Marley & Me: The Puppy Years (2011)

Directed by: Michael Damian | 86 minutes | comedy, family | Actors: Travis Turner, Donnelly Rhodes, Merrilyn Gann, Chelah Horsdal, Sydney Imbeau, Alex Zahara, Christopher Goodman, Ryan Grantham, Gordon Grice, Geoff Gustafson, Jarod Joseph, Lauren Lavoie, Eduardo Noda, Julia Rhodes, Grayson Russell, Lee Tockar, Ron War, Marie West

In 2009, hordes of movie fans fell for the cute, but oh so mischievous Labrador Marley, named after the famous reggae singer – he didn’t listen to Bob – in the film ‘Marley & Me’ (2008). Marley was part of the family of Jennifer and John Grogan (Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson) and shared joys and sorrows with it. ‘Marley and Me’ worked as a film because it created a realistic picture of an average family. Problems were not swept under the carpet (chewed by Marley) to maintain the idyllic Hollywood picture and with that Jenny and John became people of flesh and blood. Marley was actually the most difficult dog on the planet, but it was understandable that they loved him anyway. With Marley on a puppy course it soon turned out to be a disaster: the stern-looking headmistress sent the couple and dog out of the house within fifteen minutes. ‘Marley & Me’ was based on John Grogan’s bestseller and the film showed a nicely rounded story. Nevertheless, a few years later someone came up with the disastrous idea of ​​making a sequel to ‘Marley & Me’. Okay, it’s not really a sequel, since it’s set in Marley’s puppyhood, but for a story as complete as ‘Marley & Me’, any additions are pointless in the first place.

‘Marley & Me: The Puppy Years’ is set during a sleepover of “the world’s most horrible dog” with Carol, John’s sister. John and Jenny each have a multi-day course and because it’s summer vacation, Bodi, Carol’s son and thus the nephew of the Grogans, is perfectly able to babysit Marley. Carol herself has to leave for work, so Bodi and Marley in turn stay with grandfather, Fred Grogan, who maintains a strict, almost military, regime and therefore does not immediately seem the right person to keep a teenager company. Bodi’s problem (according to his mother and grandfather) is that he doesn’t have a sense of responsibility, but to be honest, that doesn’t come through at all and Bodi behaves like an average teenager. Marley also doesn’t look anything like the unruly labrador puppy that sees everything around him as food that we know from the first. In fact, this dog only freaks out when he sees a cat… And to make matters worse, the main goal of the film is to have Marley take part in an agility competition with two other labrador puppies. marley! The Dog That Was Sent Away From Puppy Training!

Even when you make an effort to separate the film from the first film, there is little to enjoy. Even the target audience (kids who also like Disney’s ‘Buddies’ movies) will get bored quickly. Too often an appeal is made to the elasticity of the boundaries of the credible, as with Grandpa Fred’s dentures. In addition, there are really abominably written roles of the crooks added to the plot: an animal executioner who speaks with an inconclusive German accent who is the title holder of the agility competition. He restrains his Doberman Pincher puppies with collars that allow him to shock them. Not to mention the poorly written dialogues of both the humans and the animals. You read that right: the animals. Marley can in this film namely – talk on his ‘Buddies’. The sayings of the animals add nothing to the story at all. Example: Fuchsia, the girl dog on Marley’s team, yells, “Oh, I broke a nail!” No child believes that a dog cares about that.

‘Marley & Me: The Puppy Years’ is one of those movies that shouldn’t have been made. Only watch if you’re having a “completely unnecessary movies” themed evening. And then he can still go at the bottom of the stack of DVDs. Avoid this movie.