April 24th - U is for Underdog

April 24th - U is for Underdog

 

I had originally planned to review Underworld for today, but I really wasn’t in the mood for that sort of horror action film today. So, instead I’m watching another kids film. This movie is supposed to be like the cartoon. You don’t have to have watched any of the original series.

The story is really lackluster, but I guess that’s what you get for trying to make a full length film about a character from the older serial cartoons. I have to give them credit for figuring out a good way to show how Underdog got his name and powers, but after that the story loses that spark. The villain is more silly than threatening, no matter what situation our hero is in. This story makes it too easy for Underdog to be better than everyone else. There isn’t anyone who seems up to par with what Underdog can do, and I think that kind of makes his name very juxtaposed from his actions. He’s the sort of “all-powerful” character you’re supposed to stay away from when making interesting characters. This is a children’s movie though, and they do have to try and aim for this sort of “always win character,” but I think they went too far past the mark.

SO, this has been another example of a movie that had a great idea, but didn’t manage to follow through all the way. I think this movie would be better if they cut out about half an hour of the unnecessary scene bits. This movie doesn’t really need to be grittier, but it could use a little more in the department of tension creation. If there had been an actual problem that really challenged Underdog, I think it would have fixed what most of what I didn’t like about this movie. Except for some of the actors’ lack of skill. 2 out of 5.

Underdog cover from IMDB
Stars off of Google Images