He's not wearing a ring, which I assume means he won't get special powers from drugs, as in the cartoon.

"Without my super energy pill, I grow weaker and weaker and weaker still!" - Underdog

Warner Brothers cartoons were definately created to a higher standard of production than Hanna Barbera ones. More frames, better artwork, fewer purely formulatic plots, that kind of thing. Disney, of course, did its best work on the big screen, so we're talking a whole different level.

Underdog could be good or bad, depending. Sometimes, they do good work with those things. More often, they suck.

Consider this - the Underdog film is being produced by the Walt Disney Company, so I believe it will innately be poor.

Disney's stuff was good up until about the mid-1990s when everything just seemed jaded and scorned by blatant commercialism.

I would disagree. Lilo and Stitch was respectable. Extremely Goofy Movie, Chicken Little, even Herbie Fully Loaded were all good.

I'd make a fighting point for Lilo and Stitch but Extremely Goofy Movie? C'mon!

Do you have kids? Hmm. I do. My kids like that movie. I like it too. It's a good movie for parents and kids. It might not appeal to everyone, but it is still a good movie. Look back in the Disney catalogue. Disney has always made movies that bomb. It's just that they also make some good ones to sprinkle in. Disney is still doing that. As for commercialism, go back and watch a few of those movies from the 60's. Thanks to Herbie, I knew what a Volkswagon was before I knew which pedal was the gas.

The best children's movies/shows can also be enjoyed by older people. Disney, historically, has produced many "all-ages" films, though it seems from my point of view that the number has declined in recent years. Maybe it's just nostalgia talking, but there are older Disney movies I'd like to see or would enjoy seeing again, but very few Disney movies currently being made (that I'm aware of) that sound interesting to me as an adult. Again, that may just be nostalgia for the films I saw as a child, or it may be that they're not making as many movies that appeal to me.

I loved their old musicals, though, like Little Mermaid or Lion King, etc.

little mermaid and lion king are OLD musicals?

If you consider those old then you aren't old enough to experience nostalgia

Does this mean I can't be nostalgic about ringed tube socks and He-Man?

Archimago -

I don't have offspring, but that doesn't mean I can't judge films relatively to whatever else is available. The original Goofy Movie was pretty fresh, but most of the direct-to-DVD/VHS features are just kind of crappy. Excuse the generalization, but point me to one direct-to-home feature that was better... wait... just as good as the full-length feature film? I don't know - maybe I'm just Mr. Bitterness.

Lion King 2 1/2 was extremely clever, but yes direct to video is usually mildly crap. Of course I'm being curmudgenly when I say you can't experience nostalgia about something less than 20 years old.
good direct to video?
Lion King 2 1/2 nearly as good
Starship Troopers 2 as good
Tremors 2 as good
Leroy and Stitch as good
Debbie does Dallas '99 Better in every way

You're saying that the direct to video sequels of Tremors and Starship Troopers - two terribly shitty movies - could've been worse?

I've never seen DDD99 though.

I wasn't saying that you need kids to be able to judge a movie. It was to illustrate the point that a movies worth is subjective to your circimstances. You may feel that Disney Movies have become suckitude, but they aren't made for you. They are made for families. I like some of the direct to video stuff Disney puts out. My kids can watch the dvds without being hit by previews that they have to sit through(we fast forward to the feature or pop corn while they play). If I watch an Extremely Goofy Movie with my boy and he belly laughs at a line delivered by Pauly Shore, That movie gets an extra star in my rating system. If I laugh at the same joke it gets two.
I assume you are watching for character development, story arc, and animation quality. If you want those, watch my favorite animated film The Iron Giant.

I actually want to see that...

I feel odd reading Archimago extolling the virtues of Lion King 2 1/2.

Yes, the Iron Giant is definately a quality film.

As for the movies I mentioned, they're "old" because I'm not all that old, so they came out when I was a kid. Age of something like that is, in a sense, relative.

Children aren’t very smart or selective when it comes to entertainment. When I was a kid I liked The A Team and Manimal. That a film appeals to children says that it appeals to children; it says nothing about its quality. The best cartoons are those that educated, discerning adults can enjoy. Disney has had its share of these: Beauty and the Beast, The Little mermaid, Alladin, Sleeping Beauty, and Bambi all come to mind. Most of their feature work, however, has been shit (don’t get me started on The Lion King, few movies have pissed me off as much).

The truly great cartoons don’t seem to come from Disney. The Iron Giant was (I think) Fox, Grave of the Fireflies was Japanese, Toy Story and Monsters Inc were Pixar, I suppose I could think of others if I had the time.

Anyway, Disney has become the house of bland (