This review is from: Marley and Me (Single-Disc Edition) (DVD)
“Marley is not just a regular dog. He once ate an answering machine and polished it off. He did not just chew it either; he ate it and digested it, then he came back and ate the phone for dessert .” ~John Grogan ~ (Marley & Me).
Brief summary:
Marley & Me is a comedy about a Yellow Labrador Retriever. A young couple John and Jenny Grogan adopts Marley as a puppy and soon discover why he was sold to them on clearance. He is the “worst dog in the world” and wreaks havoc and destruction everywhere he goes. John gets an idea from his friend Sebastian that a dog might help him avoid some tough responsibility and allow him a few years of freedom by getting his wife’s mind off of having a baby. The plan doesn’t work out as well as John hopes and finds out that owning a Labrador Retriever can be just as tough as raising children.
My experience:
I had avoided Marley & Me since its release to theaters. I had heard rumors that the movie was so sad that grown men would leave the theater to avoid the embarrassment of bawling like a baby in front of their family, friends and worse yet, complete strangers.
The movie traces the life of a Yellow Labrador named Marley and follows thru to the dogs last days of life. Since I had just suffered the loss of losing my first Labrador; Zira in 2005 I knew I would not be able to cope well with the story-line. As the old saying goes “Time heals all” and I felt I was finally ready to take on the challenge of watching this most talked about film by all Labrador Retriever fans and just dog lovers in general.
The movie made me laugh out-loud so many times and I could relate and appreciate every aspect of John and Jenny’s experience with Marley. John is also a writer so I could definitely relate to that as well. Most of the humorous lines come from the character John and of course from the hilarious antics and behaviors from Marley.
There were so many heartfelt moments, they were so tear jerkingly touching, that some lumps in my throat had to be swallowed back and then the writers of the movie could immediately make me laugh again. The last half hour of the movie was so sad that I must admit I was glad I watched this movie alone. It did indeed have me “bawling like a baby” (I guess I am such a softie when it comes to stuff like this.) However I thought the movie ended on such a positive note that I found myself really enjoying this film. My biggest disappointment was that Marley is only an adorable little puppy for about ten minutes in the entire movie. I would have liked to have seen more of that.
The movie overall:
The acting was very well followed thru and Owen Wilson as John Grogan was very funny and an extremely likeable character. Jennifer Anniston as Jenny was just okay to me. The pacing of the movie was a bit on the slow side, with all the family, pregnancy and baby stuff; the pay-off at the end however made it necessary so it was well worth it.
The acting (if you can call it that) from Marley was fantastic, he really makes this movie extremely enjoyable and I will treasure Marley & Me for a long time.The music in Marley & Me was very decent as well; from the opening title theme to a remake of a Nirvana song all the way to the heart wrenching ending theme, I will simply name it, “Reflections”.
There were a few adult themed elements that gave the movie its deserving PG Rating but all in all I found it to be very appropriate for young children. I would highly recommend Marley & Me to any dog lovers and to all Labrador Retriever fans.