low. It certainly doesn't help that near every word or image I hear from him seems to lower it further.
But
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| Get a haircut, yippy. |
making Krypton shaggy instead of smooth-coated (because his OWN doggy is shaggy) is the worst sign yet that Gunn cares more about "James Gunn's DCU" than he does about "THE DCU".
Krypto is a VERY simple character.
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| His DESIGN is simple, I mean. |
He has a longish 'hound-like' muzzle and flap ears, a smooth white coat and, when possible, a Superman cape. His personality is "I'm a dog", so pretty much the only way you can screw it up is by "drawing' him wrong, which Gunn has , Yes, it's a bold move to put Krypto on the big screen. But if you going to gratuitously screw up the depiction of one of comics' simplest characters, then I don't trust you with more complex ones. This is one Shaggy Dog Story where I don't think the punchline will be worth it.
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| Maybe the plot of the film is from "The Super-Dog That Replaced Krypto". But I doubt it. |
Eh, maybe. To be sure, I don't like the shaggy look. On the other hand, I wouldn't want Krypto to act like Silver Age Krypto either. Sure, make him an exceptionally smart dog -- like, smart enough to make a person wonder if that damn dog can speak English -- but not so smart that he can do super ventriloquism.
ReplyDeleteReally, Superman should have a pet Venusian like Kyro. "Boy, you sure taught that Luthor a thing or two, boss!"
- HJF1
Superman #177 (May 1965), "Superman's Kryptonese Curse". Red Kryptonite forces Superman to speak only in Kryptonese, but also gives Krypto the ability to speak. Lois is surprised because she thinks this is her chance to prove Clark is Superman because he will unable to speak English, hence the help from Krypto, who, since he can currently speak, also has super-ventriloquism (and apparently is good at imitating Clark's voice). As for your other point, EVERYONE should have a Kyro.
ReplyDeleteI've always felt Krypto should be strong, fast, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but stop right there. Essentially Superman's original powers. There's no real reason to give him the exact abilities Superman has -- dogs and people are different.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if Krypto has the full range of abilities, he must have human intelligence. Giving heat vision to a dog is a recipe for massive disaster.
That said, the animated series Krypto the Superdog was pretty brilliant and I actually liked the Super Pets movie, so I'm willing to entertain superpets with human intellect.
I want exactly the Silver Age Krypto... stories far too depressing to tell with human characters made somewhat palatable with animals... Same.way Maus used animal characters so.that the abject horror of the holocaust narrative didn't overwhelm the human family story.
ReplyDeleteI think the visual design is fine, though.
"stories far too depressing to tell with human characters made somewhat palatable with animals" That made me burst out laughing, because, DANG, were those Krypton stories CRUEL.
ReplyDelete"Giving heat vision to a dog is a recipe for massive disaster." I believe that Classical Krypton did not have heat vision; at least, I can not recall any example of his using it. And, of course, he cannot have freeze breath, because dogs cannot BLOW.
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