Marley & Me DVD Review

"Marley & Me" reviews

DVD

Marley & Me

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2009-07-01 14:45:02

Rating

3/5

Provider

DVD Review

It seems Jennifer Aniston doesn’t need her Friends anymore. Following the success of Break Up and now the canine comedy Marley & Me, she has finally translated her small screen success to the big screen.

She stars alongside Owen Wilson as a pair of newlyweds who decide to buy a puppy before they attempt to raise a kid. The puppy (the titular Marley) turns out to be more work than they bargained on – whether it’s destroying the house, mowing people down on his walks or flunking obedience school.

Based on the best selling memoirs by John Grogan, Marley & Me may be pure fluff but director David Frankel shows the same steady hand that he used on his previous film The Devil Wears Prada.

It’s also helped that his two leads can do this sort of thing in their sleep. Aniston and Wilson show likeable chemistry, and while you’ve seen them in this role countless of times it’s a well honed routine that is still eminently watchable. Alan Arkin and Kathleen Turner also provide able support.

The overall problem is that the story moves at such a brisk pace that it just jumps from one zany or moving segment to the other – sometimes spanning years at a time – leaving possible scenes with potential depth just one of the many short set-pieces.

Still, as Beethoven showed, boisterous dogs causing mayhem always seem to be hit with film fans and Marley continues that trend.

Marley & Me is released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on 6th July 2009

- Martin Howden