A failed police sniffer dog is unexpectedly given superpowers by a mad scientist, and dons a cape to become the heroic Underdog. Jason Lee (‘My Name Is Earl‘) voices the main character in this weak family comedy The ‘animated adaptation‘ bandwagon is showing no signs of slowing down, and the latest cartoon to be given the big-screen treatment (in the hope of creating a lucrative franchise) is Underdog. The original US TV animated series ran from 1964 to 1973, and was based around a mild-mannered beagle who fought crime via his super powered alter ego - but while this idea may have been enough to happily fill 25 minutes, the film version fails to effectively stretch it out to feature-length.

The adventure begins for the beagle when he‘s booted out of the police force for mistaking a smoked ham for a bomb, and is then picked up off the street to be used in the animal experiments of mad professor Simon Barsinister (Dinklage).

After an accident leaves Barsinister‘s laboratory in flames and the professor badly scarred, the beagle gains a variety of superpowers (including the ability to talk and fly), and then takes shelter with ex-cop-turned-security guard Dan Unger (Belushi) and his teenage son Jack (Neuberger). Named ‘Shoeshine‘ thanks to his habit of licking people‘s feet, the dog and Jack become best friends. What‘s more, the pooch starts using his powers to fight crime under the alias of Underdog, not realising that Dr Barsinister is on his trail and out for revenge. Though Underdog rarely diverts from a formula of cute dogs, blundering slapstick and groan-worthy puns, the film does have somes advantages, from the well-executed special effects to some occasionally witty lines, and the entertaining presence of Peter Dinklage as the villain. It‘s also hard to deny that there are decent messages in the sentimental story. Underdog is not offensively bad, but a movie like this needs plenty of charm to scrape through as anything other than disposable, and director Frederik Du Chau isn‘t up to the task.

The special effects may enable the film‘s dog star to talk, but Du Chau does a very poor job of directing animals, failing to capture any real sense of character and leaving them standing awkwardly while CGI effects articulate their mouths.

Elsewhere, Alex Neuberger is weak as the film‘s lead human, and the relationship between he and Underdog never convinces, feeling more like something from a creaky Nickelodeon TV special. The script itself seems happy to indulge in cliches, and while some of them work - such as giving Underdog a classic ‘mad science‘ origin story - many of them are barely worth a laugh It is also obvious that there‘s been extensive tinkering in the editing suite, but it‘s to the film‘s detriment and results in abruptly curtailed scenes, jokes that seem to be missing punch lines, an over-reliance on voice-over, and a sequence where teenager Taylor Momsen (Neuberger‘s love interest) abruptly wanders into danger for no apparent reason or purpose. In terms of performances, it‘s Dinklage who makes the most impact by hamming it up, but otherwise we‘re in listless territory.

Underdog seems to deliberately aim low, knowing its target audience will be too busy looking at the cute dogs to worry about anything else. Without any real sense of energy or excitement, it may keep undemanding children quiet, but it‘s unlikely anyone above the age of eight will be either amused or entertained by this sluggish effort.