Marmaduke

Marmaduke (voice of Owen Wilson) is the beloved, clumsy, oversized Great Dane from the comics. He is the family pet of the Winslow’s. Phil Winslow (Lee Pace) decides to move his family from Kansas to Orange County, CA, to take a job as the marketing director for an organic dog food company, and no one, not even Marmaduke is happy. Phil is convinced that a bigger paycheck and a company car will make everyone happy.

Phil and his wife Debbie (Judy Greer) have 2 children. Barbara (Caroline Sunshine) is a typical teen who texts too much and believes her parents have ruined her life. Younger brother, Brian (Finley Jacobsen), doesn’t want to play soccer, but Dad has failed to listen before, during or after the move to anyone in his family. Phil is just too busy trying to impress his new boss Don Twombly (William Macy). Meanwhile Marmaduke is befriended by a pack of mutts led by Mazie (Emma Stone), but he only wants to impress Jezebel (Stacy Ferguson). Marmaduke forgets his true friends and deceives everyone to win the attention of the purebreds.

Of course, Marmaduke learns many valuable lessons—true friendship, being true to oneself, admitting your mistakes and not judging others based on what people tell you. Phil also learns to stand up for himself with his overly demanding boss and to put his family first.

There is some minor violence-Marmaduke ejects the cat from the couch and he goes flying through the air. He stages a fight with a cat to make himself look good.

Several times throughout the movie Marmaduke passes gas. Several times dogs are shown peeing. One time a dog pees in a man’s cup and later the person drinks from it.

There are also several references to drugs—Marmaduke and the family cat, Carlos, is given tranquilizers to fly. Dogs are seen dancing around magic mushrooms. The dogs are seen having a wild party and destroying the house. There are references to drinking too much drainpipe water.

There are some beach scenes and Barbara is seen in a bikini. Phil does tell his daughter to put some clothes on. Barbara is downright disrespectful to her parents with no consequences for her actions. There is a “date” scene with Marmaduke and Jezebel and the song “Let’s Get it On” is played.

God’s name is used in vain. There is also some crude language. The phrase, “Who’s licking butt now?” is used by a dog. Another dog talks about eating a human’s bones. The phrase, “suck at swimming” is used and also “payback is going to be a bee”. There is also some name calling.

Although there are several cute scenes where I found myself chuckling, there are way too many references to drugs, alcohol, and crude talk. Even though the dogs are performing most of this talk and behavior, I still feel children do not need to be exposed to the crude and immature storyline. I am saddened that I cannot recommend this movie, because many children will enjoy the talking dogs and seeing Marmaduke come alive from the comic strips.

Violence: Mild / Profanity: Minor / Sex/Nudity: Mild

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

• Positive
• Neutral
• Negative
• Young people