They say that every dog has his day, and in Underdog’s case that was over 40 years ago when he was TV’s most popular breakfast cartoon.
Today he’s a rather sorry-looking specimen, dragged from the back of the Disney pound and asked to perform in a dog’s dinner of middling CG animation and unoriginal-to-non-existent plotting.
Unable to cut it as a sniffer dog and snatched off the street, the hapless beagle's fortunes turn after being drenched in super-DNA while escaping from crazy genetics genius Dr Barsinister.
He is taken in by unwitting security guard Dan (Belushi, no stranger to a mediocre mutt movie after K9, Dog’s Best Friend, and Snow Dogs) as a pet for his distant son Jack (Alex Neuberger).
They name him Shoeshine but 'Earl' would be more fitting, blessed as he is with the sardonic, voiceover-friendly tones of Jason Lee. Not only that, he’s super-strong and lightning-quick. And he can fly.
Thus Underdog is born, a canine caped crusader with a dodgy outfit and a terrible line in rhymes. “There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here!” goes his catchphrase.
Actually there is, since he leaves a trail of destruction wherever he goes, whether he’s trying to impress Polly the shallow Spaniel or going after Barsinister and his thesaurus-thumbing henchman (Patrick Warburton).
Underdog isn’t so much bad as merely lazy, rehashing the plot of Superman with a dash of Lady and the Tramp and a scoopful of poop jokes (“This better be chilli!”).
To be fair to the film's three hard-working screenwriters, there is the odd chuckle. “Can you speak any other languages?” asks Jack. “What, English isn’t enough for ya?” deadpans the dog.
Dinklage’s hammy villain is also a plus, but Belushi and Neuberger look as comfortable with their bonding scenes as we are to be force-fed with Disney’s moral fibre.
“There are no bad dogs, only bad owners,” growls our hero. Given their mistreatment of the cartoon’s legacy and that the CG flying dogs look like they’re being swung round on wires, the filmmakers should have their licences taken away.
Elliott Noble
