Underdog (DVD)

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"Underdog" is not only silly, it's sentimental, punctuated every couple of minutes by gushy, romanticized music. Director Frederik Du Chau's pacing is fatal, the movie marching along at a deadly crawl except for brief stretches of unfunny, slapsticky action. If you recall any part of Du Chau's "Racing Stripes," you'll get the idea.

The movie's special effects are nice, though. The dog looks like it's really talking and flying. There is also a cute "Superman" sequence as Underdog takes Polly out flying, culminating in an all-too-quick reference to "Lady and the Tramp."

As I say, the main part of "Underdog" is exposition, with very little story line and some much-delayed conflict development. Maybe Disney meant the film as the first of many such episodes to come; I have no idea. What I do know is that I found the whole affair rather dull and uninspired, lacking in imagination or humorous spark. Now that I think about it, I'm not even sure if kids would enjoy it.

Video:
The Disney folks offer up the film in two sizes: 1.33:1 fullscreen and 2.35:1 widescreen. What's more, they finally seem to have abandoned the idea of labeling one or the other a "family friendly" format. Certainly, owners of widescreen TVs wouldn't find the 1.33:1 pan-and-scan rendering "friendly" in any way; it cuts out whole chunks of the image, over 40%, from the right and left sides of the screen.

A healthy bit rate ensures some strong black levels and solid colors, although the picture itself can still look a tad fuzzy in a few medium and long shots. Close-ups look detailed and well defined, however, and most of the film, give or take some minor haloing, looks clean and clear.

Audio:
The audio is almost as nondescript as the feature film. There's simply not much to talk about in terms of the Dolby Digital 5.1 output. The front-channel stereo spread is decent enough, the frequencies are well balanced, and the midrange is smooth and natural. Otherwise, there is very little going on. The surrounds provide only a tiny bit of musical ambience enhancement, the bass is not very prominent, and the dynamic range sounds restricted.

Extras:
I'm never sure if studios know for whom they're making the bonus items on some discs. The extras here begin with three deleted scenes, with optional introductions by the director and totaling about four minutes. These scenes seem intended for adults, while the feature film is obviously for children. So, is the idea for the movie itself to sell the disc to kids and the extras to sell it to grown-ups? The blooper reel is only about a minute and a half, so it wouldn't probably sell anything to anybody. Then there's a six-minute, making-of featurette, "Sit. Stay. Act. Diary of a Dog Actor," with additional "Dig Deeper" branches; it might possibly entertain older children. The music video "Underdog Raps" with Kyle Massey is typically Disney, so I suppose kids would like it; I hated it. And then there's an "Underdog" original cartoon episode from 1964, "Safe Waif," about five minutes long, that at least has the distinction of historical interest attached to it.

Things conclude with twelve scene selections and a chapter insert; Sneak Peeks at nine other Disney products; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; French and Spanish subtitles; English captions for the hearing impaired; and a nicely illustrated slipcover for the keep case.

Parting Shots:
You get the idea. I found little of interest in "Underdog." It was far too juvenile and witless for my taste. And it didn't get me to buy or eat any more breakfast cereal than usual. (Apparently, a cereal company created the old cartoon series to sell their product, and that might explain why the movie prominently displays boxes of cereal at every opportunity.) However, substituting a healthy bowl of wheat and bran for this flick might do a person more good than watching it.

"Not bird nor plane nor even frog,
It's just little old me, Underdog."