User reviews

When I first saw the previews for Marley and Me, I thought, ugh, another desperate attempt by Jennifer Aniston to resuscitate her career. I used to be a huge Aniston fan back in the "Friends" days, but it's been years since I've seen any of her movies. And as for Owen Wilson, he always seemed like a goof who rode on the wave of his older brother's success. This movie proved me wrong on both counts.

Marley and Me is about a dog, definitely, but it's just as much about a man (John Grogan, played by Wilson), his wife (Jenny, played by Aniston), and his growing family. The film follows John from his wedding night to the peak of his journalism career a dozen years later, years that are chronicled in his weekly columns for a Florida newspaper. Marley, the lovable but horribly destructive yellow lab, enters his life as a puppy, in an attempt to prepare him and his wife for future children. The dog, as expected, tears apart the house, makes wild escapes, humps the dog trainer, and lovably terrorizes other people. But the film effectively intersperses those episodes with tender, sincere moments of human/dog bonding. Marley is there to comfort Jenny when her husband cannot, adjusts to the children as they grow older, and intrudes on the family's most private moments. He is a constant, and at times, annoying presence, but Marley underscores the emotional tone of the film without dominating it.

Similarly, both Wilson and Aniston deliver understated performances that convey the ups-and-downs of any marriage. While it is the bond between John and Marley that the film explores most deeply, Jenny provides the link between dog, family, and children. In the end, she realizes what Marley has become, and what he has always been, to the two of them. The film's overall tone - light, humorous, but at times very real - builds up to an ending that is surprisingly moving.

Marley and Me is a tender-hearted, easy-going film that will appeal to any dog-lover. But it will also, I think, appeal to anyone who can look back on his or her life and trace a common thread through each passing year. A beloved pet, like Marley, has that unique capability. I wish I could thank my own dog for that. But, as one of the children in the movie tearfully says, I'm sure he already knows.

Though I wasn't quite sure what to expect with "Marley and Me", I admit I basically expected it to be a slightly goofy slapstick type comedy centered around a high-strung pooch. I was thinking "Beethoven" just replace the St. Bernard with a Labrador.

With "A-list" players like Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson involved, however, I should have known better.

This is an actual movie - a real story about real life and the dog that runs through it (literally and figuratively).

The basic story follows Wilson and Aniston as journalists who embark upon their lives as a married couple. Marley comes early on as the puppy no one wants and the marginally insane high-strung pooch who appears throughout to be virtually untrainable (don't tell that to that "It's Me or the Dog" gal). Shredding cushions, destroying floors and walls and most everything in between seems to never quite drive them completely mad. Instead of taking him to the pound they soldier through and love their dog and of course he faithfully loves them in return. Like a child, a pet is not someone you just give up on because they are hard to take care of.

Children - three, ultimately - come into their lives and John's (Wilson) career continues to advance as he carves a niche as a local columnist. They ultimately move from Florida to Pennsylvania. Even as the marriage has its ups and downs, as Jen (Aniston, sans a character name change) gives up her career to be a mom, as kids are born and grow older, as John struggles with his own career direction Marley remains the constant, always a little crazy, always infusing his peculiar personality into the family dynamic.

This is a "family movie" in the truest sense - that is, that it is about family, about the reality of being a father, a husband, a wife, a mother, and the obligations and dreams and ambitions we have and often let go for the sake of the greater purpose of raising our children. It is about uncomfortable and often painful sacrifices of our own vision of the future for ourselves and our family. It is about what we give up to ultimately gain far more.

Marley in his own way represents that sacrifice - a pet probably not many would take on and keep and engenders a huge challenge to persist in loving and caring for. Therein is a lesson in how to raise kids and how to love each other even when we don't much feel like it.

For all its fine, thoughtful, and charming qualities "Marley and Me" is not 100% a family movie - there's some swearing (not much - perhaps 5 or 6 times, all relatively tame) and some sexual innuendo but nothing overt. In the end I think it finds a pretty reasonable balance between trying to be a movie that appeals to adults and yet it doesn't kowtow to children either. The dialog and the acting are excellent (Jennifer Aniston is especially good) and whatever Owen does is understated and funny yet he also does serious when he needs to.

In any case this is a fine movie that most adults will enjoy for a real character-driven "dramedy" (mostly drama, less comedy) and kids say 7 and older will be able to catch most of the finer elements of the script.

"Marley and Me", for what it's worth, is a true family film. The first half, with cute puppies and slap stick humor, will probably draw in the younger audiences, while the last half, a surprisingly substance filled story of a marriage growing past its prime, will appeal to the parents. The inevitable last bit will hit it home for everyone. Even teenagers. I know because I am one. That really is a 'family' film.

On a different note, what I was really impressed with in this film is Owen Wilson. I have never been too impressed with his work, he's tolerable, but that's about it. In this, however, he had a very heartfelt performance for what he was given. The last few scenes were among his most impressive work ever.

Give Marley and Me a try, if you're out with the whole family.

It made me cry. Such a heartwarming story.

In the middle it becomes a bit slow and boring but it was overall very good, touching and with great acting.

After reading some of the outlandish bad reviews, I had to comment on this film. I know people's perceptions differ, but some of the bad reviews are so exaggerated and are, lack of a better word, incorrect! I was hesitant about going to see just another generic man and dog film. It was my girlfriend's idea, and I figured it would be another corny chick flick about how a couple get a dog and how it brings them together. After I began watching, it grabbed my attention and never let go! I don't think my review of this film will be able to capture the true essence and emotions this film captures, but here goes: The film was very gripping in its realistic portrayal of the development of a family and their pet from the couple's wedding until the film's end approximately 40 years into their lives. I think for most people, the couple's relationship and even a troublesome pet will seem familiar(imperfect, but yet believable). The movie isn't solely about the dog, but how the dog is a bit of a nuisance at first, but matures along with the family. Giving many more details may ruin the story, so I'll hit some of the points that need attention.

Some people argue that this film lacks comedy, but it's subtle comedy(the type real life offers...nothing exaggerated and unbelievable...like too many Seth Rogan films). Owen Wilson is more toned down, but he adds his spin to a more down-to-earth role as a husband that chooses his life as a husband over the dream life he had pictured. Aniston delivers one of her best performances, in my opinion. I'm not a big fan of her acting, but she gives an undeniably good performance as Wilson's adoring wife.

Regarding the "nudity" and "sex", yes they hint at having sex, but nothing is shown nor sounds like sex. There is NO NUDITY!!! There is a shot of Aniston's naked BACK(not her backside, her back). All of the film's sexual innuendos are while they are married! If anything I think this sends a positive message to younger viewers that this is the way it's supposed to be...fun isn't over after marriage and in some cases, it's when the real adventure begins. Children these days have seen worse than this film shows on network TV and MTV. I didn't hear any bad language that isn't on TV already. It wasn't what most people consider the worst words. And lastly, the sad part of the film is realistic not morbid, murder, or uncalled for...sometimes I think people are so used to films like The Dark Knight that when they see a wholesome, realistic film they're disappointed because they're wanting something epic.

Give this film and chance and realize going into it that it's not the mindless, idealistic comedy that Hollywood has stuffed down our throats lately. It's heart-warming, wholesome, and true to life.

Wild horses couldn't have dragged me to the theaters to see this movie but I couldn't say no to my nieces and they are the ones that selected the DVD. What a surprise and how dangerous to pre-judge. "Marley and Me" has, at least, 4 or 5 elements that put it way above other movies of its kind. It reminded me (without being similar) to a favorite of my own childhood "Old Yeller" and that alone placed me on a very special frame of mind. Jennifer Aniston surprised me. Her performance feels and sounds truthful and thoughtful. The mother of three who left behind a promising career to dedicate herself fully to her family, reeks of a familiar kind of pathology that Aniston takes all the way without allowing the acting get in the way. I believed her and that makes things work on all levels. Then, Alan Arkin, he creates a fully fledged character out of a clichè. He's wonderful. And Marley? The series of extraordinary dogs who played the arch of this unconventional creature, is a triumph of sorts. Some of the music and Marley running I could have done without and I must confess I wouldn't have cast Owen Wilson but that's just too small a problem to spoil the surprise this movie provides. Kathleen Turner plays a cameo as a dog instructor that provoked a gasp in the audience. She's closer to Shirley Stoler in "Seven Beauties" than to Geena Davis in "The Accidental Turist" Use your kids as an excuse to see Marley. It works.

Every year I go to see a movie on Christmas Day. It's been a tradition since high school. This year's Christmas movie was "Marley & Me". I was more excited by the fact that it was something that everyone could go and see; including my mom, who doesn't venture out to the theater very often. Anyway, I was happy that she and my girlfriend were excited to see this.

As I am sure many posters will repeat this phrase, if you've ever been a dog owner, this movie really rings true. The movie itself is very simple; it chronicles the growth of a couple and the impact their pet Labrador has on their family throughout their life.

It is really the simplicity that makes the story work so well. This isn't "Old Yeller" or "Lassie", though some elements are there. This isn't a dog movie focused on the relationship of the canine and a kid (a la "My Dog Skip"). This is a true depiction of what it is like for most people to get a puppy early in their relationship and how it can develop into them becoming a member of the family.

There aren't many people in the cast. Jennifer Aniston really does the best job in the picture. I'm a fan of Owen Wilson (I know many aren't), and it was nice to see a serious side since we really hadn't seen one since "Behind Enemy Lines". He did a good job, but he really would've sold me if he had shed some full on tears when it was required. But he was very believable nonetheless.

The film really humanizes the characters and their relationship with Marley with such realism. I haven't had a chance to read the book, but I have a feeling the movie captured the essence of the story.

I have been a dog owner my entire life. I had 5 from childhood through college and have experienced the beginning act of the movie having purchased a puppy with my girlfriend 2 years ago. He is now a 2 yr old member of our family, and we would be devastated if we ever lost him. Most can relate to the experience of being a pet owner, and even if you can't, there are messages here you can still connect with. I definitely recommend this for ANYBODY, but try to take the family. If you never wanted a pet before, I challenge you to not change your mind after viewing this. And yes, men, women and children alike were sobbing by the end

When first approached to consider filling the lead female role in Marley & Me, Jennifer Aniston reportedly turned it down because she didn't find the concept of a "dog movie" to be appealing. To be fair, the stigma attached to such movies is something that's been built up over years of kitschy, overly caricatured features that like to anthropomorphise the animal as something other than what they are. So it's no surprise then that when Aniston eventually got around to reading the core of Marley & Me's story that she turned around and took on the role immediately. You see, rather than just throw out another cute, mischievous and bothersome dog story, John Grogan's book deals with the above, but does so always making sure that the story relates to his own personal experiences to the animal rather than attaching them to him literally. The result is a "dog movie" that is quite like no other in that it actually portrays that which makes a dog lovable in the first place (which is, no doubt, his lack of our own fickleness and in turn an almost endless supply of love) and uses it to show just how much of a family member such an animal can develop into.

Translated to the big screen, Marley & Me works just as well; with the understated performances of Aniston and Wilson (both of whom I have doubted in the past, but sorely regret doing so now) in tow with a very tightly scripted, well paced story that develops so many aspects you won't even notice until the final few scenes, the emotional resonance that director David Frankel seeps from the pages of Grogan's novel is palpable. Just to give a balanced account of the whole, it must be said that this subtlety that transpires over the course of the movie's first two acts can be misleading at first—what seems like an unfocused blend of TV family drama with a conventional dog-story actually develops and transforms into something beautifully refined and constructed; but with this said the time that it takes to get there leaves the entire feature feeling a tad unbalanced. Yet even with this discrepancy, there's still plenty of things to enjoy about the movie's earlier half, and well, that's all part of the build up to act three anyway which turns all that on its head and brings it to a wonderful close.

To say that Marley & Me is a tear-jerker is something of an understatement. While I understand that giving this away obviously points to one direction as to where the movie goes, this aspect is just so natural and important to the feature that it leaves one to wonder why a movie like this hadn't been as well made before. Of course, the answer lies in the fact that much of the feature comes from personal experience from Grogan, and so the narrative is always informed by emotion and that ever-romanticised cloud of memory that helps keep the movie feeling real but at the same time large enough to stop from becoming fully pedestrian. It also helps that Marley & Me isn't purely built on plucking the heart-strings, in fact, very little of such manipulation occurs at all until the closing scenes, and so the restraint that director Frankel shows respects the viewer enough to let them build their own impressions of the characters. Through clever use of the typical dog-movie antics, family drama and character development, the movie feels fun, moving, and funny, but most of all—natural.

For movies such as this, it's real easy to get stuck writing for the cliché characters, stock-room dog jokes (although there a handful present here, but are treated with less theatrical tardiness than is common—Marley is constantly referred to as "the worst dog in the world" because of his tendency to cause a ruckus) and overly mawkish sentiments built around family, but Marley & Me resists this and yet comes out all the more emotionally engaging for it. Most significant of all these points however is that I don't think I've ever felt so much for a dog in a movie as much as I did for Marley, and that's something special right there. Detaching itself from the comical, flat-levelled safe-approach that most dog-movies take and instead making Marley the most emotive subject in the movie is a bold movie and certainly not an easy thing to do, yet Frankel pulls it off wonderfully and does so with a sense of reverence to Grogan's own personal story. No, it's not perfect, and there are certain moments where the movie gets a little too far into tedium for its own good in the middle stages, but in the end you can't help but see why this is all necessary. By building up characters, their ties to each other and their pet dog slowly and with restraint, Marley & Me is one of the very few real dog-movies out there with a real sense of personality, charm and heart that only a real dog could offer.

• A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)

Marley and Me is not an amazing movie by all means, the script does have uneven and sometimes jarring changes of tone from silly to serious to genuinely affecting, the story right down from the antics up to the ending is rather predictable on the surface and there are some parts that drag. But, most of the antics are quite funny on the other hand and the ending is poignant in a genuine sense. The whole film looks beautiful and the soundtrack is divine. The film is decently directed, and the acting from the leads Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston is appealing, and Eric Dane and Kathleen Turner provide excellent support. The dog steals the show though being incredibly endearing, the dog isn't just part of the film, the dog in many more ways than one IS the film. Overall, appealing film and quite touching. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I saw the movie with grandkids aged 5 through 12. I had listened to the audiobook and enjoyed it very much. After listening to the book, it seemed to be what could have been a family movie. John Grogan's storytelling in the book made Marley seem both incorrigible and lovable. The movie, it seemed, spend more time on John Grogan's angst about his career, inferred angst about his loss of bachelorhood, and his anxiety about having and taking care of kids. In proportion, the movie, "Marley & Me", was mostly Me with Marley thrown in almost as a subplot. There did not seem to be much humor, what there was, often being crude, in my opinion. There was, of course, some sadness at the end. From feedback I got from the grandkids, the 5 and 8 year old were amused by some of Marley's antics, but bored with the rest of the plot. The 12 year old could appreciate more of the personal interactions that often seemed to overshadow the dog story.

Bottom line: As usual, the book was better than the movie and seemed to stay more on topic. The movie version was hijacked by screenwriters who had some other view on the story other than Marley and John Grogan. While advertised as a "family movie", I would say that it was more of a 12 and older movie.

I read Marley & Me several years ago and was happy to see a movie was coming out. The initial critic's reviews I read made it sound like a weak movie. They were wrong.

Marley & Me does a great job of telling the story of the Grogan family. Yes, the main character is Marley, but Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson are great in their roles. Marley's antics are hilarious and we get to see the family evolve throughout the movie. I think the writers and directors did a great job in telling this story.

All in all, an enjoyable movie with plenty of laughs and plenty of tears. My daughter and I both enjoyed it a lot. I plan on seeing Marley & Me again in the theater with my husband and I'm sure we'll watch it again on video.

Enjoy this movie!

There seems to be a consensus of opinion here that, if you dislike this film it is simply because you're not a dog person and therefore you'll not "get" this film. For the record I don't have a dog but did grow up with a dog and like them (while also liking cats). What I don't have is a willingness to access my own emotions and memories in order to use them to make up for the inadequacy of the film – which, with all due respect, a lot of people seem to be doing when they talk about why they love the film. So I understand what it is to have a dog as a companion, to have the good and the bad and to have that be an emotional part of one's live. The problem I have with the film is that I'm not convinced the people who make the film do – or rather I'm not convinced they know how to put that into a script and then put it on the screen.

I say this because the narrative here is a really simple story of a family – and there is nothing wrong with that, it is about life rather than a specific set of events that lead to one another on the way to a dramatic conclusion. However without an engaging and convincing heart to the film then this just comes over like a superficial scenario put together with "music video" moments and no depth or complexity to the lives on which the film relies. To help with the emotion we have lots of "safe accessible" pop songs used in the soundtrack – something that says "packaging" and "market targeting" more than it does "film making"; of course any scene with emotion is loaded with manipulative music to draw the emotion – and, if you're into it then perhaps it will work but it is hard to avoid just how superficial it is.

The casting confirms this as the beautiful blonde leads are both bland as sin and do not convince as characters or as a couple. It doesn't help that the film doesn't even attempt to age them physically and that the script does little to age their spirits. Wilson does his usual stuff but, without the comedy that usually makes his personae works, he is quite poor and he cannot do the emotions that the basic events of his character's life ask him to deliver. Aniston is just as weak and is badly cast – her figure and looks working against her while she tries to use her words only to convince us that she is a mother of three and going through real challenges. The dog itself is good at being cute but personally I struggled to really see what it was they loved in it – probably because the script only gives me comedy events rather than a family with the dog at the heart of it.

Marley & Me will get better with time – not because history will judge it well but rather because it will move out of cinemas, onto DVD and eventually reach its true home on Wednesday afternoons on a network like Hallmark. For those that love those daytime movies then you should like this but for the majority of viewers this will be far too superficial and bland to really impact.

You know, minutes before going to the theater to see this movie I was getting dressed and my beagle was jumping all over me, biting me and I kept pushing her away. So I go to this movie and I just couldn't help it. I cried my eyes out. How true it is, that a dog doesn't care who you are, if you're rich or poor, if you're tall or short. He's always there for you. No matter what. And no matter how big the mess is, you'll still love him. It was great to see Owen Wilson playing a dramatic role. He did great in Behind Enemy Lines and he should play more roles like this. Jennifer Aniston was great too, she really delivered. Good film, funny and entertaining, excellent for the family. Don't forget to take your dog.

I read John Grogan's book on Xmas Day 2007 & saw this film today in Australia on New Years Day '09. I have to say they have turned this heartwarming & funny story into a great movie. The casting was right & Owen Wilson & Jennifer Anniston perfect in the roles of John & Jenny Grogan. I grew up as a teenager with a Golden Labrador in the family we all adored & in my early married life with a badly behaved Lassie Collie dog which had to be put down 13 years later. I could really relate to this family's experiences with their pooch & the sometimes angst it caused them. Our Collie chewed everything in sight & also managed to run straight through a plate glass door, jumped out of the car window and broke a bone in his foot... so many experiences similar to this film/book. And at the end of our pooch's life my (by then ex-husband) cried like a baby when we had to have our dog put down.

This film shows the whole life of Marley & how he was loved and at times despaired of and at the end the most cherished part of this family. Yes I cried at the end & I thought it beautifully done but I also was crying for the dog I miss so much now. I would just like the film to have rounded off the story & shown that Marley got a book published about him & that they next got a docile dog who was never going to make it to the press as he was in fact the model dog they thought they were getting with Marley. Lovely film & such a nice change from some of the garbage that's in the theatres these days.

Really looked forward to watching this with the kids but it was very poor. Kids were bored and the dog was just plain annoying.