Marmaduke is a great family movie for viewers of all ages. I went to see it with my 19 year old daughter and we both enjoyed it! Of course we are dog lovers and maybe a little biased.
The movie centers around Marmaduke and his human family, the Winslow's. The family is moving from Kansas to California for a job opportunity that Phil Winslow was presented with. Marmaduke struggles to make new friends and to find somewhere to fit in just as the two older Winslow children, Barbra and Brian, who encounter these very same issues. They all miss their old lives and friends back in Kansas but they eventually adjust and want to stay in their new home.
The filmmaker does a good job at portraying Marmaduke as human-like as possible and captures the typical mischievous Marmaduke that you would remember from the comic strip. He jumps out the bath tub flinging water throughout the house, drags Phil, eats food off the counter, has a party and trashes the house, chews up shoes, and farts in bed. All classic behavior for Marmaduke.
What I liked most was the human-like behavior that was displayed by the animals. Marmaduke's party has to be one of my favorite parts of the movie. There are dogs jumping off the roof into the pool, spraying silly string, and there is one dog sleeping on the front lawn. Typical teenage behavior. Another good scene is Marmaduke and Jezebel having a romantic evening at the junk yard. They are sitting on a blanket, sharing a jar of peanut butter and Marvin Gay's "Lets Get It On" is playing in the background. Hysterical! The dialog between the dogs is very cute and creative. There are many one-liner's that incorporate dog behavior and their likes and dislikes in some of their conversations. In one scene when Marmaduke is forced into a surfing competition he tries to calm himself by thinking happy thoughts of open meadows and peeing on everything. Typical dog behavior. There was also a scene when Mazie was showing him around the dog park and telling him about the various dog cliques. She described one group as rich snobs that think their fleas don't bite. Too funny! The overall animation of the film was pretty good and created a believable effect of animals taking to each other. However the scene at the end of the movie where the dogs are dancing in the park could have been a bit better to make their actions look less computer-generated. The movie Scooby Doo had similar issues. Regardless, I still love both movies.
The movie centers around Marmaduke and his human family, the Winslow's. The family is moving from Kansas to California for a job opportunity that Phil Winslow was presented with. Marmaduke struggles to make new friends and to find somewhere to fit in just as the two older Winslow children, Barbra and Brian, who encounter these very same issues. They all miss their old lives and friends back in Kansas but they eventually adjust and want to stay in their new home.
The filmmaker does a good job at portraying Marmaduke as human-like as possible and captures the typical mischievous Marmaduke that you would remember from the comic strip. He jumps out the bath tub flinging water throughout the house, drags Phil, eats food off the counter, has a party and trashes the house, chews up shoes, and farts in bed. All classic behavior for Marmaduke.
What I liked most was the human-like behavior that was displayed by the animals. Marmaduke's party has to be one of my favorite parts of the movie. There are dogs jumping off the roof into the pool, spraying silly string, and there is one dog sleeping on the front lawn. Typical teenage behavior. Another good scene is Marmaduke and Jezebel having a romantic evening at the junk yard. They are sitting on a blanket, sharing a jar of peanut butter and Marvin Gay's "Lets Get It On" is playing in the background. Hysterical! The dialog between the dogs is very cute and creative. There are many one-liner's that incorporate dog behavior and their likes and dislikes in some of their conversations. In one scene when Marmaduke is forced into a surfing competition he tries to calm himself by thinking happy thoughts of open meadows and peeing on everything. Typical dog behavior. There was also a scene when Mazie was showing him around the dog park and telling him about the various dog cliques. She described one group as rich snobs that think their fleas don't bite. Too funny! The overall animation of the film was pretty good and created a believable effect of animals taking to each other. However the scene at the end of the movie where the dogs are dancing in the park could have been a bit better to make their actions look less computer-generated. The movie Scooby Doo had similar issues. Regardless, I still love both movies.