There are some challenges one faces, when reviewing a movie made for kids.  After all, I'm really not Marmaduke's intended audience.  The fact that I found the movie to be only "so-so" probably wouldn't upset its makers too much.  The fact that my three nephews who accompanied me to the movie really, really liked it, probably tells the makers quite a bit more than my blasé reaction.

This movie is a live-action movie about dogs.  It's not animated, but all of the animals speak (even though the humans don't hear them).  When they speak, their mouths open and close.  Sometimes the movements are fairly well synchronized; other times not so much.  In particular, there's a cat whose mouth movements come off looking really odd.  But there's a giant Mastiff whose mouth movements look pretty good. 

But the real star of the show is a large Great Dane, named, of course, Marmaduke.  Anyone familiar with the comic strip of the same name would be familiar with Marmaduke's antics.  He's big, klutzy, and self-centered, knowing full well that the entire world revolves around him.  In the comic strip, however, I don't believe he ever speaks to his viewers, so this movie has a completely different feel from the strip.  In this movie, he speaks to the other animals, to his humans (although that effort is in vain), and to the audience.

Marmaduke finds his voice, through Owen Wilson.  I think Wilson did an OK job here, although, I'm not sure his tone of voice really fits my imagination, when I think about how a Great Dane would sound.  Wilson's voice sounds more like it belongs to a puppy, rather than a full-grown Dane, but this is a minor quibble.  When I asked my nephews if they thought Wilson's voice "sounded like a Great Dane" they thought it was a nutty question, and reminded me that "dogs can't really talk".  This is what I mean about not delving too deeply into an adult's view of a kid's movie!

Marmaduke's living a nice life, in Kansas with his human family.  Mom (Judy Greer), Dad (Lee Pace), and some kids.  But life turns upside-down when Dad's offered a job that requires the family move to California.  The kids and the dog are upset by this turn of events, and they endure parallel storylines once they get out there.  Being the new kid school is never easy.  Neither (apparently) is being the new dog in the park.  At school you have to learn who the cool kids are, and which ones cause trouble.  Hopefully you pick the "right" table to eat your lunch.  Marmaduke has the same situation at the park.  Over there, the pedigrees and the mutts know their places, and keep to them.  But where will Marmaduke fit in?  It takes him a while, but eventually he figures out where he "belongs", and who his real friends are.

Along the way, there are some laughs.  At least the kids found a lot to laugh about.  I laughed a few times, but not nearly as much as I would have liked.  There's quite a bit of "potty" humor, which I hate, but the kids all seemed to love.  In fact, those are the lines they mostly repeated, during the car ride home. 

There are a few scenes that I found "questionable" in terms of their appropriateness in a kids' movie.  Like a scene showing some cruelty to the family cat.  And another scene where Marmaduke and his friend are put in extreme danger.  In fact, there are a few minutes of true suspense where you have to wonder if everyone will be OK.  This is another situation where the adult seemed to worry more than was necessary. When I asked the kids if they were upset by either of these scenes, they basically reminded me that it's just a movie, and that they "knew" everything would turn out OK in the end.  I should point out that these kids are ages 8 through 15.  I would worry about real little kids seeing scenes like the ones described above.

I loved the sheer number of dogs seen in this movie, as well as the variety of breeds.  The dogs were gorgeous, and some of them were quite funny.  There's a Chinese Crested who gets a lot of great lines.  As well as an intimidating Beauceron (Keifer Sutherland), and a beautiful Collie (Fergie, from the Black Eyed Peas).  The movie is a visual delight, purely from a dog-lover's point of view, someone who enjoys watching many dog breeds.

But there was plenty not to like, too.  Like the ridiculous-looking CGI effects, when the dogs did outlandish tricks, like surfing, and dancing.  The CGI looked so fake, it was laughable.  I would have preferred if the movie left scenes like these on the cutting room floor.  On the other hand, the kids thought the dancing was hysterical, so what do I know!

As far as the story goes, it's really nothing special.  And it's completely predictable, at least for adults.  Although there are some decent messages in here, about figuring out who you want to be in life, and knowing who your true friends are. 


Overall, I think this movie is fine, for kids old enough to deal with suspenseful scenes.  And even for some of us dog-loving adults.  But everyone else should keep away.  The jokes mostly fall flat, the CGI looks awful, and the story is nothing to write home about.  Two woofs out of five, from me.  But don't tell my nephews.

Recommended: No