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The characters are very interesting: their themes, philosophies, actions, and how they contrast the typical roles you’d see in a superhero movie. Dr. Horrible is of the course your typical supervillain: he steals from armored cars, stalks the love interest, admires terrible people/animals, has an evil plan to rule the world, and in the end, tries to kill the hero. However, he is drastically different from your typical supervillain for a couple of reasons. For one thing, he has good intentions: he is someone who is doing the things he does for the good of the people. The world of Dr. Horrible is basically ruled by an asshole with superstrength who doesn't care at all for others and is mostly in the business for sex and to continue to expand his already gigantic ego a.k.a. “Our hero”. Now, there have been many villains in the past who have had some good intentions but the difference being that while you might agree with some of the villain’s points. There is usually one step that they cross in order to fulfill those good intentions that the audience believes is one step too far. However, the goal Dr. Horrible is trying to get at is understandable and you might agree yourself that these steps might need to be done for the better of this society. However, his planning on how to reach that goal and what to do afterwards is filled with holes and is very misguided in what should be considered important which mostly the reason why he never succeeds. Another reason why Dr. Horrible is not most supervillains is because he’s actually a nice guy. You can tell from some of the scenes in the film that Dr. Horrible really does care for people. Despite wanting to be in the Evil League of Evil, he actually tries to avoid committing murder to gain acceptance and tries to find the least immoral way to become a supervillain through petty robberies and remember he built a freeze ray... not a death ray.
It shows he is trying to worm out excuses to avoid the idea of murder to get what he wants. That is the other reason that Dr. Horrible fails in his goals is that he is just too nice to perform his own villainous deeds. His character is basically an desperate geek trying to be something that he wasn’t meant to be. Now, the story also sets up Captain Hammer as your typical superhero, he saves people from moving trucks, gets the love interest, always thwarts the villain’s schemes, opens a homeless shelter, and even gives a rousing speech about true heroism in the end. However, he is FAR from a likable hero. He is an unbelievably jackass who only cares about himself. He isn’t a “hero” because he doesn’t do his job for the safety of people but to satisfy his reputation and gigantic ego. Now, despite his overly selfish and egotistical demeanor, he stills fits the criteria of being a superhero. It’s really an interesting dynamic considering the conflicting ideas of who the audience should root for: who should be called the hero of this story? Is Dr. Horrible the hero because he is the main focus of the story and is the more likable character or is Captain Hammer the hero because he fits more in the actual role of the “hero”? The love interest of the story, Penny, becomes a very interesting element in this triangular dynamic.
Penny’s interactions with these two characters really displays the whole dilemma that is going on. Dr. Horrible stalks Penny and doesn't really care about her goals in helping to make a homeless shelter but still has genuine care and affection for her, while Captain Hammer saves Penny from a speeding trunk and actually helps get the homeless shelter made but is only in a relationship with Penny for sex and to piss Dr. Horrible off and only decided to get the homeless shelter running for the good press he would receive. However, Penny isn't just a generic love interest. There is more to Penny as a character as she is pretty much the pure optimist who sees the good in everybody which ironically makes her a bigger foil to Dr. Horrible’s character than Captain Hammer as Dr. Horrible is more of a nihilist who sees only the bad in people. There are many scenes that establish this dynamic between Dr. H and Penny. Most notably in the song, “My Eyes”. It is interesting to see an overtly cynical character falling for an overly optimistic character. Maybe, this is a case of opposites attract. Maybe, Dr. Horrible is a big fan of the Guild. Or possibly, Penny is meant to represents the good that is still in Dr. Horrible’s heart despite trying to persuade himself that he is a heartless supervillain. Penny may be a way of showing Dr. Horrible that he doesn't have to be a vile criminal in order to gain respect and to sometimes accept that there is good in humanity and you don’t need to force the world to change. We see through Penny that Dr. Horrible could redeem himself to live a normal and happy life with Penny. However, she is a pure optimist in a tragedy and this is being written by Joss "Murderer of Beloved Characters" Whedon. So let’s just say she isn't going to be carried off by Billy in the end to live their days in a happy little cardboard cut-out middle-class house to raise a joyful nuclear family.
Neil Patrick Harris did a brilliant performance portraying the awkward and kinda creepy but still sweet and sympathetic Dr. Horrible. He really got this character done and I think Neil’s portrayal of this mad scientist wannabe is up there with Dougie Howser, Barney, and Neil Patrick Harris as Neil’s most memorable performance and do I even need to mention his magnificent singing? In fact, I believe Neil’s talents as an actor are solidified with the ending of this film. Nathan Fillion does a great performance as the unbelievably hammy jerkass that is Captain Hammer. Felicia Day also does a great job portraying the innocent optimist, Penny, and while her singing voice isn't as magnificent as Neil’s or as gloriously cheesy as Nathan’s, she still managed to project a soft and sweet singing voice that made her songs all the more heart-tugging. The characters are wonderfully-written with interesting dynamics and conflicts. There is certainly something to be said about how they were written considering how long this is taking to describe them.
Let’s talk about the songs in the movie as this is a musical. Joss Whedon has said that music to a musical is like the action to action movie. They should have meaning to the story and not be thrown together to the sake of simply trying to entertaining audiences. However, the music in this film not only work in a narrative way but in an analytical way, as I previously mentioned, “My Eyes” focused on the optimistic/cynical conflict between Penny and Dr. Horrible. However, there are other examples like in “Freeze Ray” where Dr. Horrible distinctly mentions he wasn’t making a death ray, not only showing Dr. Horrible’s pacifistic nature against murder but also foreshadowing his eventual making of a Death Ray. So, the songs serve a purpose, big deal but what really matters is are the songs any good? THEY ARE DAMN GOOD! The songs in this musical present a very unique style that was greatly influenced by the works of American composer and lyricist, Stephen Sondheim. Nearly every song is great on its rights, allowing a variety of songs that people could enjoy. Allowing anyone who's seen the movie to have their own favorite song they enjoy listening to. Personally, I have two favorite songs in the whole film are “Brand New Day” for its awesome music and wonderfully subversive lyrics and the finale number, “Everything You Ever”, for being a powerfully emotional song that just by listening to it gives you this strange bittersweet feeling and works for the events of the film.
Let’s see what else can I say about this film. The humor is very funny. There is all kinds of jokes in there: subtle, overt, visual, dialogue-based and a lot of them managed to integrate themselves into the story. Even the lines you don’t think are that important probably has more than you’d think. If you want to see just check out the movie for yourself, you can find it on Youtube as there really is no excuse for not watching it. But if you want to check out the DVD, it has an incredible commentary track that works as its own clever and funny musical which is really incredible. Also, the film has one of the most powerful endings in recent memory.
This was made during the tough times of the 2008 Writer's Strike and somehow Joss Whedon managed to make one of the greatest inventions of the year (officially declared by TIME). It really shows itself to be a unique masterpiece that I really truly recommend you check out. Seriously, you'll feel horrible for not checking out Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Yeah, I had to end this rather serious analytical review with a terrible pun... I just had to.
10/10
