Underdog
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Movie Reviews of Underdog
Movie Review: Great family movie
Summary: 4 Stars
I couldn't believe they made a movie on the classic cartoon under dog. I bought this for my 4 year old son, it was a hit. I don't know how many times he has asked to watch this movie. I even enjoyed it too. Good kids movie.Movie Review: Underdog
Summary: 4 Stars
my grandson loves this movie, we had to purchase it for that reason. It is an entertaining movie. I would recomend it to parents with small children.Movie Review: Dog lover
Summary: 4 Stars
Being a dog lover I like movies about dogs this was a really cute movie. Good for a lot of laughsMovie Review: Don't expect the flavor of the original, more of a Saturday afternoon matinee action comedy
Summary: 3 Stars
Underdog has a quite a fascinating history, which can be read in the book "How Underdog Was Born," or heard on an interview with co-creator Buck Biggers (whose daughter appears in one of the DVD special features) on the wonderful Time Travel Radio show.
It seems that he and Chet Stover created and produced the original Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo and other Total Television cartoons as clandestine moonlighting projects when they worked at a major New York ad agency, having meetings in their cars, sending a British front man to present the storyboards and making millions, especially for Underdog, which has become a pop culture icon and a beloved Macy's Thanksgiving Parade balloon. The DVD does include a short documentary segment that acknowledges the original series creators (you have to click on a "dig deeper" icon to see it).
This 2007 film adaptation might have fallen under the "what were they thinking?" category, had it not been for the undeniable success of recent big-screen versions of small screen cartoons and sitcoms. As these sort of films go, this twist on the early 60's limited animation series is passable for a Saturday matinee potboiler in the Disney mold of "The Monkey's Uncle" and "The Ugly Dachshund."
The film strangely tries to take itself too seriously at times but also wants to be a campy comedy and teeters between both with a few too many gags about various gasses and sniffs for some parents' comfort. I must say, though, that I did enjoy the "Lady and the Tramp"-like sequence at Tony's Restaurant, meatball and all.
But take a look at the cast list and you might be surprised: hey everybody, it's "Enchanted's" Princess Giselle - the wondrous Amy Adams - doing the voice of Sweet Polly Purebred! You can even see her at the microphone in the bloopers section For fans of the very grown-up AMC series "Mad Men" will spot John Slattery is the mayor. And "Daily Show" viewers will smile to see Samantha Bee.
I only wish the filmmakers had made more of an effort to reference the series. Perhaps they tried and couldn't make it work; as a creative person in a large organization, I'm no stranger to how a project can succumb to well-intentioned meddling. It can be tricky to keep fans of the original happy while breaking in a new audience.
The other challenge this film faced was that the cartoon show is no longer widely played on broadcast TV, so it's not likely that kids were clamoring to see this as much as they would be to see, say, a live action Spongebob feature. When the first Flintstone feature made such a hit in theaters, Cartoon Network was still running the original show.
The special features include deleted scenes hosted by director (and former animator) Frederik Du Chau, some bloopers (real ones, not the faux bloopers in the final credits), a rap video with the appealing Kyle Massey, of the Disney Channel comedy "Cory in the House," performing the theme song which also plays over the end credits (it would have been nice to hear the original theme too, which occurred in the first Spiderman film).
Movie Review: A Cartoon Hero Become Real
Summary: 3 Stars
Underdog is the story of your average police beagle. He's supposed to be trained to sniff out bombs, but he's, well, bombed out at that job. Dejected after his most recent failure (hams and bombs smell alike, right?), he sets out alone on the streets.
He's quickly picked up by Cad (Patrick Warburton) and taken to the lab of the mad Dr. Barsinister (Peter Dinklage). When the bad doc tries to inject him with something, he starts running around the lab, accidentally knocking over a shelf full of bottles. From these comes his super powers of speech, speed, strength, flying, you name it.
Underdog manages to get himself adopted by a recently widowed father (Jim Belushi) with a bitter son (Alex Neuberger). But Dr. Barsinister is continuing his evil scheme. Will he find Underdog? Can a small dog stop the mad scientist?
Never having watched the old cartoon show, I can't compare this film to its source material. I might have missed a few jokes as a result. But I found this to be only an average film. The story is predictable, but it was entertaining enough to hold my interest. There were some great one-liners, but too much bathroom humor for my tastes. I have a feeling the target audience of kids will enjoy it more then I did.
Not surprisingly, the special effects were great. The acting was fine, but nothing outstanding. The exception to that was Patrick Warburton and Peter Dinklage. They play the villains slightly over the top, and the result was perfect. They were more funny then scary, although a couple scenes in the lab might frighten young children.
This is a movie aimed at kids that is best left to them. They'll enjoy it, but adults will want to find something else to entertain them.