Underdog

To be perfectly honest I never would have seen this movie if it was not at my theater because I would never pay to see something like this. The first time I saw the trailer I thought it could be kind of a cute movie but as the release date neared and more trailers and promos came out, I got less and less interested. But I watched it anyway so I guess I can review it.


Cartoons turning into live action movies aimed at kids are rarely any good and this is truly no exception. Underdog is a superhero dog who in the cartoon takes some sort of drug pill to get his super strength and in this movie some sort of experiment goes horribly wrong and he is endowed with Superman like powers. Also, he can talk. A retired cop runs him over, takes him home and the dog forms a bond with the son. The son is moody, emo and silent because his mom recently died but he and is father never discussed it. We do not ever find out how his mom died and the only reason it seems to exist to make the kid a lot more needy when it comes to bonding with our hero dog. Underdog falls in love with another dog and she thinks he is not underdog (more Superman stuff). The evil genius Dr. Barsinister (Peter Dinklage) is after Underdog because the dog is taking all of the glory he thinks he deserved for creating the potion that turned an ordinary dog into a pun rhyming crime fighter. His assistant, Cad (Patrick Warburton) follows his every footstep and in the end they end up as bunk mates in prison.


I know this movie is aimed at kids and that nothing I say really matters because I am not of that target age, but this movie is woefully bad. I counted myself chuckling 3 times and all 3 at Warburton doing his usual routine of dumb guy charm. Jason Lee as the voice of Underdog could have been a good choice but the dialogue is so awful it really doesn't matter who voiced him. The theme of the movie is that even the Underdog can win, but it isn't actually true because once the little dog is pumped up on steroids, he is no longer the Underdog. In fact, he cannot defeat the evil Barsinister until he gets his powers back, after he briefly loses them. So in reality, this movie is saying that if you need an extra boost, well that is ok! The CGIed dog is not all that impressive and the action isn't thrilling or funny. I guess I can see where kids would laugh at his trying to land after flying, but even that gets old after the second or third time.


I often wonder why kids movies have to appeal to the lowest form of kid. Pixar movies are for kids and they are brilliant, but so often people think kids will only laugh at poop jokes and bad pratfalls. Until the day someone thinks to challenge a kid with a movie this is what we get and later this year we have an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie to look forward to! There is a way to make kids movies for everyone to enjoy, but this is certainly not it. It is not wonder that the writer went 5 years without getting a script made. Also, the son in this and his love interest look too far apart in age for me to believe it. He is about 16 or 17 and she is obviously 12 or 13 yrs old. It seems like such a little thing, but it really just led to me and my two co-workers to laugh AT it not WITH it. I an only hope this thing leaves quietly and quickly