Blu-ray Reviews: ‘Marley & Me’ by Josh Walker

Marley & Me

By: Josh Walker on 5.16.2009

The Movie Itself:
The beloved family pet, almost revered as a family tradition. I would assume that the majority of people currently have or have had one at some point in their lifetime. More specifically, the family dog, also known as man’s best friend. So it is safe to say that almost everyone can relate to a film such as this.

It has been quite a while since I have watched a film starring a cuddly canine companion. So, I was admittedly eager to view this one. I sat down to watch Marley and Me assuming I knew the basic storyline from seeing trailers and commercials. Although I have not read the book from which it was adapted, I assumed it would be the traditional heartwarming and comforting story of a household pup and it’s loving owners.

John and Jenny Groban, played by Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston are newlyweds settling down into their new life. Everything has changed for the couple since moving including new jobs and a new house. They are talking one night and the idea of having a child together comes up. John freaks out at the idea and asks his friend Sebastian (Eric Dane) for some advice. Sebastian suggests that he buy Jenny a puppy to take the heat off the idea of having a child. John agrees with him and this is where the story begins.

John surprises Jenny by taking her to a breeder to pick out a puppy. She is so excited and naturally falls for the "clearance puppy" later known as Marley. Right off the start this little guy is as mischievous as can be. John has to leave him in a box in the garage to pick Jenny up from the airport and he gets out and wreaks havoc on the entire garage. From chewing cords, knocking everything off the shelves, and even eating through the drywall...just as all puppies do in their younger years, but Marley never grows up!

The mischief continues into Marley’s older years. John decides to take him to an obedience class only to be kicked out from Marley's behavior. He is labeled "the worst dog in the world," but you can't help but love the rotten mutt. John becomes best friends with him and takes him on walks to the dog beach on a regular basis. Some eventful times are had there as well. John starts writing a column about all his adventures with Marley and it takes off as a big hit and opens new opportunities in their life to move and multiply.

This is a great story of how just a regular dog can truly become man's best friend. I have to admit that I became engrossed in the story and found myself laughing out loud on quite a few occasions. I won't mention the other side of the emotional scale to save my reputation. It could be because I am a self proclaimed dog lover, but I enjoyed the film all the way through. I did not expect to enjoy it as much as a did, so it was a pleasant surprise. It was actually not as much of a "dog" movie as I imagined it would be.
Rating: 6/10

The Presentation:
Fox has done a fine job with this release in both the audio and video. Marley and Me is brought to us with a 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 codec that is sure to please fans of the film and format alike. The colors were great all through the film. There were many scenes on the beach and aerial shots of the Florida coastline that just looked absolutely great. Night scenes held up strong for the most part, I didn't notice too much noise and everything remained natural. I was very happy with the quality of the picture and did not notice any major problems throughout.

The film features a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack that easily compliments the film. The sound really shined during thunderstorms and some traffic scenes. Although the film is front heavy, the surrounds added the necessary ambience when needed. Although this is not going to be a disc to show off your system, it suits this movie just fine. The soundtrack is mostly front heavy and dialogue driven which is typical with this kind of film. The release comes as a 3 disc Bad Dog Edition. Disc 1 is naturally for the feature, disc 2 is a standard DVD copy and the third is a digital copy.
Score: 7/10
Presentation Rating: 8/10

The Extras:
"Breaking the Golden Rule" (HD, 8 minutes)
The basic behind the scenes feature including interviews form the director Jen and Owen.

"Finding Marley" (HD, 7 minutes)
A nice look into how they train 22 different dogs to play Marley. Pretty impressive how they get the dogs perform in the scenes.

"On Set with Marley: A Dog of All Trades" (HD, 3 minutes)
A fun little piece with a fake interview with Marley and he goes around the set with a camera on his head.

"Animal Adoption" (HD, 5 minutes)
A short about the options of animal adoption. Simple enough.

Deleted Scenes (SD, 26 minutes)
19 scenes in total. Nothing that special that I feel would have added anything to the film if they were kept.

Gag Reel/Outtakes (HD/SD, 3 minutes)
A basic collection of outtakes form filming.

Dog Training Trivia Track
A PiP and BonusView feature that I could not check out with my current player.   

Standard DVD copy
Disc 2 is a standard DVD copy of the feature film. Useful when you don’t have a Blu-ray player at home.   

Digital copy
Disc 3 is the digital copy which you can download to your portable device to enjoy the film anywhere.
Rating: 6/10

Overall:
As I mentioned before, I found myself enjoying this film more than I expected to. It’s an emotional story about a couple and their adventures as newlyweds. All of this along with the mischievous events of a terrorizing dog named Marley. If you are considering purchasing this, I would recommend the Blu-ray. It boasts very strong audio and video along with a DVD and digital copy of the film. This is a great release for those who are looking to possibly picking this up.
Rating: 7/10