Marley and Me

Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, and one adorable dog team up for a better-than-expected family flick, 'Marley and Me'. The book was very good to begin with. It detailed a crazy, out-of-control, lovable dog. It sold millions, rightfully so. Naturally, Hollywood got their hands on it, put two A-list stars to it, played up the cute dog in the marketing, and made a pretty decent movie.

The movie doesn't revolve around much: A young couple buy a cute but destructive puppy named Marley, raise a family, struggle with jobs and home life, and just try to keep Marley from eating everything.

Wilson and Aniston are both charming and funny, although their chemistry is a bit weak. The film centers a bit too much on their newspaper careers. There's some good scenes there, but ultimately it does next to nothing to further the story, at least 30 minutes of that stuff could have been cut. Although it is PG, it surprisingly has some really adult jokes and even a little bit of nudity. It's still a good movie for the little kids, just be prepared for 'What does that mean?'.

The main appeal here is obviously the cute puppy. Almost all of Marley's antics are in the trailer, same goes for the 'aww' moments. Marley actually really is adorable, despite being portrayed by 14 different dogs at different times. Ironically, a lot of the funny moments don't even center around Marley, although he has his share.

As far as dog lovers are concerned, this is the year of the dog. 'Bolt', 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua', and now this. Out of the trio this is the best, and actually becomes of the more involving, entertaining family movies of 2008.