Hello, everyone. Some of you may know me from the Wrestling zone column What Were
They Thinking?. The rest of you probably haven't heard of me at all. That's fine; I don't do this for
fame or anything. I like movies and wrestling about as much as anyone can like anything, so I'm
glad that Larry Csonka and Ashish have given me the opportunity to work on this site.
Speaking of Ashish, remember that he made
TigerFlashGames.Com to entertain you, so go and be entertained!
Let's get started with the movie, shall we? First of all, one of the complaints about this flick is
that Underdog is anthropomorphic (i.e. animal-like but human-shaped) in the cartoon, but a real dog
in the live-action. I can assure you that this is not a problem. Thanks to the magic of CGI
and what had to be the most patient dog trainers in Hollywood, any misgivings you may have
about real dogs being used are quickly dispelled. Also, the cartoon's Underdog had a slightly nasal
voice as Shoeshine Boy and a rather subdued voice as Underdog. In this movie, however, he
sounds more like a teenager as the beagle Shoeshine and tries to sound more deep-voiced and
heroic as Underdog. To me, either one works well and there were no issues with the voices.
Second, the plot synopsis. Underdog is an origins story, much like you see in the first
Spider-Man and Fantastic Four movies. We see how Underdog (voiced by Jason Lee)
got his powers, but we also learn a little about his life. Specifically, that he's a police-trained bomb-
sniffing beagle who can't properly sniff out a bomb. His depression leads him to be captured and
locked in a cage. That night, the scientist Simon Barsinister (portrayed here by Peter Dinklage) and
his sidekick Cad (Patrick Warburton) inject him with an experimental formula, which gives him his
super powers (ability to talk to humans, flight, super strength, super speed, and apparent
invulnerability, to name a few). He escapes their laboratory and finds himself in the home of police
officer-turned-security guard Dan Unger (James Belushi) and his son Jack (Alex Neuberger). After
seeing the dog's penchant for licking shoes, Dan comically names him Shoeshine (a nod to the
original Underdog's secret identity, Shoeshine Boy) and takes him home to Jack, who doesn't want
the dog until he finds out about the powers. Once the obligatory "wrecking-the-house" scene, we
begin a nicely-paced plot development where Shoeshine learns to use his powers for good. He
learns to fly but, as in the cartoon, he never can quite get the landings right, making for much
comical collateral damage. Jack meets a girl named Molly (Taylor Momsen), and Shoeshine falls in
love with the girl's Spaniel, Polly Purebred. After fully assuming his superhero identity, Shoeshine,
a.k.a. Underdog, becomes an overnight success in Capital City. He is seen performing many heroic
feats (all the while perfecting his catchphrase), making Barsinister, now exiled to a makeshift lab in
the sewers, very angry. Barsinister, you see, believes that it should be him on the front
page, not his "creation", and thus he plots to get the dog back. Capturing Dan Unger, he then traps
Shoeshine and takes a sample of his mutated DNA, which he then places into blue capsules and
feeds to his German Shepherds, and forces Showshine to swallow a capsule containing the DNA of
a normal beagle, which strips his powers away. Barsinister and Cad then plant a bomb atop City
Hall containing a genetic cocktail which will make the entire city loyal slaves to Barsinister. Even
without his powers, Shoeshine realizes that he is still a hero and races to the rescue.
I'm going to stop there because I don't want to spoil the ending, but I found the plot solid and
well-paced given the running time. No continuity errors that I could see, and the writing was good all
around. I give the plot a 10/10.
When it comes to the acting, I doubt anyone could have done better. With a few big-name
stars, some minor ones, and those more or less new to acting, the movie has a healthy mix of
experience and youth and it shows how well the actors gel together. Their lines are delivered
flawlessly, they interact very well with the animals and each other, and everything just fit perfectly
into place. Jason Lee did exceptionally well as Underdog, and should they make a sequel, I hope
they decide to keep him and the rest of this movie's cast in their roles. There was also a short cameo by Jay Leno during the rescuing montage, which delivers a good chuckle, as expected. The acting also gets
a 10/10.
The special effects are also fantastic. There were times when I found myself unable to tell where
the shots of the real dog ended and those of the CGI dog began. They used motion-capture for a lot
of the flight scenes for realistic movements on the cape, ears, etc., and the techniques that they
used for the dogs when they were talking or making facial expressions are simply fantastic. I
honestly had to remind myself that it was CGI, though my eyes refused to believe it sometimes.
They didn't try to make it super-realistic; all they did was make it look realistic for the dog's
face, and they did that very well. It wasn't a slipshod job, nor was it oveworked to death until it
was obvious that they were trying to hard. Furthermore, the various explosions, flames, and
breaking of objects (usually during one of Underdog's "rescues") were also nicely done and timed;
frame-by-framing it, I could tell that the timing was spot-on for the physical effects and mad props
must be given to the effects coordinators. The special effects score yet another 10/10.
The music score was believable and it worked. Dramatic music where dramatic music should
be, lighthearted music where lighthearted music should be, etc. There was also a more modern
remix of the classic theme song, which fit well with the timeframe of the movie, and Kyle Massey
did a single called Underdog Raps, part of which is used as an insert song in the film, that
also works fairly well. The music wasn't fantastic (then again, most movie music rarely is), but it did
what it was supposed to do, and that's more than I can say for the music in some movies I've seen.
Music gets a 10/10.
The special features are short, but well worth watching. There is a short "blooper" reel during the
first part of the closing credits, but these were obviously shot deliberately for comedy effect (though
no less funny for being staged). A true blooper reel exists in the special features menu, where you
see actual mistakes that the actors, voice actors, and dogs made during filming. Not as long as you
might like, but it's not bad. We also get three deleted scenes from the movie, and the disc explains
what each scene is and why it didn't make the final cut. Thirdly, the first-ever episode of the classic
cartoon, in which you can see that a lot of similarities exist between the two versions. We also get
Kyle Massey's music video for Underdog Raps, which is worth watching at least once even if
you're not a fan of rap (trust me; I'm not a fan and I found it entertaining). Finally, we get a short
"making of"-style featurette where Jason Lee (as Underdog) provides a narrative of some of what
went into the movie. An interesting part of this is called "Dig Deeper". When you see a logo on the
screen that says "Dig Deeper", you can hit the Enter button on your DVD remote and the disc will
switch to a seperate scene, which gives you a more in-depth look at what was being spoken about
in the featurette (animal training, special effects, etc.) and then returns to the main featurette
automatically. All in all, worth watching, rather funny at times, and, though short, are better than
what I tend to see in these types of extras. Special features gets a 10/10
Final analysis: buy this movie. Whether you are a fan of the cartoon or never heard of it in your
life, you're more than likely to enjoy this adaptation. It's got something for just about everyone, and
it's rare to see a real family film these days. Mostly, I see things obviously meant for kids,
teenagers, or adults, but not all three age groups. Underdog is a prime example of a movie
that reaches out to everyone and manages to entertain. There's enough action and a quick enough
pace to keep children interested while having enough plot and character development to satisfy
older audiences, and jokes that pretty much everyone should be able to understand. All in all, this
is the best Disney movie I've seen in years that didn't have the words "Pirates" and
"Caribbean" in the title. If they made every movie with this kind of quality, I'd line up at the theater
every time a new Disney flick came out. In total, I give this movie a 10/10. Rent it if you're not sure, but it should more than justify the purchase price. (And, with Christmas coming up, it makes a great gift.)
