When 'Marley' makes three

Marley & Me

Certification: PG

Cast: Owen Wilson, Jennifer

Aniston, Eric Dane, Alan Arkin

Director: David Frankel

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Columnist John Grogan was inspired by and wrote about his pet Labrador dog in a memoir that became a bestseller in 2005. The movie industry then bought the rights to release it as a feature film, and here we have the Hollywood version of Marley & Me.

Following The Devil Wears Prada, director David Frankel together with his team of scribes, including Scott Frank and Don Roos, created a close resemblance of the characters as described in the memoir, but also characters that would work on a big screen.

The movie begins with John Grogan (Owen Wilson) and Jenny (Jennifer Aniston) getting married and moving to West Palm Beach, where they begin their married life.

Taking up a job at the Sun-Sentinel, John is reunited with his best friend and bachelor-for-life, Sebastian (Eric Dane).

One morning, Jenny realises she has killed yet another potted plant and begins to question if she will be a good mother.

Afraid that having a child is next on Jenny's life-agenda, John decides to seek advice from Sebastian; who concludes that he should get Jenny a pet to curb her desire for a baby, because "when you have a baby, you're a father; when you have a dog, you're a master".

And that's how Marley came into the Grogan's life. What they didn't expect though, was the terror that is waiting to be unleashed by this untrainable pooch. He crashes through screen doors, gouges through drywalls, steals undergarments and chews everything he can get his teeth on. No furniture is safe, and all this was when Marley was just a little puppy.

Once Marley reaches full size, his trail of destruction is worse, at home and in public, and especially during thunderstorms, when acts like it's the end of the world.

No nanny will work for the Grogans, so life can sometimes be tough around the affectionately-coined "world's worst dog".

But Marley has always been the constant in John and Jenny's lives, no matter how crazy he can get. He shares all their joys and sadness, and is a genuine part of the family until the day he dies.

Marley is played by 22 dogs, including his puppy years and spanning over more than a decade's transition. There are strictly no special effects or special makeup used in making this movie, so that's why Wilson and Aniston do not seem to age at all over the years, even after Jenny delivers her third baby.

In the acting department, there's not much to fault or cheer about. All the actors are competent enough to make their roles likable; though "tamed" is one word that comes to mind.

Wilson is most mellow compared with his other movies and loses some of his spark.

Aniston is more careful and ends up delivering one of her best on the big screen.

Dane is not much different from his stint on Grey's Anatomy, and Alan Arkin as John's editor at Sun-Sentinel gives off his usual curmudgeon impression, but secretly hides a heart of gold.

What's great about this story is that the episodic incidents that happen in the Grogan's lives look, and feel, real and relatable.

Frankel and company inject nuances to ensure scenes are even more personal, and that really makes a difference.

However, the movie in general may not hit the mark. Its no-brainer target audience, dog owners, may not get enough of the "pet" aspects they want, as the story explores much of the Grogan's ups-and-downs instead.

Which is why, for the pet-less audience, it's a good story that's well told and enjoyable.

Reviewer's Rating: 7 / 10

The Brueni Times