Marmaduke (2010)

Marmaduke (Owen Wilson) is a giant Great Dane family dog of the Winslows (Lee Pace, Judy Greer) and their 3 kids. The family with Marmaduke and cat Carlos (George Lopez) moves from Kansas to California for Phil's new big marketing job at an organic dog food company. Phil's boss, Don Twombly (William H. Macy) wants Bark Organic into every Petco store and brings his purebred Jezebel (Fergie) to the dog park. The park is very high school ruled by bully Bosco (Kiefer Sutherland). The mutts led by Mazie (Emma Stone) befriends Marmaduke.This has a charming fun start with the Marmaduke narration and the misunderstandings between him and the family. There seems to be a nice little kids' movie with the family in Kansas. The family goes to SoCal and the movie turns into a teen romp with dogs. The hijinx wears thin after a bit. It's comparable to the first 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua' and isn't much better or worst.

It a cute film for the tots and the DVD might be a good investment for their DVD library. The story seemed so familiar to me and then I realized that it was the same plot from the John Hughes script for 1987's "Some Kind of Wonderful" directed by Howard Deutch and starring Eric Stolz and Mary Stuart Masterson as Keith and Watts who have the same relationship as Marmaduke and the female best friend while he pines for that other....b..(I won't say it). The human part of the film is dull, and I imagine it will also be for the children. Fortunately, The director does not focus on that even though the supporting cast has William H Macy who plays the role of an owner of an organic pet food company that brings the family from KC to OC. My personal favorite scene is the surfing dogs.

In short, the CGI talking dogs was done extremely well, even carrying on through nuances found in most dogs - head-tilts, twitches, etc. Typical past CGI attempts practically demanded that the subject remain still while the effects are applied. So, I have to give very high marks to the special effects. The Marmaduke character is very likable as are most of the ensemble here. The story is predictable but I had a fairly good time and even found the humor to be occasionally very funny from a dog-oriented viewpoint. I truly didn't expect much from this but ended up liking it quite a bit. Having said that I will say that I enjoyed it once and will probably never watch it again, but I believe kids 7 to 11 would enjoy it quite a bit.

I just saw this movie for the first time. I came to it with an open mind willing to be entertained. I have to admit that it was a good family movie that it is paced well and tells a simple story. Not full of of slapstick joke, but it has a very refreshing predictable and simple plot and easy to follow. A great movie for discussing family values and what loyalty, love and friendship is all about and the dynamics of it.Good family movie . . . don't listen to the basher and purist that movies have to be a perfect reflection of reality. This is a great movie in a traditional sense.Sit and back and enjoy it . . .