Image courtesy of impawards.com
Director:
Frederik Du Chau
Cast:
Jason Lee .Underdog (voice)
Peter Dinklage .Dr. Simon Barsinister
James Belushi .Dan Unger
Patrick Warburton .Cad
Alex Neuberger .Jack
Taylor Momsen .Molly
Amy Adams .Polly (voice)
John Slattery .Mayor
Brad Garrett .Riff Raff (voice)
Clearly Hollywood ran out of ideas years ago. Granted we had to get used to all of our beloved childhood stories being remade into modern movies, the term “beloved” is now being stretched far too thin. It seems with each passing release of this nature fewer target audience members grew up with the source material and fewer still actually cherished it. In fact, the generation gap is becoming so wide that many parents will not even recall the original material that a film is based on.
Take, for instance, Underdog. We all know the formula: take an old idea, add some special effects, include some fart jokes, give Jim Belushi a call, bring Patrick Warburton (great as always) for comedic sanctuary, and yell “action.” Uh oh, somebody forgot the script! That seems a minor detail as the film starts innocently enough with a bit of a refresher course on the old cartoon and a surprisingly catchy revamping of the Underdog theme song. As the plot settles in, the movie appears to be inoffensive enough. Though the underdog theme is presented in a less than subtle way, for a minute there I found myself thinking that Underdog might be a decent kids’ film.
That is until a widowed, disgraced cop, Dan Unger, (James Belushi) brings Underdog home to his forlorn son, Jack (Alex Neuberger, quite possibly the worst child actor working today). Underdog lucks upon his new home after escaping from the experimentations of evil genius, Dr. Simon Barsinister (Peter Dinklage, playing a bit too straight of a villain for this kind of affair), but not before gaining the ability to verbalize his inane inner monologue for all the world to hear. Perhaps it is realistic to imagine that if a dog could speak it would say very little of any significance, but that doesn’t change the fact that it basically sounds like someone followed Jason Lee around as he narrated his day.
A thought that is not entirely unbelievable as it appears that director Frederik Du Chau is making it up as he goes. Entire subplots are addressed and cast off with little warning, and more baffling still is when the film offers closure to subplots that never happened in the first place. When exactly does superfluous love interest Molly (Taylor Momsen) express interest in knowing about a burglary foiled by Underdog? Regardless, Jack gives her the information on it anyway. Perhaps the scenes leading up to that “payoff” are lying on the editing room floor along with many other scenes that would have made the film more decipherable. Kids’ movie or no, continuity would still be appreciated.
That lack of attention to detail displayed by all involved is indicative of the flippant nature of Underdog as a whole. There is such a slapdash pastiche of concepts involved that no thought is given to their significance, nor what the film’s purpose is. Aimless films can be fun, but the participants’ enjoyment in making the film must be obvious. It is hard to tell what Underdog wants to be. Is it a franchise attempt, a nostalgic one-off, or a simple family film? Even if one could differentiate, Underdog would likely fail as its very existence is a bit too cynical for the adults in the audience and not accessible enough for the youngsters. This Underdog comes up short in the big game, but that was what was expected all along.
