The best thing about Marmaduke, a sometimes charming kids movie with some good action and bad jokes, are the dogs (and one very cute pussy cat).
This is good news, since the bi-peds here are a bit of a write-off, which is only to be expected, since Marmaduke, based on the famous comic-strip by Brad Anderson and Phil Leeming about a clumsy Great Dane who gets his family in and out of all sorts of strife, is in the tradition of kids pics where the animals are supposed to up-stage the humans.
In Marmaduke the dogs are shot, lit, groomed and staged as if they were, well, glamorous stars; this is an ironic joke that adults can't fail to miss (and enjoy). Since the doggies 'act' and behave like 'tweeners,' it's a conceit that plays into the hopes and fears of the juvenile audience too. Not surprisingly it's the dogs that get all the movie's few good lines (the 'talking dog' dialogue scenes are delivered via a deft use of CGI). Of course what's crucial in a movie like this is the voicing and the producers have assembled a pretty good cast. Top of the bill is Owen Wilson, but there's also Steve Coogan and Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas. Lugubrious, sad, bright and always very funny, Wilson's stoney (or is it dopey?) sounding Marmaduke keeps the movie alive through his wall-to-wall narration, overcoming the movie's laboured plotting and a sit-com set-up. Apparently Marmaduke was conceived as a tribute to John Hughes teen movies (it's nothing like what I remember from the comic).
Marmaduke and his very Disneyish white-bread family move from the country to suburban L.A. because Marm's 'Dad,' Phil (Lee Pace), a dog-food salesman, gets a promotion. Meanwhile, socially awkward, ungainly Marmaduke has to suffer the indignities of being the 'new kid' in town. (The key location is the dog park, but, you know, it's like a school playground with the doggie versions of teen cliques and sub-cultures). The 'cool' dogs are led by Bosco, a strong looking Beauceron (Keifer Sutherland) who has a cute girlfriend, Jezebel (Fergie), a collie with a lavish hair style, whom Marmaduke takes an immediate shine to. Rejected by virtue of his looks and lack of street smarts by the tough dogs, Marmaduke is adopted by Mazie (Emma Stone), a very sweet Australian Shepherd (actually, according to the production notes, the 'she-dogs' are actually 'he-dogs' but it would be a mistake to look for verisimilitude in a movie like this).
The script by Tim Rasmussen and Vince Di Meglio isn’t exactly witty or clever and its pious posturing about 'being yourself' seems very old-school indeed, but its biggest issue is that the comedy seems like re-treads from high-end commercials and up-scale animation. When they're not re-cycling the script, writers are playing it straight down the line – there are a lot of cheap gags where lively Marmaduke, well, acts like a big uncontrollable puppy and therefore humiliates his human family, but, you know, he’s a Great Dane so, like, they had it coming. But I did like the unrequited romance between Marmaduke and Mazie (which only proves I'm a soft touch) and the script does afford some cute CGI enabled gags (Marmaduke surfs and break dances).
As a movie, Marmaduke is ordinary. But the dogs, like I said, are great.
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