It’s really tough to hate a movie that’s so filled with adorable dogs, and surely enough the stunt dog that plays Underdog is adorable. For all intents and purposes, the dog presents much more personality than the CGI rendering forces on it, and it’s a shame we never saw more it. Meanwhile, you have to appreciate how the writers pretty much integrate almost all of the elements of the original cartoon, including naming Underdog "Shoeshine" as his secret identity, and having his love interest be Polly. Not to mention whenever Underdog is in costume, he speaks in rhymes, and his costume is essentially accurate to the original cartoon.

Sadly, Disney’s latest effort to cash in on childhood memories and classic cartoons is an ill-conceived and often irritating bout of Children’s film far, and it’s not a trend that seems to be ending any time soon. Take a mediocre and boring cartoon and turn it into a live action movie, and you have what’s the basis for “Underdog,” a kids action movie that really just takes everything I hate about modern kid films. And, to boot, it’s also yet another superhero movie with a boring origin. Sure, it’s a kids movie, so you can argue that I’m not the target audience, but kids can’t possibly have such bad taste to find enjoyment out of “Underdog.” It’s pretty much every talking dog movie in the last fifteen years featuring colorful characters, a humble young kid, and poor CGI that renders the animal’s face with half hearted results. When Underdog or any other dog decides to talk, their eyes well up to the size of crystal balls, their face curls, and I shiver a little more every time. Because as obvious the intention is to make the dog’s speech seem natural, he instead just looks outright creepy. Meanwhile, the film really barely has much of a plot at all.

And in spite of the self-aware writing that pays clear notice to the lunacy many times, “Underdog” never embraces the fact that the entire story of the character was really just a spoof of Superman. Taken with a strict tongue in cheek, the movie wouldn’t have been so bad, but there’s so much convoluted story, and plodding humor that there’s barely anything to really enjoy. Besides that, the writers ask us to care for new characters when the appeal is actually the talking dogs. Instead we’re forced to delve into the bickering and back story of a father and son who happen upon Underdog, and there’s also a very under-developed romantic sub-plot between Underdog’s owner, and his friend that’s built up and pretty much leads to nothing but filler. There’s also the villainous Barsinister, played with obvious boredom Peter Dinklage, who is supposedly a mad genius who creates probably one of the dumbest grand master plans possible. Jason Lee and Amy Adams voice the two primary characters Underdog and Polly, while James Belushi is pretty much just a prop to move the story along. At eighty four minutes, “Underdog” gracefully exits when it’s supposed to, but all the potential charm is wasted for a paper thin plot, and sub-par CGI effects that could have really kicked up the entertainment.

Sure, it's not the worst movie ever made, especially in a world that sports crap like "Meet the Spartans," but for a movie it's too corny, and muddled in cheesy writing and sub-par CGI to really endure watching.

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