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Posted: 7:56 PM- The children at whom "Underdog" is aimed will have no memories of the movie's source material, the '60s cartoon series about the "humble and lovable" Shoeshine Boy who, in times of crisis, would take an "energy pill" out and become the crime-fighting Underdog.

Those children will just take "Underdog" as a witless tale of a superhero dog, with the now-trite gimmick of using computer-generated effects to make the animals appear to talk to each other.

We who grew up with "Underdog" and his rhyming banter, joyfully spoken by the late Wally Cox, will feel as if a piece of our own childhood has been shamelessly and needlessly ripped from us.

The movie tries to give Underdog three things he never had, and didn't appear to need, on TV: an origin story, a human owner and a physical resemblance to an actual dog.

Underdog is introduced as a hapless police dog, drummed out of the Capitol City PD and kidnapped by Cad (Patrick Warburton), minion of an unethical scientist, Simon Barsinister (played by the usually funny character actor Peter Dinklage). An accident in Barsinister's lab gives the dog superpowers - speed, acute hearing, even the ability to fly. Alone on the street, the dog (voiced by "My Name Is Earl's" Jason Lee) is adopted by the lab's security guard, Dan (James Belushi), and his sullen teen son, Jack (Alex Neuberger).

The dog, named Shoeshine by Dan, and Jack work to hone the animal's powers, create a secret identity and start fighting crime. One of the first people Underdog rescues is Jack's classmate Molly (Taylor Momsen) along with her dog, Sweet Polly Purebred (voiced by Amy Adams). Soon, though, Underdog must face off against Barsinister, who seeks revenge against him.

One could call "Underdog" a fond spoof of superhero-origin stories. But "spoof" implies humor or wit, which is absent in the movie's thievery of "Superman"/"Spider-Man" iconography (right down to Underdog giving Polly an aerial tour of the city, à la Superman and Lois Lane in the 1978 classic). The much-handled script also rips pages from the Disney single-parent playbook in its woeful handling of Dan and Jack's strained relationship.

The biggest miscalculation of "Underdog" was the decision to make Underdog and Polly look like real dogs. That may play to the style of director Frederik Du Chau, who pulled a similar talking-animal trick with "Racing Stripes," but seeing realistic animals in feats of derring-do - or kicking each other around, action-movie style - is more disturbing than cute.

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