Underdog [2007] - DVD (Jim Belushi, John Slattery, Amy Adams, Jason Lee - Dir: Frederik Du Chau)

What happens when mad scientist Dr. Simon Barsinister (Peter Dinklage) and a former police beagle Shoeshine (voiced by Jason Lee) are involved in a fiery lab accident? A dog with superpowers (soon to be dubbed "Underdog") is born, and Dr. Barsinister becomes a man obsessed with revenge and bent on genetically modifying the entire population of Capital City. An unwitting former policeman, Dan (James Belushi), and his son Jack (Alex Neuberger) adopt Shoeshine in the hope of improving their strained relationship. What follows is a typical scene of home destruction by a young dog, multiplied exponentially by the incredible strength, speed, and newly developed language skills of one super dog. While Jack and Shoeshine struggle with the conflict between Shoeshine's desire to be a regular dog and Jack's insistence that he use his newfound powers to help people, mayhem reigns in Capital City as Barsinister and his henchman Cad (Patrick Warburton--Emperor's New Groove) wreak havoc on the entire city and Jack's dad, schoolmate Molly (Taylor Momsen) and her dog Polly (voiced by Amy Adams--Enchanted) are all unwittingly dragged into the conflict. Underdog dedicates himself to good, quickly becoming revered as a superhero, but ultimately it will take the combined efforts and understanding of Underdog, Jack, Dan, Molly, and Polly to defeat Barsinister and save Capital City from destruction. Based on the original animated Underdog television series, this live action film is entertaining, if not great.

Bonus features include deleted scenes with director introductions, bloopers, a 5-minute glimpse of the logistics of shooting animals and blending live action with animation, and the first Underdog cartoon "Safe Waif." (Ages 3 to 12) --Tami Horiuchi

Customer Reviews of Underdog [2007]

Aggyjo
England
26th October 2008

Underdog
This is Underdog [2007]a great film, disney at its best. I took my children to see it at the pictures and we had to wait ages until it came out on DVD. We have all watched it so many times that we know the script off by heart. All the characters work really well together, who wouldn't want a talking dog, it's funny for both young and old, leaves you with a happy feeling.

Annie M

16th August 2008

Heaps of fun!
Any film that comes with a U certificate and stars talking animals can usually be guaranteed to be slightly lame - flimsy plot, rubbish script and duff acting. Not here! Underdog is tons of fun. Enough slapstick to keep 4 year olds happy, enough toilet humour to keep 7 year olds happy and enough wink-nudge one-liners to make the grown-ups giggle and it's all helped along by the brilliantly droll voicing of Underdog by Jason Lee of My Name is Earl fame. And at not much over an hour's running time, it's the perfect length of time for a family film. Heaps of fun!!

mummy spoon

15th August 2008

Better than I expected
I have to say, I wasn't that interested in buying this Dvd, but my 4 year old kept asking for it so I gave in and we watched it that evening.I was pleasantly surprised by it, I have seen so many films with talking cats and dogs so didn't expect anything new but this was actually funny, its a great film, not just for kids.

stephenjohnhulbert
Cardiff, UK
13th July 2008

Won over by the script!
When my daughter made me buy this I was dreading the idea of watching it. What could be worse that yet another annoing film about a superhero? And a dog - what kind of superhero could that be, other than lame?

This just goes to show how WRONG you can be in pre-judging a movie. This movie isn't deep (why should it be), but the script is hilarious, the characters are great and the overall effect is fantastic - it's a genuinely funny movie which you will want to watch with your family over and over again.

This film is worth buying just for the script!

LD
UK
22nd June 2008

A Great Film!....
Watched this with my husband and two sons - ages 4 & 8.

It got pretty much straight into the 'action', so my youngest (4) didn't have time to bored like he usually does.... which makes a change!

Great film, enjoyed by all.