Charlie the Wonderdog Review: The opening stretch is genuinely beautiful. I’m not exaggerating. Watching Charlie grow from an energetic puppy into an aging dog alongside his owner, Danny, hit close to home. If you’ve ever had a pet or lost one, you’ll feel it in your chest. It’s quiet, tender, and earned. I actually paused for a second and thought, “Okay, this might destroy me.”
That was the high point. Once aliens enter the picture—and yes, that sentence alone should tell you something- the movie shifts gears in a way that feels almost hostile to what made it work in the first place.
Charlie and a neighboring cat, Puddy, get abducted by squid-like aliens and turned into super-powered beings. Charlie becomes a flying, super-strong, talking dog superhero. Puddy becomes a telekinetic menace with a chip on his shoulder. On paper, that might sound fun. In execution, it drains the soul right out of the story.
The heart of the movie was always Charlie and Danny. Their bond. Their time together. The fear of losing it. And the film basically sidelines that relationship for most of its runtime in favor of generic superhero chaos and a painfully obvious villain arc. And that’s where things really start to unravel.
My Rating: 2.5/5
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Movie Title | Charlie the Wonderdog |
| Director | Shea Wageman |
| Genre | Animated, Family, Superhero |
| Voice Cast | Owen Wilson, Dawson Littman, Tabitha St. Germain |
| Runtime | Approx. 1h 35m |
| Target Audience | Kids & Family |
| Streaming / Release | Theatrical / VOD (varies by region) |
The Big Problem: It Forgets What Actually Matters
Once Charlie embraces his superhero role, Danny is pushed to the background. The Charlie the Wonderdog movie replaces emotional intimacy with loud action, shallow jokes, and a president character who feels less like satire and more like a blunt-force reference you can’t unsee.
There’s no subtlety here. None. Puddy, the cat villain, is written as a walking list of anti-cat stereotypes. Selfish. Arrogant. Power-hungry. It stops being funny pretty fast and starts feeling weirdly mean-spirited. I don’t even love cats that much, but after a while, it’s hard not to notice how aggressively the film stacks the deck in favor of dogs.
And the human characters? Oblivious to the point of comedy, but not the good kind. Danny’s mom is a scientist who somehow doesn’t recognize her own dog when he’s publicly celebrated as a superhero. There’s an alien artifact sitting in a desk drawer like it’s spare change. The movie just shrugs and moves on.
That “don’t think about it” energy never really leaves.
What Actually Works (Because Some Things Do)
To be fair, the movie isn’t a total disaster. Visually, it looks great. The animation is polished, expressive, and clearly made by people who know what they’re doing. Charlie’s design, especially, is full of personality. The animals move naturally, the colors pop, and the whole thing has that familiar, Pixar-adjacent glow kids tend to love.
Owen Wilson is also well-cast. His voice fits Charlie perfectly, warm, earnest, a little goofy. He sells the sincerity even when the dialogue feels overly sweet or simplified. Dawson Littman does solid work as Danny, too, bringing genuine emotion to a character who deserved way more screen time.
The frustrating part is that all this talent is in service of a story that never commits to its strongest idea.
The Good and the Bad In Charlie the Wonderdog
| What Works | What Doesn’t |
|---|---|
| Emotional, heartfelt opening | Loses focus after the first act |
| Strong animation and character design | Weak, messy pacing |
| Owen Wilson’s voice performance | Shallow villain motivations |
| Clear appeal for very young kids | Charlie and Danny’s relationship is sidelined |
| Visually polished world | Overdone cat-vs-dog messaging |
Also Read: The Rip Review: A Dirty Cop Thriller That Knows Exactly What It Is
Final Thoughts On Charlie the Wonderdog: Who Is This Really For?
I love animation. I’m always willing to meet it halfway. I want movies like this to succeed. And I fully accept that Charlie the Wonderdog is aimed at kids, not 40-something critics dissecting story structure. But even kids’ movies need a solid emotional throughline.
This one had it—and then let it slip away in favor of noise, convenience, and safe superhero tropes. By the end, I wasn’t angry so much as disappointed. The potential was right there. A story about aging, purpose, and the fear of being left behind could’ve been something special.
Instead, it turns into a scattershot superhero cartoon that forgets why we cared in the first place.
Kids might enjoy it. Some probably will. But if you’re an adult hoping for something that sticks with you, something that hits the way that opening promises—it’s hard not to walk away feeling like this was a missed opportunity.
Rating: 2.5 / 5. ot terrible. Not memorable. And nowhere near as good as it should’ve been.