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For anybody who remembers the original cartoon fondly, I'll paraphrase, "There's no need to cheer, Underdog is here."
On the other hand, today's moviegoing kids who have no attachment to the ironic, low-budget '60s animated series (a studio mate of Bullwinkle) can find a way to appreciate Underdog the movie as simply an average cute talking-dog flick with CGI lip-FX a la Cats & Dogs, Charlotte's Web or Babe.
In other words, been there, woofed that.
An unwise 180-degree turn from the source material, Underdog squeezes as much charm as it can out of a very cute beagle and lukewarm doggie jokes -- almost enough charm to overcome the anti-charm of Jim Belushi. But cuteness can't carry an entire movie, and Underdog is short of actual funny stuff and affecting performances, to the extent that this Disney movie comes off like a Disney made-for-TV movie.
The cartoon, featuring the voice of the late, great character actor Wally Cox, took place in a world where intelligent dogs, cats and humans all co-existed. Hence Underdog's girlfriend, Sweet Polly Purebread, was a TV reporter, and U-Dog's alter-ego, Shoeshine Boy, was, uh, a shoeshine boy.
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The movie (featuring the less-effective voice of My Name Is Earl's Jason Lee) takes place in the normal world, where a washout police dog ends up in an animal-testing lab run by a crazed mad scientist Simon Barsinister (Peter Dinklage) and his idiot assistant Cad (Seinfeld's Patrick Warburton). An attempted DNA experiment goes awry, and our little pal gets a doggie wash in every kind of experimental juice, giving him the ability to talk, and super powers that make running away a no-brainer.
Soon he's adopted off the street by a widowed cop-turned-security-guard (Belushi) and his troubled son Jack (Alex Neuberger), and given the name Shoeshine because he likes to lick his master's shoes.
Soon after that, he's come clean to his teenage best friend and they've made the acquaintance of Jack's crush Molly (Taylor Morrisen) and her Cocker Spaniel Sweet Polly (voice of Amy Adams).
And before you can say "not bird, nor plane, nor even frog, it's just little old me... Underdog!," Shoeshine is wearing a shrunken college varsity sweater, flying around the city solving crimes, busting rhymes and attracting the attention of the media (in what is surely a nadir of Jay Leno shamelessness, the Tonight Show host contributes a lame monologue joke -- "We'd have had Underdog as a guest on our show, but I understand he's not allowed on the couch.")
The crisis: Simon Barsinister is not about to let his latest creation get away, and schemes to make pills out of U-dog's DNA that will turn any animal into a super-powered talking anomaly.
Things you think about while a mediocre kids' movie plays out predictably:
- If you could give animals pills to make them talk, wouldn't they have something to say about us eating them?
- Like Lois Lane, Sweet Polly goes off on a high-flying "date" with her hero, is pals with his alter-ego, and doesn't notice they're one and the same. This, even though she's sniffed both their butts.
- Speaking of butts, the movie features a lame cover of the Underdog theme. We recommend the Butthole Surfers' version on the 1995 album Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits.