Review: Underdog (2007)

Directed by: Frederik Du Chau | 81 minutes | action, family | Actors: Jim Belushi, Peter Dinklage, Alex Neuberger, Taylor Momsen, John Slattery, Patrick Warburton, Brad Garrett

Originating in a 1960s cartoon series, the character Underdog was a charming and campy canine take on Superman, but in the case of Frederik Du Chau’s film of the same name, it’s a far cry, that Singers recent ‘Superman Returns’ almost literally copies it into a children’s movie with uninspired slapstick and too little tension. Fortunately, not everything is doom and gloom. The Underdog beagle is cute, the lip movements are convincing most of the time, and the beginning of the movie is still quite amusing. Especially for children. It’s just too little and too simple to make the film a must.

The first half hour of ‘Underdog’ is still quite enjoyable and the film is comparable to Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man’. As long as the beagle is in the process of discovering its newly acquired powers – both in terms of its literal strength and flying skills, as well as its ability to talk to humans – the film is pleasantly playful and dynamic, but once the beast is cloaked and the crime actually takes place. world as Underdog it will be a silly, clichéd film that does not seem to have an original bone in its body and seems to want to race to the finish line as quickly as possible.

The children will find most of the film quite worthwhile, it doesn’t matter, but the story elements are so perfunctory and the execution is so mundane that there will hardly be a parent who will have a good time. Excitement or excitement is hard to find and the whole thing does not transcend an episode of a random series on Fox Kids or Nickelodeon. There is another nice homage to the ‘Lady and the Tramp’ in the movie, but the Spider-Man references are very flashy and easy. Plot points and character moments are completed unsatisfactorily (quickly). The best part is not even the interactions between humans and dog (s) but the interactions between Underdog and the Rottweiler who intimidates our beagle friend in the alleys. His sidekick chihuaha is especially comical. But, as said,