Shoeshine (Jason Lee) is an ordinary police dog with an extraordinarily bad sense of smell. When a bomb-sniffing snafu occurs that creates a huge embarrassment for the Police Chief, Shoeshine finds himself out on the street, with no job and no home. He gets picked up by the local dogcatcher and finds himself in a strange situation, not your typical dog pound. Once the lights go out, the pound is transformed into the wacky laboratory of mad genius Dr. Simon Barsinister (Peter Dinklage, Elf) and his super tall henchman, Cad (Patrick Warburton). It seems they are doing all sorts of animal testing for the city, under wraps of course. As an experiment goes awry, Shoeshine gets doused with super serums, turning him into a dog with quite a few powers. He busts out of the pound, only to be hit by the security guard, Dan Unger (Jim Belushi), former cop. Dan takes him home as a pet for his son, Jack (Alex Neuberger), and the two quickly become friends.
Shoeshine finds his powers a little overwhelming at first and has trouble controlling them. Soon, he discovers that Jack can hear and understand him and he soon reveals his other talents to Jack as well, including super strength and flight. Once they rescue their first fair maiden in distress, Molly (Taylor Momsen) and her lovely dog Polly Purebred (Amy Adams, Enchanted), who quickly steals Shoeshine's heart, the hero rush becomes permanent. There is a really funny scene as the pair decide on the appropriate costume for a dog superhero.
Predictably, Barsinister decides to take over the city with a bomb and some talking Dobermans and uses Dan as a lure to capture Underdog. It's up to Underdog to save the day, and the girl, and he doesn't disappoint. Underdog is a great movie for kids because it is relatively clean, but still has a hefty supply of doggie gross-out jokes in it. The requisite "that better be chili" and so on. It's a sweet little movie and I actually found myself laughing out loud a few times. Peter Dinklage is wonderful as the somewhat insane tiny madman and Patrick Warburton just knows his type of role and really works it. He never disappoints. Jim Belushi does a great job as the unassuming guy who lets life happen around him until he finally stands up for himself, and Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond) does an excellent job as the bullying Rottweiler, Riff Raff. Jason Lee is just perfect in the voice of Shoeshine/Underdog. I kept thinking My Name is Earl, but with a dog.
While Underdog certainly won't win any awards, it's a really cute movie and would make a nice holiday addition to your kids' Christmas break. It's funny, clean and sweet and for those of us who grew up on the Underdog cartoon, there's even some goodies in the package for you. The special features contain the typical bloopers (which are funny to see when there's a dog in the mix) and deleted scenes, but also a classic Underdog cartoon and an Underdog music video. I really enjoyed the alternative and rap versions of the classic Underdog theme song. And for those of you wondering, yes he does finally say the classic Underdog tagline, at the very end of the movie. Definitely give this one a rent if you are looking for a pleasant, family-friendly movie. With the talking dogs and all, you might even want to add this one to your kids' collection.
