Marmaduke
Movie Title: Marmaduke
Rating: PG
Director: Tom Dey
Staring: Voices of Owen Wilson, Kiefer Sutherland, Sam Elliot and George Lopez as Carlos. Also starring; Lee Pace, Judy Greer, Caroline Sunshine, Finley Jacobsen.
Category:Family, comedy, children
Moms of Faith Rating: 7 out of 10
Intro: I remember as a child reading the Marmaduke comic strip. While this is nothing like that, it was a cute movie.
Review: Marmaduke is a great dane for those who may not know. The film comes from the perspective of him being large, clumsy, unpopular and lonely. Soon, the movie takes a turn when Marmaduke’s owner, Phil, gets a job opportunity that will take the family out of Kansas and to sunny California.
Life is about to change…BIG time!
Without giving too much away, friends are made, lost and remade. Lessons are learned…and not just by the dogs either!
On the negative side: There are several areas I want to mention so you, as Moms, can be aware.
Language was not horrid. However, there was some potty mouth and name calling that you will definitely want to talk to your littler ones about. A few examples; loser, doofus, donkey boy, freak, “licking butt” phrase is used and several more words/phrases in that genre.
As far as sexuality. There is not a lot going on there since most of the movie revolves around dogs. However, there are a few off color comments here and there and there are some bikini clad women and shirtless guys in the beach scenes. Phil and his wife have a couple simple kisses. However, nothing in the sexuality department was over the top.
There is also farting, frat style dog parties, lying with no consequence (Brian, son of Phil, lies about soccer practice), dogs urinating, and other potty humor antics.
Another thing to mention is that Phil puts a sedative in Marmaduke and Carlos’ (the pet cat) food to knock them out before the flight to Cali. They act like they are on a hallucinogen like mushrooms or something. It is pretty brief, however, it is not the only scene where mushrooms are a topic. The doggie park has different sections (think high school clicks), and one of the “sections” is referred to as the “mushroom heads”.
Conclusion: In closing, I do think the movie could have done without a lot of the crude humor and deceptiveness. I also think the “teenage party life” was glorified…albeit through a teenage dog, but still. Anyway, you will definitely want to chat with the kiddos. I always use opportunities to discuss important relevant topics with my kids. Age appropriate, of course.
All in all, Marmaduke was a decent film. Fabulous? No. Pretty good? Maybe.
Copyright © Lara Velez, Moms of Faith, All Rights Reserved