“Man, remember ‘Calvin and Hobbes’? What a fantastic comic strip.” That’s the laudable sentiment at the heart of Joel Allen Schroeder’s dull documentary, an ode to Bill Watterson’s cartoon adventures of a 6-year-old boy and his stuffed tiger.
It was one of the greats of the now-nearly-defunct Sunday funnies, no doubt. Unfortunately, there’s not much cinematic magic in watching the director reading the strip, or hearing various other enthusiasts talk about how much they loved it. (One exception is “Bloom County” creator Berkeley Breathed, an edgy presence who discusses his epistolary friendship with Watterson.)
More interesting, but only briefly touched on, is the personal story of the artist, an intensely private guy who staunchly resisted merchandising of any sort and disappeared from public life — to an almost Salinger-esque extent — after ending the strip in 1995. What must he make of that bastardized, ubiquitous icon of Calvin urinating on a car logo?
Out of respect, Schroeder doesn’t attempt to track him down, so we’ll never know. Like the rest of “Dear Mr. Watterson,” it’s a good-hearted gesture. But unlike Calvin’s alter ego Spaceman Spiff, this film never manages to achieve liftoff.