Making smart toilet humour a test for Captain Underpants crew as antihero hits big screen

When your main villain has the nameProfessorPoopypants, it's pretty hard to shy away from toilet humour.

And though it has been knocked as the lowest form of humour something referenced several times inCaptain Underpants: The First Epic Movie the new film, out Friday andbased on the popular Dav Pilkeybook series, embraces it.

"We'd be betraying the source material if we didn't go there a little bit," jokes the film's director, David Soren, who was born in Toronto and studiedanimation at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ont. His aim was making a smarter sort of toilet humour,brushing aside the"upper crusty approach to comedy" thatpooh-poohsit.

"We did keep the bar very high for ourselves in terms of when we went there and making sure if we were going to do a joke like that, then it had to be really funny."

• How Captain Underpants creator Dav Pilkey overcame obstacles to stick to his vision

There are fart, poo and pee jokes, courtesy of the animatedfilm's main characters and fellow fourth graders George (Kevin Hart) and Harold (Thomas Middleditch). The quirky duo make comics,pullpranks and end uphypnotizingtheir principal into thinking he is one of their comic book creations, Captain Underpants (Ed Helms).

While this isUnderpants'first foray into film, the series of books turns 20 this fall. It has soldmillions of copies and spawned spinoffs like Super Diaper Baby and Dog-Man.

Making toilet humour smart with Captain Underpants

7 years ago

Duration 1:46

Director David Soren talks about bringing the underwear-clad anti-hero to the big screen.

'The boys are actually good kids'

Not everyone found the series' toilet humour funny, with some parents and schools banning the books.It has frequently toppedthe American Library Association's annual list of most frequently challenged books for complaints about "offensive language", and for being "sexually explicit" and "unsuited to age group."

Pilkeyhas spent years brushing off the criticism and did so again on CBC Radio's q last month: "I write books for children, and so there's lots of kids' stuff in the books. And [for] many adults, it just doesn't match their tastes. So if an adult says, 'That's not for me', I would say, 'Well of course. It's a children's book. Of course it's not for you.'"

Soren also getsdefensive when anyone bad-mouthsthe books. He said theyhaveturned non-readers onto reading andserveas a "gateway drug" to more complex children's books like the Harry Potter series.

"In terms of manners, the boys are actually good kids at heart, you know. They are questioning authority because the authority in question is questionable," he said.

"I think the movie promotes and the books do too, they promote creativity. I think that's the thing ultimately that is so powerful about this property in general is it encourages kids to you know, pick up a pencil. Make a story. Create something."

'It justdidn't seem like good literature'

Sorensaid the movie is aimed at kids and those who are now in their 20s and 30s whoread the books growing up. The initial Underpants book came out in1997 and its still a big seller.

"People come looking for them," saidNadine King,a longtime bookseller at Woozles, a kidsbookstorein Halifax.

She said it's especially popular with dads, but it took a long time for herto read one. She sheepishly admits to judging the book by its actual cover.

"It just didn't seem like good literature," she said. She was to surprised to find a good story line and well-developed characters. "I was being snooty and judgmental."

King too has noticed the book's impact on non-readers and hopes the film, stirs up even more interest. She's even considered dressing up as Captain Underpants for Halloween.

"I just haven't figured out how a 50-year-old woman would do that."