I spent the day today with some friends who have dogs. We went to the baseball field near their house and we played with the dogs and just hung out. Then came back home to snack ourselves silly and talk about the book we are reading, A Civil Action. We had a great time!
As I saw them play with their dogs and talk about them as if they were their very own children, I started to really wonder about that special bond that exists between dogs and their masters. Needless to say, I do not have a dog, so this is an unfamiliar phenomenon. I immediately remembered the movie Marley & Me. For the longest time I refused to watch that movie because I thought it was a movie about a dog with superpowers or a dog who can communicate with humans, like Airbud or something, which it isn’t. A couple of my friends (grown adults) said they had cried and cried with that movie, so I figured there had to be something to it. So I caved.
The movie begins with Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston starting their lives together. They are both writers/journalists trying to get a life going. They get married and think about children, but they are not ready yet. So they buy a dog. A crazy puppy named Marley. He’s incorrigible. He’s impossible to train and jumps and runs all over the place creating all sorts of trouble for the owners, but they won’t get rid of him. Then come the kids. Marley manages to not eat them or hurt them in any way, but Marley’s constant barking makes it impossible for Jen and Owen to keep a neat and normal home, as if having children (three of them) wasn’t work enough. I won’t spoil the ending for you, but the movie does span several years of their lives through kids, careers, moves, needs and wants, etc.
My reaction: I didn’t get it. Sorry to those out there who did, but I totally did not get it. It was like watching The Story of Us, but as if Michelle Pfeifer and Bruce Willis had a dog.
I asked my friends today if they had seen it, and they were all over it: “Yes! I cried so hard with that movie! Not like sad/normal crying, but more like weeping and sobbing from the very start!” — ok, I was glad I finally figured out that there was nothing wrong with me. This movie was in fact made for dog owners.
If you don’t have a dog, or have never had a dog, then the movie Marley & Me will not tickle your fancy. If you have a dog or have ever felt emotionally attached to one, this movie will shake you to the core.
I guess that’s all I can say… maybe I’ll let a dog owner complement and expand on this review.
Check out another review at Screen Rant
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