Cook review: Track down ‘Hitpig’ for some zany, good-hearted fun

Calling all “Bloom County” and animation fans: “Hitpig” will hit the big screen in one week.

Berkeley Breathed is an American cartoonist whose comic strips include “Opus,” “Outland” and “Bloom County.” He earned the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1987.

He’s the brains behind “Hitpig,” and the characters in this new movie have a stylized similarity to the characters in the comic strips. They also display some of the humor for which Breathed is known.

The titular character of Hitpig, wonderfully voiced by Jason Sudeikis, is tough-guy detective who always gets his animal. He’s serious about tracking down animals who have run away from their owners.

When he’s not busy as a private detective, he’s alone and somewhat lonely, now that he’s lost the partner with whom he worked for many years.

His current assignment from a mean Las Vegas showman (Rainn Wilson) will net him $1 million upon completion. Pickles, a dancing elephant (Lilly Singh) has managed to escape her owner’s maniacal clutches.

Hitpig does find Pickles rather quickly. But the pachyderm considers him a pal and, not realizing he’s there to take her back to her dreaded confines, takes in action-packed adventures with Hitpig, who begins to have a guilty conscience about his work.

There are marvelous backgrounds, unwieldy flying machines, fun rock music, and of course cute characters. I’ve never been much of a fan of bathroom humor, but a couple of times the script takes this to a new level with a flatulent polecat voiced by RuPaul, and I admit I laughed out loud (it’s guaranteed your kids will, too.) Both children and grownups will get a kick out of the one-liners and pun-infused comedy, too.

Additionally, there are subtle messages about honestly, friendship, and the importance of kindness, in particular when it comes to our animal friends.

“Hitpig” is well worth finding in theaters.

3 stars

Running time: One hour and 26 minutes.

Rated: PG for coarse humor and animal danger.

Watch the trailer here .

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