Marley & Me (2008/Fox Blu-ray + DVD)
Picture:
B/C+ Sound: B/B- Extras: D Film: D
The cycle
of dog movies continues with one that actually made more money than it should
have. David Frankel’s Marley & Me (2008) is about a
couple (Owen Wilson & Jennifer Aniston) who take on a puppy dog while
thinking of having a baby. It is a
sappy, lame, tired, awful, phony film that holds every cliché you could think
of and can be remarkably condescending.
That the dog has light hair and is named after reggae legend Bob Marley
is so bad, that would require another essay or two.
I like
Owen Wilson and am happy to see him in another hit, but Jennifer Aniston is
another story. The supposedly big star
has been hitless and to say she was the star of this is like saying John
Travolta is the only reason anyone went to the Look Who’s Talking films.
This is far more annoying than those were and they were pretty bad, but this
is somehow worse despite the behind the scenes talent involved.
This is
Frankel’s first film since The Devil
Wears Prada (2006, with an underrated Blu-ray reviewed elsewhere on this
site) was a moderate hit in the U.S. and huge one overseas. Co-writers Scott Frank (Get Shorty, The Interpreter,
The Lookout) and Don Roos (TV’s Hart To Hart) go for the money and
though this turned out to be a good commercial move, it will become boring
quickly to anyone who expects to get repeat viewings out of it will be
disappointed by what is essentially a big screen sitcom.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 AVC @ 28 MBPS digital High Definition image was shot in Super 35mm
film by Florian Ballhaus (The Devil
Wears Prada) and it does not look that good. Lighting is often flat, there is grain and
definition is an issue. The anamorphically
enhanced DVD included in the Blu-ray case is even more problematic with poorer
depth and bad Video Black. The DTS-HD
Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1 mix is dialogue-based and has limited surround
activity. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on
the DVD (and in various languages on both formats) is even weaker. The combination in any case is far from the
best Blu-rays around.
Extras
include the bonus DVD, Digital Copy disc with a downloadable version of the
film for PC or PC portable devices, 19 deleted scenes (that deserved to be cut)
with optional commentary, featurettes Finding
Marley, Breaking The Golden Rule,
On Set with Marley, Animal Adaptation and When Not To Pee (yes, you read that
correctly!), plus a gag reel and dog training trivia track. Yes, the extras are as condescending.
Then
there is Aniston, who is always showing up playing the same person, the same
character and with the same haircut (is that hair real?) hyped up over and over
for doing nothing much since she left the grossly overrated Friends years ago. No one has been this popular on the strength
of only reruns since Star Trek, but
that was a far less plastic show.
Skip this
and listen to some John Mayer instead!
- Nicholas Sheffo
