The Dog Angle

Movies that make a big deal out of celebrating the mundane, and try to make every husband, wife, and parent feel like the heroes of their own epic little saga are a dime a dozen these days, but Marley & Me avoids a fate of sappy, generic mediocrity with three little words: the dog angle. As animal lovers the world over will attest, there's nothing quite like the relationship between a person and a pet, and by evoking that distinct alchemic bond whenever things are about to turn stale, the film stays fresh, funny, and very touching. The movie as a whole may fall short of classic status, even by humble standards, but all the material that directly involves Marley is genuinely amusing and sweet. It nails all the particulars about the things dogs do and the things dog owners do, which is why it scarcely needs to be said that the subset of viewers likely to get the most out of the movie are dog people.

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