SYNOPSIS:
An
all-star cast, including Owen Wilson, George Lopez, Kiefer
Sutherland and Fergie, lend their voices to this doggone funny
comedy starring the world's most lovable Great Dane. When
Marmaduke (Wilson) moves to a new neighborhood with his family,
the super-sized teenage dog soon discovers he just doesn't
fit in - literally! But, with the help of his best pal Carlos
the Cat (Lopez) and some newfound four-legged friends, Marmaduke
may just get out of the doghouse, fall in love, and surf off
into the sunset .
MOVIE REVIEW:
In our humble opinion, Owen Wilson is a wonderful comedian, actor and writer. His best works to date are the ones he collaborated with his pal, director Wes Anderson. Check out "The Royal Tenenbaums", "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" and "The Darjeeling Limited" if you haven’t. And perhaps to extend his repertoire and obviously his wallet, the Texas born actor can be seen in such entertaining screwball comedies such as "Wedding Crashers" and "Starsky & Hutch" but to dabble in a voicework such as this title given his talent is simply unforgivable.
Wilson voiced Marmaduke, a teenage Grand Dane who lives with the Winslows in Kansas. Man of the house, Phil Winslow had a sudden career change which forces them including Marmaduke and his kitty pal, Carlos (George Lopez) to move to California. Expect Marmaduke to get into trouble with a pure breed named Bosco (Kiefer Sutherland), romance in the forms of Mazie (Emma Stone) and Jezebel (Stacy Ferguson) and friendship with a whole bunch of other misfits.
This might sounds like a fairly interesting adventure comedy for the younger children. But yet again with Hollywood constant infatuation with talking mutts and cats and other four legged animals for the past years, this is yet another lame talking animals picture filled with fart jokes, overused corny lines (for example: "Who let the dogs out") and pee gags. The inclusion of actors such as Sutherland, Sam Elliot, Steve Coogan and William H. Macy doesn’t help much either to the flagging family picture.
Based originally on a comic strip that begins its origins back in the fifities, Marmaduke to be fair has never reached the popularity of Garfield or Peanuts just for the record. Thus it’s almost a miracle that Hollywood executives actually green-lit the live-action adaptation which proven how desperate the industry is in getting a family of four to enter the cinemas.
If you have seen "Beverly Hills Chihuahua", "Cats and Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore" and even the disastrous "Furry Vengeance", you can’t expect the mutts here to do better. Sandwiched between another great dane, Scooby-Doo and a far more famous lazy cat, Garfield, Marmaduke is simply forgettable as a character or as a movie. If you prefer a heartwarming dog tale starring Wilson, opt for "Marley and Me" instead. This one however marks Owen Wilson’s worst career choice.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
There are 9 minutes of Deleted Scenes, none obviously fits in the final movie. Cowabarka: More Surf Dog Fun which shows behind-the-scenes of how the surfing scene is filmed. If you are tired of real actors in a casting room, check out Canine Casting instead. The DVD is round up with the Theatrical Trailer.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The voicework is clear and there’s no doubt you can pick out the different voices supplied. The surfing and dance sequence near the end of the movie at least demonstrates some activity across the 5.1 surround system. Visual is good and the colour palette is at least interesting to stare at.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
Posted
on 9 November 2010
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