You gonna bark all day little doggy, or are you gonna bite?
Marley & Me seemed like a cute movie about a wacky dog. All the trailers and television spots pointed towards this direction and certainly I was sure this was going to be the case. How could you go wrong, right? Man, I didn’t expect a life lesson.
John (Owen Wilson) and Jennifer Grogan (Jennifer Aniston) are a young couple who have just gotten married. Delaying kids, they end up purchasing Marley, a labrador retriever. Marley, while happy-go-lucky, is a dog who is constantly in trouble. From wrecking their couch to trying to jump out of a moving car, Marley is a non-stop tornado.
This is where the movie that is advertised ends…
Quickly traveling through their lives, the main focus of the film turns from dog to owners and the trouble the couple has adjusting to being parents, adjusting their professional careers and the spiral is quite dramatic. I’ll stop there.
I think this film is okay, not good, not great, just okay. The main reason for this is that it just doesn’t seem to know what it wants to do. It’s caught between wanting to make you laugh, cry and feel compelled to change your life. Now all of these things are fine, but it has to decide whether it wants to put you through this via the dog or via the owners. You can’t tell two separate stories in one film, especially when you’re not willing to balance the onscreen time between them. On top of this, if you’re going to send your viewer through a series of stops (quickly) on timeline through someone’s life, you have to age them just a bit. All of these things seemed to be thrown together into one story and it’s hard to watch, much less follow.
Now, for the ending bring tissues.
The positives, which I usually bring up first, fall into the wonderful chemistry that Aniston and Wilson have onscreen. They are just fabulous, you would believe that they were actually married if they kept it up. Perfect actors for the situation, especially when Jennifer is going through the tough transition of wife to mother. I really did enjoy their effort and applaud their talent, especially with what they provided to this story.
As for the dog, funny dog. I owned a dog like this once, the actions of this animal are very accurate. Now, if you’re thinking about owning a dog, and thinking that it’s a thoughtless job, think before you buy. This movie might be a great reference on what to expect when you are a dog owner. With that said, Marley is lovable and a dog that you wouldn’t want to give up or let go. Bring some tissues.
Barking about Blu-ray
For the most part, the cinematography in Marley & Me is gorgeous. You have a lot of bright/sunny days and more than a few beach shots. Hell, even L.A. looks gloomy during the infamous dog-hanging-out-the-car trick they pulled. Overall, all of these scenes look much better in HD than they did on the DVD. You benefit visually from the transfer and in-turn it does make the viewing experience a bit better. HD will always do this until people get use to seeing it. I suspect in about 2-4 years that will be the case. For now, the movie does look gorgeous and sound gorgeous in HD.
As for features, here’s what you’re looking at:
– Dog Training Trivia Track
– Dog Training 101 featuring BonusView Video
– 19 Deleted Scenes With Director, David Frankel Commentary
– Finding Marley featurette
– Breaking the Golden Rule featurette
– On Set with Marley: Dog of All Trades featurette
– Animal Adoption featurette
– Purina Dog Chow Marley & Me Video Contest Finalists
– Purina Dog Chow Video Hall of Fame
– Gag Reel
– When Not to Pee featurette
– Digital Copy
– Marley & Me Single DVD
