Review of Marmaduke (2010) by Thomas W — 10 Oct 2010

What a sad excuse of "family entertainment" Hollywood has churned out lately. With both this and Furry Vengeance (this isn't as bad as the latter so I had to give it a half-star rating higher .

.. a three-fourths star would have been ideal here) being presented as family-fare, I can understand the sorry decline in many areas thought of as family values. This movie was awful and did Marmaduke really need a movie? Live-action films based on childhood memories/comic strips aren't necessary! And sadly .

.. they tarnish my few memories I did have of the comic strip. I don't remember it well and didn't like it like Garfield or Calvin & Hobbes or The Far Side ... but I don't recall hating it.

This movie veers pretty close to "hate" territory. Owen Wilson (Shanghai Noon, Night at the Museum, Meet the Parents) voices the titular Great Dane who is obliviously trouble-causing ("behave!").

His family uproots from Kansas to the OC and hopes of getting a bigger house (the paycheck the dad gets to move would have had to be gigantic but the movie doesn't really touch upon that other than saying he gets a company car).

The said dad is aloof and kind-of vacant and is played by Lee Pace (TV's Pushing Daisies, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day) who is married to a just as vacant Judy Greer (TV's Arrested Development, 13 Going on 30, 27 Dresses) whom I adore but she needs a better project than this STAT! (Please someone -- save this career!).

Superbad stars Emma Stone and Christopher Mintz-Plasse show up as SoCal characters but they cannot save this crap either. Why they added a Spanish-accented tabby cat is beyond me. Oh the laughs and hijinks this cat and Marmadue create! If only they had made me laugh instead of groan and cringe.

Bad, bad, bad ... this is the dog-version of Garfield.