Hardly Marley
With John & Jenny having to go away on a work trip young Marley is left in the hands of their nephew, Bodi (Travis Turner - A Princess for Christmas), who in turn finds himself having to stay with his Grandpa (Donnelly Rhodes) when his mum has to go away on business. Wanting to own a dog of his own Bodi sets out to prove himself capable by training Marley and entering him and some neighbouring dogs as a team in a dog agility competition. Easier said than done!
When the original "Marley & Me" came out I read some surprising reviews which slated it for not being a romantic comedy or a cute children's movie. It seems that those who were annoyed by "Marley & Me" got their revenge or maybe just their wishes with "Marley & Me: The Puppy Years" a movie which focuses on Marley when he was a puppy with the ability to talk. For those who loved "Marley & Me" this will be a travesty which is only tenuously linked to the original but in fairness will probably amuse children with the antics of a misbehaving, talking dog.
So as you can see we are talking an extremely tenuous link to the original when it comes to "Marley & Me: The Puppy Years" and in many ways this feels like someone had a cute comedy about a talking puppy and decided to capitalize on the popularity of "Marley & Me" by changing the names and providing a connection. So that immediately makes it a disappointment for those who enjoyed the touching original movie but it gets worse as rather than a touching story we have a children's movie which features a talking Marley. Now talking animals with manipulated mandibles is creepy even when its a cute puppy and so whilst hearing what Marley thinks might amuse young children it is annoying for adults. And then whilst we have this story about Bodi trying to train Marley what this all comes down to is a few scenes of Marley misbehaving combined with scenes of Marley wearing sun glasses because of course Marley is one cool pup.
In fairness "Marley & Me: The Puppy Years" is simple entertainment for young children and it works for young children. But for an adult, even one who wasn't charmed by the original "Marley & Me", this is hard work. It just feels too 90s and back to the days of "Beethoven" with a cute Labrador puppy instead of a St. Bernard. About the only thing it has going for it from an adults point of view is some cute puppies.
What this all boils down to is that "Marley & Me: The Puppy Years" is okay if you want a cute doggy movie for children to watch but a complete waste of time for those who loved the original "Marley & Me".
Tags: Dog Movies
