“A DOG HAS HIS DAY”
Starring: William H. Macy, George Lopez, Judy Greer, Lee Pace, Emma Stone and Owen Wilson
Directed by: Tom Dey
MPAA Rating: PG for some rude humor and language.
Genre: Comedy, Kids/Family and Adaptation
Run time:Â 1hr and 27min
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release date: June 4th, 2010
By John Delia
While I’m not a big fan of dog movies, Marmaduke does have some appeal. The big lanky pouch provides a lot of kiddy laughs as he stumbles, bungles and brightens some cool scenes of his new movie. Kid friendly, the appeal here comes from the wide assortment of teen dogs, the ability to converse with each other and the situations they find themselves. ADULTS: Don’t look for a lot of belly laughs to cool off your tough day.
If there is a storyline it goes something like this; Marmaduke’s family relocates to Los Angeles from Kansas when his owner Phil gets offered a job promoting a new dog food. Not really wanting to change their surroundings and friends the rest of his family reluctantly goes along for the ‘ride.’
Marmaduke gets his first taste of the west coast when Phil goes to a dog park to meet his new boss. There the huge Great Dane meets a number of canines including pedigrees, mutts and mixes. He befriends Mazie, Rasin and Giuseppe three ordinary dogs teetering on the edge of fitting in that help him get acquainted at the park. When Marmaduke sees the lithesome Collie Jezebel however, he falls instantly in love and that’s the start of the fun.
The voice talent in the film in most cases is a disappointment. Instead of lending their personality they sounded like script readers. The lead looses a lot of excitement with Owen Wilson as Marmaduke. Here I expected a bolder yet goofy actor that would be more representative of the cartoon character. The only standouts were Lopez as Marmaduke’s cat pal Carlos who steals the show a number of times with his sly remarks and William H. Macy as Phil’s boss who finds himself in a mess during a surfing promotion that was ment to attract owners of a pet supermarket.
The direction by Tom Dey doesn’t do much for adult watchers. Although the youngsters will like the out-of-control scenes involving a house party, a run in with some ruffian dogs, a surfing competition and a wild dance ending, adults will probably just sit back and yawn. In fact, the film reminds me of another kid only film that was recently released called Furry Vengeance. Both have youngsters at heart with adults nothing more than tagalongs.
The film is rated PG for some rude humor and language, most of which goes over the heads of little tykes.
FINAL ANALYSIS: Adults with cute dogs should tolerate, while their kids are amazed. (3 of 5 Palm Trees)