Underdog

Although an iconic cartoon figure, it’s been a long, long time since Underdog was recognized as a force with children. He’s wallowed in archives for not just years but generations, popping up occasionally on cartoon compilations, faded VHS covers and raggedy comic books. Other than that, he pretty much disappeared.

Disney’s live-action revival film comes at a time when superhero-themed films are hot. Combine that with a family genre staple – the talking animal – and you’ve got the likely reason why Underdog was dusted off. It’s a boring and uninspiring adaptation that lacks action and suffers from mostly static characters, Peter Dinklage as the nefarious Dr. Simon Barsinister being the notable exception.

The product of a shelf filled with the DNA of many animals flipped over, cute little pup Shoe Shine becomes a super dog, or Underdog if you pardon the play on words. Seeing as how he can fly, flex his muscle and every other stereotypical superpower all rolled up into one puppy package, Underdog chooses to fight crime and stop all things deemed wrong and evil. This includes Dr. Barsinister as he tries to harness Underdog’s power. It was his experiment gone awry that made him that way in the first place anyway.

The talking animal movie has become a family staple since Babe went and did it right more than a decade ago. I find it interesting that there’s more excitement in a similarly done movie about a fat, lazy cat who longs to sleep and eat lasagne (Garfield) than there is here in a movie about a superhero dog. And this is no cat-dog bias speaking either. Underdog spends far too much time rambling on about things of little consequence. The addition of another action scene or two would have gone a long way in raising the possibility of success for this film. Don’t get me wrong, I think Jason Lee is a great and funny actor. But he adds to the lack of excitement as the voice of the titular pooch. His shtick is that he’s laid back. That’s hardly the voice of a hero.

If there’s a positive thing to say about Underdog, it’s the performance of Peter Dinklage. He’s great as the evil mastermind who quickly loses his mind as plot after plot is foiled. Dinklage goes over-the-top but not so far to the point where you just figure him to be playing it for laughs.

Still, when you boil it down to the basics, Underdog is no hot dog. He’s one boring pooch that should be put down into realms of archives and nostalgia.

Underdog DVD Review

Underdog hits DVD with both widescreen and full screen formats on the same disc, although beware that if you let the previews play through it does default to the full screen picture. Audio is in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround English as well as dubbed French and Spanish tracks. English, French and Spanish subtitles are also included.

Extras include bloopers and deleted scenes, a featurette on the life of a dog actor, “Underdog Raps” music video by Kyle Massey, a handful of Disney previews and “Safe Waif”, an old-time Underdog cartoon. It’s a solid DVD for the kids, but the depth in the bonus features department are sorely lacking.