Want to waste money? See 'Underdog'
"Underdog"
on star
out of four
Opens today
Starring As
Jason Lee Shoeshine
Jim Belushi Dan Unger
Peter Dinklage Dr. Barsinister
Screenplay by Adam Rifkin, Joe Piscatella and Craig A. Williams. Produced by Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Jay Polstein and Jonathan Glickman. Directed by Frederik Du Chau. A Walt Disney Pictures release. Rated G. Running time: 84 minutes.
When directors in this world appear
And ruin cartoons that we hold dear
And slighten fans who see and hear
The cry goes up both far and near for Underdog -- as in the star of the NBC-TV animated series that ran from 1964 through 1967. The late Wally Cox gave Underdog his voice, a comic juxtaposition of nervous insecurity and false bravado.
Jason Lee supplies Underdog's lackluster voice in Frederik Du Chau's new "Underdog," a live-action film almost stinky enough to be scooped in a plastic bag.
It takes 45 minutes before the lovable beagle Shoeshine finally appears as Underdog.
He belongs to a middle-school student named Jack (Alex Neuberger), son of a former cop (Jim Belushi) now a night watchman at a lab where the villainous Simon Barsinister (Peter Dinklage in full cartoon overdrive) messes with genetics.
Mind-numbingly over-written and lethargically directed, "Underdog" achieves its cleverest moment when the title pooch rhymes his words and another canine critically comments, "That's just bad rappin', dog!"
That's just bad. Period.