The books were my childhood. I read up to the eighth book when I was still young and fell out of the series from there due to the six-year gap between the eighth and ninth book. Then my brother and I saw the trailer for the movie, and it looked absolutely fantastic. I found a YouTube playlist with all 12 books in the series, which I shall provide here: youtube.com
I caught up with the entire series within less than a week with that playlist. Just a few days later, my mom, my brothers and I all went to see the movie in late June. Sadly, there was only a few other people in the small theater room it was shown in, a couple of guys above us and a mom with her younger kids.
I absolutely loved the movie. It was both a perfect love letter to the books themselves as well as a really good animated film in its own right. I don't think anyone without a nostalgic connection to Captain Underpants is going to be head over heels in love with the movie, like I was, but it's definitely a guaranteed fun time.
And might I add, it is the FUNNIEST movie of 2017 thus far. Funnier even than The Lego Batman Movie, which was arguably funnier than Deadpool.
Sadly, I don't think the movie is getting as much attention as it should be. Granted, it did earn twice its budget at the box office (and its budget is the cheapest Dreamworks has had yet), but it still pales in comparison to the numbers Wonder Woman is making. Dav Pilkey did express his thoughts on the movie in the description of his YouTube channel:
"6/16/2017
Hey everybody,
Have you had a chance to see the new Captain Underpants movie yet? I've seen it SIX times already and we're going again next Saturday.
Gotta give thanks to director David Soren for getting it RIGHT. He perfectly captured the heart and soul of the books, and even managed to give mean ol' Mr. Krupp a bit of humanity (I wish I'd done more of that in the books).
Thanks to Ed Helms for his amazing and hilarious vocal chops! And Kevin and Thomas were PERFECT as George and Harold. If the Academy Awards ever makes a category for "Best Scene-Stealing Supa-Villain", then Nick Kroll is a shoe-in. Thank you to everyone at Dreamworks Animation for your thoughtful care and dedication. You can really feel the LOVE up there on the screen!
-Dav Pilkey"
Let's express our love for this awesome series here and now. Captain Underpants is a series worth discussion of great lengths.