If you want to make a movie that will appeal to young kids, go with talking animals. It seems to be gold in my house. If the dog or cat or mouse or rat talks, the kids love it.

The kids have been enjoying ads for Underdog, a movie about a talking dog with superpowers. A friend passed on free tickets to the premiere tomorrow night and the kids are ecstatic. Underdog is their Godfather. It's 84 minutes of highly anticipated hilarity.

I normally play ball on Thursday nights, but James and Michelle want to see Underdog and that means I'll be watching this movie which can't possibly be any good. At the risk of using a joke worthy of the movie itself, it's a dog with fleas and everyone over the age of ten knows it.

It's going to be bad, but it's a talking dog, and that's all that's going to matter.