Marley and Me (Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson)

(Amazon UK link)

We’re enjoying a spate of re-watching DVDs we last saw six or seven years ago, some of which we had entirely forgotten. Last night we decided on the 2008 film ‘Marley and Me’, which promised to be ‘warm, funny and deeply moving’ according to the front of the box. We first saw this in 2014, and while I had a memory of a rather sad ending, neither of us had any recall of the story, or the characters.

The film features a young married couple called John (Owen Wilson) and Jenny Grogan (Jennifer Aniston). The chemistry between them is excellent, starting with a few shots right after their wedding, where we learn that Jenny is an organised, scheduled kind of person who sees her future life in a series of steps. John, by contrast, is quite laid back. Both of them work as writers for different newspapers, although it’s quickly evident that Jenny is being featured rather more than John is.

But John’s time comes when he’s offered a temporary slot with a personal column, and discovers he has quite a gift for this kind of thing. He’s a bit concerned that Jenny is getting broody… so he decides to buy her a dog for her birthday. Marley is a delightful, loving puppy… but very mischievous. He chews everything he finds, knocks people over, and is generally rambunctious and exhausting. And he keeps growing…

The story follows the Grogan family over the next twelve years or so, with some heartbreak, some major stresses and a great deal of happiness as the longed-for babies arrive and start to grow up. Marley is protective and loving of the children, but continues causing havoc wherever he goes. There are many amusing scenes which made us  laugh aloud: in particular one where he tries to jump out of a car window and almost succeeds…

But although there’s a lot of slapstick, there’s also some poignancy. Marley shows himself to be aware of people being upset, and despite his many faults - his family consider him the worst dog in the world - he’s very loving. We’re not ‘dog people’ but we found some parts quite moving, particularly the end. It’s foreshadowed a few times, and beautifully done, but could be upsetting to sensitive folk.

The rating is PG which is a tad surprising as there are quite a few innuendoes, a dog humping furniture, and a couple of scenes where, while nothing explicit is shown, it’s clear what is going on. There’s also a brief scene describing some violence relating to a neighbour, with a petrified, sobbing teenager; I’m not sure why that scene is in the film as it doesn’t seem to have any significance other than to prod John to consider moving.

The language is relatively mild although there are some profanities; but the scene at the end could be very upsetting to children with pets. I wouldn’t personally recommend this to anyone below the age of about twelve, and even then it would depend on the teenager in question.

However, from our point of view it was a great film, well made with a clever script and great acting. We very much appreciated the fact that John and Jenny were committed to each other long-term, despite several arguments and stressful periods in their marriage. It’s a positive message, one that is all too often absent in modern films.

There are a lot of extras on our DVD; we didn’t watch all of them, but were very interested to learn that there were 22 different dogs who played Marley, and to see some of the performances from the perspective of the dog trainers. Some of the deleted scenes added to the story, too and we weren’t entirely sure why they weren’t included, other than to cut the running time.

Definitely recommended for adults and teens if you like a somewhat different kind of character-based film, which was apparently based on a real life reporter and his dog, and if you don’t mind some very poignant scenes as well as the humour.

Review copyright 2022 Sue's DVD Reviews