"Underdog" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Kolbar]

One Nation, Under Dog
http://www.themovieblog.com/archives/udogposter.jpg
"There's no need to fear! Underdog is here!" - Underdog

Release Date: August 3, 2007
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Frederik Du Chau
Starring: Jason Lee, Jim Belushi, Peter Dinklage, John Slattery, Patrick Warburton, Brad Garrett, Amy Adams

Plot Summary: After an accident in the mysterious lab of maniacal scientist Dr. Simon Barsinister (Peter Dinklage), an ordinary beagle unexpectedly finds himself with unimaginable powers and the ability to speak. Armed with a fetching superhero costume, Underdog (voiced by comedian Jason Lee) vows to protect the beleaguered citizens of Capitol City and, in particular, one beautiful spaniel named Polly Purebread (voiced by Academy Award® nominee Amy Adams). When a sinister plot by Barsinister and his overgrown henchman Cad (Patrick Warburton) threatens to destroy Capitol City only Underdog can save the day.

Visit the official movie site here (http://www.disney.com/underdog).

Comments?

[TheFZAtUGSOnline]

DC has been running ads and Movie Surfers segments for this film, im guessing it should hit #2 in the movie sales on its first week, unless if a certian DC star is in the film (and im not counting Hannah Montana....)

[The Cartoon]

It was funny, but it wasn't like the original cartoon series much

[George3000]

This is the first of 2 Disney movies this year that Amy Adams will be featured in (I believe:shrug: ).

[tucsoncoyote]

and The late Wally Cox (The Original Underdog VA) is spinning in his grave...

Frankly I'm not dissing Underdog here. In fact I loved the original animated series, but it seems as of late Disney in general has in fact been taking good animated shows and series, and have in a way turned and twisted them into poor live action wannabes.

Case in point #1: George of the Jungle. Now the original idea behind George of the Jungle was in fact to take a great animated short and turn it into a Tarzan Wannabe. With Brandon Fraiser as George, the Plot actually did work, and with John Cleese as Ape? The laughs were there.. But it wasn't until they did George of the Jungle 2, that things went south and in a hurry. Rather then having Brandon Fraiser back, they got some no-name actor and when you put him in with John Cleese again as Ape, the magic was truly gone.. Frankly George of the Jungle worked the first time around and quite well, it was the sequel that killed the show outright.

Case in Point #2: Inspector Gadget. Now here was a great DIC animated series about a bumbling police inspector (A la Clouseau), who was part man, part machine/cyborg, who was totally clueless about how his gadgets worked and who had a niece and a dog who were smarter then him.. Add in a wacko Evil Scientist, and you got a great show right?

Well the Live action first movie with Matthew Broderick really worked well and Michelle Trachtenberg did help steer the live action movie in the right direction (and with The Late Don Adams as the cameo voice of Brain, it really was a fun little movie).. that is until they brought out Inspector Gadget 2...then again just like George, This movie headed for the scrap yard and in a hurry. With names like French Stewart and Elaine Hendrix being the first cybernetic couple of gadgets, and Caitlin Wachs replacing Trachtenberg as Penny, was it no surprise that no one wants to see this piece of scrap metal?

Frankly that's what worries me about Underdog. While we have names like Jason Lee, Jim Belushi, Peter Dinklage, John Slattery, Patrick Warburton, Brad Garrett, and Amy Adams in this movie, the fear I have is that Disney will see this and if they see a major success, will more than likely do a sequel.. and as we've seen in case 1 and case 2, what happened to the sequel.. In short, If Underdog succeeds, then it will be that the sequel will come the cast will be re-written in and the movie will fall flatter then most street pancakes...

So what have we learned about Disney doing live action movies about animated shows? Well, we've learned a couple things...

If you do a live action movie of an animated series, be sure to make your actors who star in the original movie to sign a sequel release.. Odds are this is why Disney can't get the original people back.. They think that promoting the character is way better then the actor who plays it. or promoting the product is better than showing what a good movie is all about.

and second.. Don't make a sequel unless you can assure you can get the exact same cast back. Believe me, if anything has been proven here, if Underdog has a sequel, then the odds are good that this will be one that should be buried like any bone..

The bottom line is this.. Disney needs to get to the real issue.. do animated version of the show or series in question.. and don't do live action.. sure it's great to see Jason Lee's voice in a beagle that can talk, but let's face it..If this movie takes a nosedive in the first weekend, we all know what this movie really was... a waste of time for the actors, and a waste of money for the company. In short.. With Underdog... maybe they should have let this dog lay there and let it sleep.. But we'll see when the numbers come in on Monday and if it does make #2? I'll be really surprised...because to be honest, in the movie biz.. It's dog eat dog.. and believe me Underdog is going to live up to it's name.. to survive it's going to have to be a real underdog.. else this puppy won't fly..

Or as I would say... Woof....

:coyote:

[Tobias]

The movie wasn't all that bad. It wasn't the horrible mess that Inspector Gadget was, and they did stay faithful to the characters (from what I remember from the show), plus they even directly mentioned the cartoon series before the movie started.

They threw in Underdog's rhymes (Come on, people, having him rhyme EVERYTHING would have been grating after a while, but at least he was doing it for a good part of the movie), and they threw in the 'power pellet' bit. At least the filmmaker's didn't just toss everything that made the original cartoon out the window.

Plus Patrick Warburton never fails when he's playing the dumb sidekick.

My favorite part of the film? They almost completely avoided the dreadful toilet humor that could have easily been tossed in. All they did was reference certain things (butt sniffing, drinking from the toilet etc), but they never showed anything that would be really considered 'gross out humor' which is often a crutch in animal movies.

Was Underdog a great movie? No, it had it's faults, but Disney could have seriously messed this film up pretty badly. The film we got was actually a rare treat from the House of Mouse in that was actually GOOD.

[Darking]

Saw this yesterday and it wasn't bad. It could have been a *hell* of a lot worse, but I was pleasantly surprised. Sure the writing wasn't great, but it isn't Shakespeare.

There were a lot of little tips and nods to the old cartoons and one Disney reference that was pretty cute, but the best part of the movie had to be Simon Bar Sinister. The actor was having a lot of fun, I think, being the mustache twirling bad guy and his Simon was a lot more interesting than the original cartoons.

It's a good way to pass time and I think I might get the DVD when it comes out.

[DR.MID-NITE]

It was enjoyable. My son and daughter loved it.

[Baltofan]

Doesn't sound bad!

[Steve Carras]

and The late Wally Cox (The Original Underdog VA) is spinning in his grave...
chelle Trachtenberg did help steer the live action movie in the right direction (and with The Late Don Adams as the cameo voice of Brain, it really was a fun little movie).. that is until they rought out Inspector Gadget 2...then again just like George, This movie headed for the scrap yard and in a hurry. With names like French Stewart and Elaine Hendrix being the first cybernetic couple of gadgets, and Caitlin Wachs replacing Trachtenberg as Penny, was it no surprise that no one wants to see this piece of scrap metal?

Frankly that's what worries me about Underdog. While we have names like Jason Lee, Jim Belushi, Peter Dinklage, John Slattery, Patrick Warburton, Brad Garrett, and Amy Adams in this movie, the fear I have is that Disney will see this and if they see a major success, will more than likely do a sequel.. and as we've seen in case 1 and case 2, what happened to the sequel.. In short, If Underdog succeeds, then it will be that the sequel will come the cast will be re-written in and the movie will fall flatter then most street pancakes...

So what have we learned about Disney doing live action movies about animated shows? Well, we've learned a couple things...

If you do a live action movie of an animated series, be sure to make your actors who star in the original movie to sign a sequel release.. Odds are this is why Disney can't get the original people back.. They think that promoting the character is way better then the actor who plays it. or promoting the product is better than showing what a good movie is all about.

and second.. Don't make a sequel unless you can assure you can get the exact same cast back. Believe me, if anything has been proven here, if Underdog has a sequel, then the odds are good that this will be one that should be buried like any bone..

The bottom line is this.. Disney needs to get to the real issue.. do animated version of the show or series in question.. and don't do live action.. sure it's great to see Jason Lee's voice in a beagle that can talk, but let's face it..If this movie takes a nosedive in the first weekend, we all know what this movie really was... a waste of time for the actors, and a waste of money for the company. In short.. With Underdog... maybe they should have let this dog lay there and let it sleep.. But we'll see when the numbers come in on Monday and if it does make #2? I'll be really surprised...because to be honest, in the movie biz.. It's dog eat dog.. and believe me Underdog is going to live up to it's name.. to survive it's going to have to be a real underdog.. else this puppy won't fly..

Or as I would say... Woof....

:coyote:

The problem with U'dog was that the dog in question as you state of, was live aciton but the original was cartoon but there was difference more than that, the first was like Huckleberry Hound, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, Goofy, Offica Pup (Krazy Kat),etc. in being a FULLY anthromorphic dog with no refernece except in name to being a dog (compare again, say, Scooby-Doo who is a quadropedal dog who can talk or the Foghorn Leghorn series one or the one Huckleberry Hound chases or Snuffles who Quick Draw employs).Also the music cues in the original (legal reasons?) are absent.

And if this NEW "franchise" is successful (potentially :o if that is the case if you ask ME) THEN not only the things you say would happen but it would overshadow the original unless Classic Media (who owns the rights to those old Leonardo-Total Telvision programs) really rushes out to successfully release those old prgrams!

And I voted "0" stars in the poll above.:)

[Tobias]

If they get the writers back for Underdog 2 (if it happens), then recast or no, the sequel will follow more closely to the cartoons.The first thing the movie does is show clips from the original cartoon series with Jason Lee saying 'All of this happens later' just before the live action starts.

Underdog's the first cartoon turned live action film that actually makes an attempt to follow the cartoons. I wouldn't be surprised if, in the sequel, Shoeshine actually is working as a shoeshine dog.