WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HOPE THE NEW YEAR BRINGS YOU LOTS OF JOY AND GOOD FORTUN...
WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HOPE THE NEW YEAR BRINGS YOU LOTS OF JOY AND GOOD FORTUNE X X
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Jenny and John Grogan have a great life, they have just bough a house together and John has a new job. Jenny has a plan for their life and is trying to follow it until the day she happens to mention in conversation about children. This scares John and he talks to his friend about it and he advises that he buys Jenny a dog so she will not think about having children for another few years.
The gift of a dog works and John takes Jenny to the animal home where she picks a lovely little golden Labrador. Jenny has to leave town for work for 3 weeks so it is up to John to pick the dog up. It is on their trip home that John decides to name to dog Marley.
Marley is soon showing his true colours and destroying the house. John and Jenny have no control over him and it is not even safe to walk him as it always turns into a run. Soon it is decided that Marley must go to an obedience class but he is that bad at it he gets thrown out and told not to return. John and Jenny soon fin they have to accept Marley for how he is but things are set to change for the couple when Jenny finds out she is pregnant.
Will Marley be able to cope with a baby
in the house and how will it affect his behaviour? Just how long can the Grogan family cope with Marley and his ways and what will happen if they cannot cope anymore?
The plot for this film may sound a little basic but there is a lot which I have left out of my summery as I think it would spoil the film for those who have not watched it yet if I give away any more of the plot.
The story for me was a lovely one. I completely fell in love with Marley from the first scene he was in. I found he was definitely the star of the film and at times he had me feeling so many different emotions and for a dog to be able to do that in a film to me is saying something. I thought he was excellent trained to be able to perform the tasks he did in the film and I loved how so much attention top detail was added to the film and how Marley did age and change through the years and we were not just expected to imagine it.
Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson took the lead role of Jenny and John and I thought they did a great job. There was a good on screen chemistry between the couple and this did help with the telling of the story. I found they did a good job of the storyline and handled certain parts exceptionally well and they did actually come across as a very loving couple. I did comment to hubby during the film that these two must have had so much fun making this film and being able to work with the dogs. There are a few good supporting actors in the film who do add a little bit of depth to the story but none of them really stood out for me.
Despite the storyline seeming a bit boring as it is just about a dog and the day to day life of a couple I did not loose interest or get bored at any point./ I found that the actors drew me into the film and the whole story and I was so emotional at times and felt for the whole family and wanted to help them. Saying I was emotional at times was noting compared to the laughs both me and hubby had at Marley. He did get up to some wonderful tricks and he really did bring the humour to the film.
The film is set in the present day in America so not much attention to details was needed for the sets and costumes. I did find that even though the film would skip months and at times years I was easily able to follow what was happening. One of the parts which I found to be good was the aging of the dog. In some films I have seen staring animals I have noticed that the animal did not age at all despite the film spanning several years but in this one it was clearly noticeable that Marley had several dog actors and the last one really did pull at my heart strings as we could clearly see he was an old dog by his face and the way he walked. I think this helped with the reality of the film.
The soundtrack to the film was good and I liked all of the tracks which were used despite not being able to remember any of them now. I remember thinking at the time of watching this film how they did help with setting the emotions for the scenes.
The DVD which we have does have some bonus features which include:-
Nineteen Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by the Director Gag Reel Five Featurettes Finding Marley Breaking the Golden Rule On Set With Marley: Dog of All Trades Animal Adoption When Not to Pee
I have not watched any of these so I am unable to make comment on them.
The running time of this film is 1 hour and 40 minutes and I found this to be a great length and did not get bored or loose interest at any point. The certificate is a PG and I do agree with this but I would recommend that children who are very sensitive do not watch it as it will upset them. I managed to get this for the bargain price of £5 in Tesco which I felt to be an excellent price for such an enjoyable film.
Overall I am going to recommend this film as it has a good story, great actors, a wonderful loving and funny dog but I do advise that you have a tissue or three to hand!
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