Marmaduke movie just as uproarious as the comic strip

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This article was published 04/06/2010 (5699 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

To say this movie is better than Garfield may be an entirely backhanded compliment, given the cat in sunglasses was a goo-covered hairball in the annals of cinema, but that was the very first — and lingering — critical reaction to this big-screen adaptation of the comic-strip Great Dane.

Marmaduke was watchable, and that really is saying something when most of the writing and humour relies on doggie flatulence, alpha-male growls and all-out animal-fuelled domestic chaos.

Yes, a lot of Marmaduke feels lifted whole from the frequently not-so-funny pages, as it meanders around a premise with all the creative passion of a Family Circus frame featuring Jeffy walking around in circles.

It’s entirely one-dimensional and facile, but for people who like dogs, there’s always a hint of sweet magic when you look into the watery brown and adoring eyes of your canine best friend.

Director Tom Dey definitely knows he’s got animal karma working on his side, and he takes full advantage of every opportunity to zoom in on cuteness — even though the central pet in this litter isn’t all that cuddly.

Marmaduke (voiced by Owen Wilson) is a great big goofy Great Dane. When we meet him, he’s hanging out in Kansas with his human family headed up by Phil (Lee Pace), an ambitious young account executive.

When Phil gets a crack at the big time with a job offer from an organic-dog-food company in California, he packs up the kids and kennels and moves to Orange County.

His new boss is a classic Cali-flake (William H. Macy), who holds business meetings in the dog park and insists on no shoes. The two don’t hit it off right away, but once Marmaduke gets in on the plot denouement, we know we’re looking at some ace chances at animal-human bonding.

Dey doesn’t really work this angle as much as he could have, preferring to play up the internal world of the animals themselves and Marmaduke’s own dilemma about becoming alpha dog.

Touching on everything from blood pedigree, dog snobs and beta mongrels, the secondary story focuses on Marmaduke’s struggle to fit in to the new order, which has been run by a bruiser named Bosco (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland).

When Marmaduke starts flirting with Bosco’s bitch, Jezebel (voiced by Stacy Ferguson, a.k.a. Fergie), he ends up making some potent junkyard enemies who are more than eager to tear him apart.

Aside from pondering the special effects that allow animals to lip-sync human speech, these scenes within the animal kingdom have nothing to offer.

Director Dey was aware of his genre and its inherent traits, because he includes conscious nods to movies such as Old Yeller and Lassie, and yet, for all the self-awareness and notes of homage, the movie does nothing noteworthy — or even all that interesting.

It’s just another routine walk around the same old block, sniffing the same tired hydrants and marking the same stained turf.

— Canwest News Service

Movie review

Marmaduke

Starring Lee Pace, Judy Greer, William H. Macy

Grant Park, Polo Park, St. Vital, Towne

G

HH out of HHHHH