Director: Frederik Du Chau, U, 84min
Stars: Jason Lee (voice), Peter Dinklage, James Belushi, Alex Neuberger
On general release
The 1960s animated kids show about a canine superhero gets a CGI facelift in this desperately feeble pseudo-blockbuster. Drummed out of the police dog squad for his wretched sense of smell, our eager beagle falls into the hands of the evil scientist Simon Barsinister (The Station Agent’s Dinklage, hamming it up fairly entertainingly).
Advertisement
Barsinister’s experiments with cocktails of DNA endow Underdog with special powers: amazing speed, strength and even flight. He can also talk in rhyming couplets, though since it’s in the whiny, slacker vocal stylings of Jason Lee ( My Name Is Earl) this must be counted a mixed blessing.
What follows is basically Superman on four legs. Younger children will overlook the wooden acting and dire screenplay – what kid wouldn’t thrill to a mutt meting out ruff justice? – but this is one underdog you won’t be rooting for.