The Tomahawk

Marley and Me Review

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 By Sarah Shanahan

Marley and Me Movie Review By: Sarah Shanahan Have you seen the movie “Marley and Me”? It is a cute family comedy that came out on Christmas Day, 2008. The movie is based off of the book, also called, Marley and Me, by John Grogan. The movie stars Owen Wilson as John Grogan, and Jennifer Aniston as Jenny Grogan. The movie had the record for the largest Christmas day box office sales ever, having 14.75 million ticket sales in the first day. The movie is doing great business. The box office sales in the first four days was 36 million and in two weeks was106.7 million. The movie is still standing in first place, almost three weeks now. Critics love the movie as well. “It was a great movie and shows the love for a family member, no matter how naughty they can be,” says Hannah Brink, a high school student, about “Marley and Me”, after seeing the movie last weekend. Hannah adds, “I also loved how Jennifer Anniston and Owen Wilson make the movie the best it can be. The two add character and emotion to the movie, in a great way.” In the movie, when Jenny (Aniston) and John (Wilson) Grogan go to adopt a puppy, they choose the “Clearance Puppy” as the owner of the puppies calls him. Jenny falls immediately in love with him and they choose him and decide to name him “Marley”, after Bob Marley. The dog, throughout the movie grows up and shows what a terror he is. The couple gave him the nickname “the worlds worst dog,” and he sure does live up to his title. He gets in a lot of trouble and has no manners. He also gets kicked out of obedience school. John and Jenny then have kids and Marley is like the big brother to the kids. As Marley gets older, he settles down, but still has his crazy streaks. Marley starts to show signs of his age, and one night he goes outside and John finds him after his stomach had turned. Marley went to the vet and made it through the night. A few days later it happened again and Marley had to be put down. The kids were very sad, especially the Grogans middle child, Connor. Marley stayed up all night when Connor was very sick once, and sat by his side to make sure nothing went wrong. The Grogans learned important life lessons from Marley through out the years of his eventful life. The end of the movie was very sad, but showed you how much family members mean to families, even if they are obnoxious dogs. “It was sad, but it was a good sad though,” said a co-writer of the movie. “Before I went to see the movie, I thought to myself, is this going to be another Beethoven movie? After I saw the movie, I was very surprised- It is probably one of my favorite movies I have seen. I recommend it to anyone who loves animals, and looking to see a heart warming movie,” says Lily Cole. Lily saw the movie the day after Christmas and said that “almost everyone in the theatre was crying-even the men!” “I really liked the movie. It was super cute and loving. It is definitely worth seeing and realistically sad, not cheesy,” says Hannah Peterson. who saw the movie last weekend. David Frankel, the director of “Marley and Me”, also directed the popular hit, “The Devil Wears Prada.” When Frankel turned one of the best selling books, “The Devil Wears Prada,” into a movie, the Fox 2000 Pictures president Elizabeth Gabler, was so pleased that she handed him a copy of another best-selling book to adapt into a movie, “Marley and Me,” according to Arkansas online. At first, Frankel did not want to do the movie because he had read the book and just didn’t see it as a movie. A few months later, Gabler offered the job to Frankel again, this time actually having a script and immediately he saw a movie and took the job. The movie was shot mostly in south Florida. According to Arkansas online, Frankel said, “This movie is a huge departure for Owen. He’s such a remarkable actor, and no one really knows it. What you see in this movie is who Owen really is. There’s a real sweetness to him, but you get the pain, too. I initially thought that Jennifer Anniston would not be believable playing a woman from the age of 28 to her 40s. But upon meeting her, it took me two seconds to decide she was ‘perfect.’ And when Jennifer and Owen met, their chemistry was so charming, I knew this movie was going to be so easy,” said Frankel, talking about the stars of the movie. “Marley and Me” is definitely a movie worth seeing. The whole family would love it! It is playing in most theatres everywhere. It is more than just a ‘man and his dog’ type of movie. It is a man, and his family, that have a remarkable love for “the worlds worst dog,” even though in their eyes, he is the world’s best dog.