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Marmaduke (2010 film)

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Marmaduke
Theatrical poster
Directed byTom Dey
Written byVince Di Meglio
Tim Rasmussen
Brad Anderson
(comic strip)
Produced byJohn Davis
StarringOwen Wilson
George Lopez
Fergie
Kiefer Sutherland
CinematographyGreg Gardiner
Edited byDon Zimmerman
Music byChristopher Lennertz
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
June 4, 2010 (2010-06-04)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$50,000,000[1]
Box office$22,285,540 (US) http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/marmaduke/

Marmaduke is an 2010 American live-action film adaptation of Brad Anderson's comic strip of the same name. The film centers on the Winslow family and their pets, a Great Dane named Marmaduke, and a Balinese named Carlos, as the family moves from Kansas to California.

Plot

Marmaduke (v. Owen Wilson) is a Great Dane living in rural Kansas with a cat named Carlos. His owner Phil (Lee Pace) works for Bark Organic dog food. Phil is very strict, from Marmaduke's perspective.

One day, Carlos (v. George Lopez) tells Marmaduke that he overheard Phil saying that they were being transferred to Orange County. They move from Kansas into their new house in California. Phil's boss, Don Twombly (William H Macy) has the goal of getting Bark Organic into every Petco store in the country. Phil and Don meet at the dog park to discuss Phil's assignment - an ad campaign to win over Petco - where Marmaduke meets a beautiful dog named Jezebel (v. Fergie), whose boyfriend is Bosco (v. Kiefer Sutherland), a controlling and violent dog with two minions named Thunder and Lighting. Bosco intimidates Marmaduke, who does not want to fight.

Marmaduke then meets Mazie (v. Emma Stone), who develops a crush on Marmaduke. He also meets Giuseppe (v. Christopher Mintz-Plasse), a Chinese Crested dog who is afraid of everything, and Raison, a highly-intelligent but decidedly minute dog. They get together at night and crash a party thrown by Bosco for pedigrees only, only to be scared away by Bosco. Marmaduke then asks Mazie to help him get a girl, whom she presumes is herself, but is actually Jezebel.

Marmaduke has Carlos (the other family pet, the cat) pretend to be lost in the dog park and the two stage a fight in front of all the other dogs in order to boost Marmaduke's perceived toughness. Marmaduke then enters a dog surfing contest put together as a promotional stunt by Phil (to sway Petco) and beats Bosco, who is an established dog-surfing champion. They get in a dog fight, which appalls the Petco executives.

He then takes Jezebel on Mazie's dream date, which the latter watches from afar. While the family is on Don's boat, Marmaduke throws a party, with most residents of the dog park coming, save Mazie, Guisseppe, and Raisin. Bosco crashes the party and discovers it was Carlos at the dog park. He then exposes Marmaduke, who loses his pedigree friends. He is left with no friends and a destroyed house. When Phil discovers the house in a wreck, he locks Marmaduke outside for the night. Marmaduke runs away, and leaves Mazie a toy that she gave him earlier in the movie. Mazie goes to Marmaduke's house, and Carlos tells her Marmaduke never returned. She then goes looking for him. In the morning the family discover him missing, and search for him too. Marmaduke in the meantime has met Chupadogra, an English Mastiff who is feared throughout Orange County for presumably killing his owner. In reality, he ran away to lead the pack but they abandoned him. He has spent the time alone in the woods with nothing but a blanket and his old water bowl,which reads "Buster".Buster/Chupadogra tells Marmaduke to return to his family, and then distracts a dog catcher. Marmaduke leaves, but gets lost. Mazie and the family find him at the same time, but Mazie falls into the sewers after the street below her collapses. Marmaduke jumps in after her and Phil tries to retrieve him, but the fire department tries instead. The fireman saves Mazie, but loses Marmaduke in the raging water. By this time Phil has been fired for missing the meeting for the last chance with Petco. Phil then goes to the dam that the sewers lead to, and finds Marmaduke in the raging waters. He jumps in after him, and begs Marmaduke to let go of the stick he's holding onto, and let the waters carry him to Phil. He reluctantly does, and is saved. Several kids got that on video, and put it on Youtube. Since it had almost seven-hundred thousand hits,he is re-hired. Phil then thinks about moving back to Kansas, but the entire family disagrees. He and Don are thinking of ideas for commercials, having gotten Petco. They ask each other about if the dogs could talk to each other, and even dance. It shows Marmaduke, Jezebel, Mazie, Guisseppe, Raisin, and Buster, among others, dancing and singing "What I Like About You", which turns out to be the commercial. In the end, Marmaduke and Mazie are dating, Marmaduke and Jezebel are friends, Buster has presumably gotten a family, and all is well.

Cast

Live-action actors
  • Judy Greer as Debbie Winslow
  • Lee Pace as Phil Winslow
  • William H. Macy as Don Twombly
  • Raugi Yu as Drama Trainer
  • Finley Jacobsen as Brian Winslow
  • Caroline Sunshine as Barbara Winslow
  • Miliana Haines as Sarah Winslow
  • Michael Teigen as Gray
Voice actors

Production

The movie was directed by Tom Dey and produced by Regency Enterprises and Davis Entertainment for 20th Century Fox. Amanda Seyfried and Ron Perlman were the first choices for the characters Mazie and Chupadogra, but left for unknown reasons.

Release and reception

The film was released on June 4, 2010 by 20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises to 3,213 theaters nationwide.

It was released a week earlier in Venezuela on May 28, 2010.

It has been rated PG by the MPAA for "some rude humor and mild language".

Critical reception

The film has been universally panned by critics. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 10% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 68 reviews, with an average score of 3.1/10. The critical consensus is: Dull and unfunny, Marmaduke offers family filmgoers little more than another round of talking animals and scatological humor.[2]

Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars, and wrote in his review, "The moment I saw Marmaduke's big drooling lips moving, I knew I was in trouble."[3]

Box office

The film earned $3.4 million on opening day, landing in sixth place behind Shrek Forever After, Get Him to the Greek, Killers, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and Sex and the City 2. This was far below the openings of other talking-animal live-action films and a disappointment for the studio. The film would remain in sixth place over the weekend, with $11.6 million earned for a $3,608 average from 3,213 theaters. In one week of release, the film has earned $20 million domestically.

Soundtrack

Five tracks have been confirmed for the film; "California" by Phantom Planet, "California Love" by 2Pac featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman,"Fire Burning" by Sean Kingston and "What I Like About You" by The Romantics.

References

  1. ^ Fritz, Ben (June 3, 2010). "Movie projector: 'Get Him to the Bering Sea' and 'Murderers' aiming for No. 2 against Mclovin: the true story". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved June 4, 2010. The picture cost Fox and partner New Regency Pictures about $50 million to make.
  2. ^ "Marmaduke Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2010-06-13.
  3. ^ [1]
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