MARMADUKE

2010, Twentieth Century Fox

Live action

Rating: PG

Approx. 87 mins.

THE STORY:

Marmaduke the Great Dane (Owen Wilson) is dislodged from his safe routine when his family moves from Kansas to "the O.C." Fairly quickly, he finds a group of friends, sees the pooch of his dreams (Fergie), and is terrorized by her boyfriend Bosco (Kieffer Sutherland), the alpha-male Rottweiler who leads the alpha-purebreds.

Having vowed to use the move as a chance to reinvent himself, Marmaduke, with the help of the family cat (George Lopez), orchestrates a fake demonstration of his toughness. It works, and, turning his back on the mixed-breeds who first befriended him, he becomes the new alpha- male in town. Ultimately, his ruse is discovered and he also manages to annoy his owner so much that he risks losing his place in the family. He finds himself almost homeless and completely friendless.

It takes a near disaster for Marmaduke to realize who his real friends are and who he really loves. Along the same lines, the same potential disaster allows his owner, Phil (Lee Pace) to reawaken his commitment to his family and his love for Marmaduke. Everything ends for the best in the best possible of worlds.   

QUESTIONABLE LANGUAGE:

• Oh my God

VIOLENCE:

• no violence, but a potentially frightening scene when 2 dogs get trapped in the rushing waters of a sewer system

TEACHING POINTS:

• If friends need you to change to like you, they aren't worth calling friends
• Everyone has a right to be

THE UPSHOT:

This movie has got a lot of really really bad reviews, so I was expecting to hate it from irritating start to excruciating finish. And then I didn't. 

Yes, it is unoriginal. Yes, it is full of cliches. But it is pretty funny in parts and the voices are generally good. I think its likability for me is partly thanks to Owen Wilson (of whom I am not a huge fan in general), who just makes Marmaduke so... human. 

It's a very transparent metaphor, but I liked the paralleling of dog clique and school/ social clique. It's easy to extrapolate from the story for some important discussion with younger kids about bullying and fitting in/ being different. 

There is some mild crudeness, but the average 5 year-old could easily put the film to shame. I've wasted 87 minutes on far far worse.

3/5