Dog’s are wonderful people
Written: Jan 01 '09 (Updated Jan 03 '09)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Realistic, beautiful, engaging story, well done and well acted family movie
Cons: Sad, marketed as light comedy when it is not
The Bottom Line: Recommended to all dog lovers who are in the mood for a realistic movie. The whole family can enjoy this movie.
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| texas-swede's Full Review: Marley & Me |
I just saw this movie with my wife and my nine year old daughter. Even though I found the movie to be quite sad and upsetting, I have to say that it was a great movie; in fact, it was among the best movies that I have seen in recent years. For several reasons I felt that the movie was about us. Yesterday we buried our beloved Labrador Baylor. Baylor was old, he had diabetes, arthritis, and he recently had cataract surgery, however, he did not die from old age like Marley in the movie. While we were on vacation Baylor ran off under the supervision of the professional dog sitter we had hired and he was struck by a car late at night and died early Sunday morning. Other reasons I felt that the movie was about us was that John Grogan and his wife Jennifer had three children; two boys and the youngest was a girl, just like us, and he drove a Honda Odyssey, like I did until a few months ago, and the actor "Owen Wilson" went to the school our boys currently go to, which is "St. Marks School of Texas", and in addition a lot of the dialog, and some of the events in their marriage was so similar to ours. However, above all, Marley's rambunctious behavior closely resembled the behavior of Baylor and our Leonberger puppy Bronco. Unlike most Hollywood movies about "regular people" the story and the acting was not superficial and unrealistic. This movie really felt like it was about us, and I cannot say that about many Hollywood movies. I connected with the characters in the movie and I especially connected with the John Grogan character. I felt John Grogan was, in a sense, me.
Brief synopsis
John (Owen Wilson) and Jennifer Grogan (Jennifer Aniston) are two journalists who move to Florida. Jennifer wants a child while John wants to wait. He buys her a puppy to get her on other thoughts. They name the puppy Marley. Marley turns out to be a sweet but quite rambunctious dog (like the kind of dogs we typically get). John and Jennifer eventually have children anyway and their family grows. The movie is about their family life with the focus on Marley and how the family interacts with Marley. There is some great comedy in the movie but it also contains situations and feelings of a more complex nature, but still familiar to many dog owners, and therefore the movie is to a large extent about you and me. Naturally Marley grows old, like all dogs do, and John and Jennifer and the children have to deal with the sad things that we all have to deal with.
How I felt about the movie
"If you give a dog your heart, he will give you his. How many people can you say that about?" That is roughly what John Grogan said in the movie and it rings so true to me. Dog's are wonderful people, in fact they are better people than a lot of humans. Since we so recently lost our own beloved and wonderful Baylor so unexpectedly, the movie was a little bit difficult for us to watch. On the other hand it helped us work through our feelings of loss and I think my daughter also needed to feel that this happens to other people, and that it is part of life. We were all completely absorbed in the movie; it spoke to us. Despite the fact that the movie was engaging to us as adults, it was also a great movie for my nine year old daughter; the movie spoke to the whole family. The movie may have been marketed wrong, it was not a pure comedy, it was a more serious family movie. However, we knew the ending before we saw the movie and I think it helps if you do.
The movie was sad but it helped us talk about Baylor and it helped us with our grief. Some people felt that the movie was too sad, and it was perhaps too sad, but life is often sad, we can't hide from that. The lady two seats down from me was crying and sobbing uncontrollably so it almost became difficult to hear the movie, and I felt sorry for her. However, that demonstrates how powerful the movie was and how deeply many people feel about their dogs.
The movie was also well acted and very well done, at the same time as it was so realistic that it felt as if it was about us. Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston have never been better in my opinion. Owen Wilson is an alright actor but I have never cared much for Jennifer Aniston, until today. I am not entirely sure whether it was them or the movie, but I connected to John and Jennifer characters in a way I seldom do with Hollywood movies. I view both of them quite differently today compared to yesterday. From time to time I want to see a movie that gives me something more than laughter, excitement, and lighthearted entertainment, something that really makes me feel, even if it happens to be sad, and this was such a movie. I recommend the movie to all dog lovers who are ready for something that might not be lighthearted. I do not recommend it to people who want to see an easy Disney style movie. This movie makes you remember, rather then forget.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Family Movie
Viewing Method: Sneak Preview at My Local Theater
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Ending
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Epinions.com ID:
texas-swede
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 in Hotels & Travel |
 in Hotels & Travel |
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Member: Thomas Wikman
Location: Dallas, TX, USA
Reviews written: 364
Trusted by: 107 members
About Me:
The photo is of my daughter and a Beluga Whale, Sea World, San Antonio
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