Underdog

Occasionally, a film's trailer gives viewers a realistic preview. Such was the case with "Underdog". Here is a film with humor offered without the condescension and knowing winks delivered by Dreamworks Animation and its ilk. The story is a typical zap-the-hero setup and does not pretend to be otherwise.

The actors (human and animal alike) deliver professional performances. Peter Dinklage is delicious as the requisite mad scientist. James Belushi is surprisingly effective and believable as the dad. Unfortunately, Patrick Warburton has descended from acceptably quirky into shtick. Newcomer Alex Neuberger (in his second feature) gives his part a nice emotional balance and doesn't overplay his sidekick work.

The animal animation is nicely handled and devoid of gimmickry. This part of the movie industry deserves praise for continued development and polish.

Summers have blockbusters created by and viewed by blocks; Underdog reminds audiences that a simple, fun flick can be far more entertaining.

They did it again: ripped off an old show's title, then destroyed the nostalgia with boring "re-imagined" stuff. The '60's cartoon was one of the funniest of its time, a good-natured satire of super hero comic books. The character was drawn as 1/2 way between animal and human, the way Mickey Mouse is. Here they use a real beagle; that's about the same as making a Mickey Mouse watch with a real rat.

Most of the clever schtick that made the original show funny is missing from this film. Instead, we get a clumsy ex-police dog who's even dumber than Cad. And some pet owners who add nothing to the story. Cheesy effects (the dog-talking animation is embarrassing). Poor scripting. A stereotyped dwarf playing Simon Bar Sinister. The gravelly noise box guy they hired to voice Underdog is painful. You'd think they'd at least gotten a voice impressionist to approximate Wally Cox's humorously distinctive voice for Underdog. But no. There are, at least, a few affectionate references to the source material (such as the rhyming lines), which lift it to a 4.

Only small children that love dogs may enjoy this. Everybody else should get a DVD of the original cartoon series. Watch this only in desperation.

I was shocked to see this movie has got such a low rating!I mean,why in the world would people give a movie like this 4.5 stars!Have they lost their sense of humor? Or the childhood that once resided inside their heart just died somehow? I'm giving this one a 10 star rating..not even thinking whether the cgi effects,or the scripts and whatever were weak or not.I'm just praising this because I found it very entertaining,forget everything else.Just try to watch this as you used to watch TV in your childhood days.If you still like "tom & jerry",you should also like this.And even if you don't like it,your kids are guaranteed to love it seriously.So you should give this at least a respectable rating since it is loved by your kids!(Hang your opinion!)

YEP! REALLY SHORT (Just over 75 minutes till the credits!)

There aren't many Disney movies that I really dislike and even fewer dog movies, so despite a personal computer projection of 5.2.*****, I decided to watch it.

The storyline was hackneyed and inane. Despite a few well known cast members, the "Acting" redefined "Over-the-Top".

To be fair to the cast, perhaps this was director Frederick Du Chau's doing. Peter Drinklage (Station Agent) who I usually enjoy watching, was unwatchable. The supposedly "comic" dialogue barely elicited a couple smiles, and sounded as if it had been ghost written by a computer. There was about a minute or two of eye candy in a few scenes with a CGI backdrop of the city. I suppose if you've got kids or grandkids 8 or under who love dogs, they'd get a kick out of it...But I don't see how any adult would....

4**** Stars...ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA! (MUST GO With KIDS!)

This movie was good, with the only purpose of entertaining kids and grown up people too. The adaptation from the cartoon was really good and the plot was convincing and very well developed although the story has some flaws, for example, Sweet Polly was a poodle in the cartoon not a cocker spaniel. The cast was good very decent acting from everyone, Jason Lee as the voice of Underdog was very good as well as Amy Adams as Sweet Polly. James Belushi performance was good, very funny and the best one of all in my opinion was Patrick Warburton as Dr. Barsinister. In conclusion, a typical family movie, very enjoyable and entertaining.