Movie Review: Marley and Me (2009)

Cast: Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Eric Dane

Director: David Frankel

Ratings: * * * * (4 out of 5)

Heel the love

The movie Marley and Me: Life and love with the ‘World’s Worst Dog’ is a The New York Times bestseller autobiographical book by journalist John Grogan, published in 2005.

They say a dog is a man’s best friend and in this movie, Marley and Me, the dog is a best friend of the woman too. John Grogan (Owen Wilson) and Jennifer or Jenny Grogan (Jennifer Aniston) are a happy couple but without a child. Jenny is a girl who likes to plan her future well while John is just the reciprocal. Their life moves on but lacks the spice until John gets her Marley, a yellow Labrador retriever.

Things just change drastically for John and Jenny, although Marley is a puppy but it still feeds its stomach on anything and everything. Be it dog food, or curtains, or pillow covers or bed sheets, Marley has them all.

As Marley grows up he tends to be more of a hindrance but John the Jenny loves him a lot. Marley is extremely notorious and very hyper active. John started off as a journalist and now he writes columns for a newspaper, the topic being ‘his daily encounters with Marley’. Overnight viewers start taking more interest in John’s story and his columns become a hit.

After two failed attempts the couple finally bore a child. Jenny has to quit her job to take care of her child. Mean while Marley naughtiness only increases. He is now big, strong and powerful. He eats much more than before and is more notorious than ever.

Jenny brings up another son in the meanwhile and Marley becomes the family’s hot favorite. The couple swear they wont bring up any more child for the time been and soon Jenny once again gets pregnant. She delivers a baby girl next.

Marley’s notoriousness reaches its heights and finally Jenny tells John to leave the dog. John half-heartedly takes Marley but drops him at his office friend Eric Dane’s (Sebastian) place. Sebastian is a player when it comes to girls and is always inquisitive to know about John’s personal life. The couple finally gets Marley back to their home when Jenny realizes the family is incomplete without their dog.
 
John gets a good offer and the couple move on to Philadelphia. Things get better there and the family along with Marley has a ball of a time playing in the snow and having hot soup for supper.  

Now comes the twist when Marley starts behaving a bit weird and the couple notices his activeness and reduced to nil. John takes him to the doctor and finally comes out with Marley’s problems, a tissue twist in Marley’s stomach. The doctors say it finally that Marley will not live long now.

John reveals the secret to his wife when Marley leaves the house and is not ready to come back. Things get worst from worse and finally the couple have to bid farewell to their beloved dog.  John bids his final farewell to Marley letting him know that he is not just a dog, he is a part of their family; their life.

A very touching story where one gets to see a relationship between a dog and a family, the movie shows it all. The movie shows that a dog is not just a dog, especially when the dog is brought home when he was a puppy and grows up in that home itself.

A heart-harming movie where one sees all the basic emotions of life, from simplicity to notoriousness, from lovingness to hatred, from love to tears.

A must must watch for people who own dogs and treats them as a part of their family. The movie is for people who never understood that a dog is not just a dog; it is life to them, especially when it is Marley, the yellow Labrador retriever.   

Pratik Maheshwari/ Sampurn Media