For those who don't know, Marmaduke was originally a newspaper single panel cartoon strip involving the misadventures of an accident-prone Great Dane and his family. Translated to the big screen, this becomes a combination of live action, animatronics, puppetry, and CGI, with the animals talking to each other and Marmaduke himself (voiced by Owen Wilson) breaking the fourth wall by addressing the audience directly.
The story involves Marmaduke's family moving from Kansas to California, and Marmaduke becoming involved in a dog version of the new kid in school being seduced by the snobby clique and not recognising that his real friends are the uncool ones, We've seen it in a thousand teen comedies (Mean Girls leaps to mind), and it's a new wrinkle to see it applied to pedigree dogs vs. mutts, and the key element here is that the dogs mainly behave like people (although they also act like dogs when it suits the filmmakers).
There's also a subplot about Marmaduke's owner's difficulties in a new job and the kids' problems with fitting in.
This is a good kids' film. There's some decent slapstick, a couple of dog fart jokes, some excitement, and enough plot movement to hold the interest. The CGI is mostly well done, the voice talent is fine, the script is light and amusing, the moral lessons are delivered fairly subtly, but don't make the mistake of thinking this is a movie for adults: it isn't, and it will drive you wild wondering why everyone in California lets their animals to wander public places 24/7, and why Marmaduke's family has a permanently unlocked dog-door which is big enough to admit burglars!
The story involves Marmaduke's family moving from Kansas to California, and Marmaduke becoming involved in a dog version of the new kid in school being seduced by the snobby clique and not recognising that his real friends are the uncool ones, We've seen it in a thousand teen comedies (Mean Girls leaps to mind), and it's a new wrinkle to see it applied to pedigree dogs vs. mutts, and the key element here is that the dogs mainly behave like people (although they also act like dogs when it suits the filmmakers).
There's also a subplot about Marmaduke's owner's difficulties in a new job and the kids' problems with fitting in.
This is a good kids' film. There's some decent slapstick, a couple of dog fart jokes, some excitement, and enough plot movement to hold the interest. The CGI is mostly well done, the voice talent is fine, the script is light and amusing, the moral lessons are delivered fairly subtly, but don't make the mistake of thinking this is a movie for adults: it isn't, and it will drive you wild wondering why everyone in California lets their animals to wander public places 24/7, and why Marmaduke's family has a permanently unlocked dog-door which is big enough to admit burglars!