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This Disney caper about a crime fighting-dog is based on a long-running animated series that never really caught on in the UK. Real animals are employed for the live-action remake, with Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl) providing the voice for a bumbling beagle that gets accidentally injected with a super-power serum. Although the pop culture references are piled high and Lee tries gamely to imbue his canine character with some droll slacker charm, Underdog is unlikely to achieve its intended cross-generational appeal, making it a movie strictly for minors.

After falsely identifying a hunk of meat as a bomb, police beagle Shoeshine is discharged from the force and captured by evil scientist Dr Barsinister (The Station Agent's Peter Dinklage), who imbues him with a wide array of superpowers, including the ability to speak to humans. The startled mutt is taken into the care of a fellow ex-cop Dan Unger (James Belushi - who else?) and his teenage son, Jack (newcomer Alex Neuberger) and before long Shoeshine has been recast as a costumed superhero called Underdog, reluctantly pitted against the criminals of Capital City. Meanwhile, a vengeful Dr Barsinister has regrouped with a plan to infest the entire city with a genetic mutation - and only one dog can stop him.

"CONTENT WITH ITS ALSO-RAN STATUS"

Underdog is a kids' film that's so modest in its ambitions you have to wonder if its producers took the title to heart. The cast amble along merrily, with the raving Peter Dinklage being the stand-out and Belushi lapping up his umpteenth role alongside a canine co-star. But at just over 80 minutes it feels not so much like a proper film as a piece of extended filler for slow afternoons on Disney's TV channels. As such it's not a complete dog of a movie, but being so content with its also-ran status won't help gain the support of many neutrals either.

Underdog is out in the UK on 1st February 2008.