Marmaduke (2010)
Directed by Tim Dey
Written by Tim Rasmussen, Vince Di Meglio
Starring Owen Wilson, Lee Pace, Judy Greer, William H. Macy, Steve Coogan, Fergie, Emma Stone, Marlon Wayans
Release Date June 4th, 2010
I have a distinct memory of enjoying Marmaduke as a little kid. Not the newspaper comic, for me, he was a side character amid the Heathcliff Saturday morning cartoon. Marmaduke was a large dog who always found trouble based on the fact that he was so large. Adapting Marmaduke for the big screen was... a choice. It is a well-known character with a minor fanbase, though most have grown out of Marmaduke or barely remember the comic. The film adaptation has to reinvent Marmaduke and wow, more.... choices.
Owen Wilson stars as the voice of Marmaduke who finds himself moving in with the family of a marketing executive named Phil Winslow (Lee Pace) and his wife Debbie (Judy Greer). Phil needs Marmaduke to be his spokes-dog for a dog food brand but Marmaduke is too ill-behaved. He just wants to run around and find trouble with his new friend Carlos (George Lopez), and his kind of love interest, Mazie. But, when things really get out of hand, Phil sends Marmaduke to a dog trainer. There, he falls in with a popular crowd that threatens his new friends in the neighborhood.
Despite his new friends, Marmaduke cannot resist wanting to be part of the popular pedigree crowd where the gorgeous Jezebel (Stacy 'Fergie' Ferguson) runs with the dog park's resident bad boy Bosco (Kiefer Sutherland). Naturally conflict ensues between Marmaduke and Bosco and the bonds of friendship, especially with Maizie, will be tested. Meanwhile Phil is ignoring his family, spending all his time working with his oddball new boss (William H. Macy, slumming for a paycheck) and only Marmaduke realizes how bad things are getting.
These two stories coalesce boringly into one story by the end and don't be shocked when things end exactly as you predict. Marmaduke, directed by Tom Dey (Failure to Launch), was never meant to change the way we see kids movies. It was not meant to break boundaries or change the way kids see their world, it's a mindless bit of escapism with simpleminded morality at its center. The catchphrase for the film may as well be 'can't we all just get along,' it's literally that simple.
There is nothing wrong with that but the best kid’s films, the Pixar films, have the ability to deliver the same message without being treacle and simpleminded in the ways Marmaduke is. Director Dey and screenwriters Vince De Meglio and Tim Rasmussen cut paste their plot from other, similar films like Garfield or the Chipmunks, add special effects and voila. The special effects used to animate the giant mutt are strong enough that you don't take to much notice of them. The hallmark of success when you don't have the budget or the skill to dazzle ala James Cameron is to make sure the effects aren't noticeable; Marmaduke easily achieves this modest task.
I watched Marmaduke with a class of 2nd graders on a field trip. They laughed at the fart jokes and when Phil fell out of the bed and they squealed at the closing doggie dance sequence but for the most part they were silent and respectful. Some twitched in their seats a little but for the most part they were quiet, attentive and a little bored. Afterward, the kids talked about how much they loved dogs but by the time they were back on the bus the movie and its dull messages were long forgotten replaced by the want for ice cream and plans for the rest of the day, and a little bit of dozing here and there.
Maybe this benign effect is all that can be expected of a movie like Marmaduke. For me, I wish more children's films had the ambition to engage the minds of children, to challenge them to find central ideas and morals and explore them with their imagination. The creators of Marmaduke have neither the ambition nor, seemingly, the talent to attempt such a thing. On that count, Marmaduke is a waste of screen time. Parents, take heart Toy Story 3 arrives soon.
