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SYNOPSIS:
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a frog...no it's Underdog
- a flying, talking canine caped crusader! After an accident
in the mysterious lab of mad scientist Dr Simon Barsinister,
an ordinary beagle named Shoeshine finds himself with extraordinary
powrs and the ability to talk! Armed with a fetching superhero
costume, Underdog vows to protect the beleaguered citizens
of Capital City and in particular, a beautiful spaniel named
Polly Purebred. When a diabolical plot by Barsinister and
his overgrown henchman Cad threatens to destroy Capital City,
only Underwear...(oops!)...Underdog can save the day.
MOVIE REVIEW:
You might forget the name but you might recall a
certain image of a talking dog with superhero powers back
in your childhood.
From
an adult’s point of view, “Underdog” is
just another silly “talking animals” genre. Remember
“Babe” or “Charlotte’s Web”?
Okay maybe the latter is not exactly silly. “Underdog”
is a beagle named Shoeshine that accidentally acquired super
powers (think Superman on all fours) after an evil genetic
scientist by the name of Simon Barsinister (Peter Dinklage)
injected him with a dosage of weird serum. Knowing that the
experiment is a success, Barsinister wants the escaped beagle
back after it escaped in a panic and order his fumbling assistant
to track and retrieve the dog.
As
with any friendly Disney family movie, the story has it that
“Underdog” is shortly adopted by a security guard
(Jim Belushi) as a gift to his teenage son Jack, the single
parent has a hard time communicating with his son after he
quit his job as a cop after his wife died. In the meantime,
Jack starts to bond with “Underdog” without realizing
it possessed super powers.
If
you are getting a bit fidgety, wait till you see the appearance
of a love interest in the form of a cocker spaniel voiced
by Amy Adams (“Enchanted”). And in all audacity,
I forget to mention “Underdog” is voiced by Jason
Lee from the hit TV series, “My Name is Earl”.
Another easy way to get a paycheck I assumed. Perhaps it’s
the uninspiring dialogue the actors are given (cracking ‘poop’
jokes for a while do get a bit stale) but at least Lee has
the privilege to get away with the tagline, “There’s
no need to fear, Underdog is here!”
On
the other hand if you watch “Underdog” through
the eyes of a little kiddo, this Disney feature isn’t
all that bad. It has huge believable effects sequences with
Underdog smashing through walls, glass without suffering a
scratch, traditional family values, gags, funny poop jokes
and parodies of Superman.
Unlike
some snobbish film critics, we do not simply resort to slamming
a commercial movie thus we present to you two sides of the
story. “Underdog” is the perfect antidote to a
night of good old family entertainment, the perfect chance
to impart healthy family values and also teach the kids why
they shouldn’t behave the way the baddies did however
if you are a single adult looking for some home entertainment,
I suggest you skip this.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
The extra features begin with a series of Deleted
Scenes with optional commentary by director Frederik
Du Chau. Sounding overly enthusiastic at times but still well,
I kind of liked one particular scene with Underdog freezing
up in space. Worth a peek. There’s a short feature on
Never-Before-Seen Bloopers followed by a
MTV Performance by Kyle Massey. "Sit,
Stay. Act: Diary Of A Dog Actor" takes audience
behind-the-scenes in this roughly six minutes feature narrated
by Jason Lee. In addition, it comes equipped with a “dig
deeper” interactive feature which kids will love. A
five minutes Underdog Original Cartoon Episode "Safe
Walf" rounds up this code 3 DVD.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Presented in Widescreen 2.35:1, the visual quality is sharp
and clean however some of the poorly done effects do not hold
up to the pristine quality of the video. On the other hand,
kids won’t be particularly bothered by these minor quips
though.
Audio is on the weaker side, the bass only seem to perk up
towards the end and the beginning. Dialogue is clear and not
really an issue.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
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