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Marmaduke
Rating: 4/10
Cast: Owen Wilson, Lee Pace, Keifer Sutherland, Steve Coogan, Emma Stone
Director: Tom Dey
School holidays are upon us once again - what with the choice of Shrek 4, Toy Story 3 or this latest Marmaduke, it's clear the fight is on for the family dollar.
Owen Wilson voices the great Dane Marmaduke (once a staple of American cartoons) in this mix of live action and CGI - the kind of dog who wreaks a bit of havoc around the family household in the midwest America- digging the lawn for bones, stealing food from the counter, the usual stuff.
But Marmaduke is loved by his family and so he can get away with it - his life is that of the top dog.
Until one day, his uptight owner Phil (Lee Pace) comes home and announces that the entire family are moving to California to work for William H Macy's organic dog food company.
With the rug pulled from under him, Marmaduke's plunged back into a world akin to high school as he tries to fit in with the new crowd out west. It's even worse when the Dog Park is like a playground - ruled by Kiefer Sutherland's wonderfully snarling Bosco and Marmaduke finds he's the odd pooch out.
It's not much better for Phil either and soon the entire family is facing some hard choices.
When a main character, animated or otherwise, looks directly at the camera and makes a farting noise, and then follows it with "I know it's juvenile but it's all I have" then you know you're not in for rocket science for 90 minutes.
The problem with Marmaduke is it plays too far to the younger end of the audience and is a little hard going for anyone over the age of 7 years old. While the talking animals work well, the makers of the film throw the spanner in the works by dropping some quite obvious CGI into the mix. While I'm not expecting miracles (it is after all a film about a dog who talks), it's a shame because the world they've created worked really well until that point.
Owen Wilson brings his laconic laidback tones to the pooch - and
Sutherland does menacing well, but it's an unoriginal story which
doesn't offer much into the mix.
Marmaduke may be a difficult watch for families - but it does
impart some messages about family and priorities and what's
important - which I guess is useful for the younger end of the
spectrum. It's just that the older end of the family group may find
it a little hard going and a real case of deja vu.
