The Movie
The comic strip about the oversized Great Dane comes to computer-enhanced life in the recent family comedy, Marmaduke. His infamous enormity is not used as a point of contention nearly as much as expected, as he spends a remarkable amount of time in the company of his fellow canines and less with his human family. This two-legged brood, The Winslows, moves to a new town, with a new job for Dad at an organic dog food company. Their trials and tribulations veer into corny family drama territory, while the pooch tries to fit in with the local woof-and-slobber crowd. Will he hang with the lovable misfits, or become the new king of the pedigrees?
A few clever puns aside, this one is strictly for the kids, with that safe vibe that I'm sure my children will enjoy, despite the dog taking The Lord's name in vain once, and repeated depiction of flatulence and urination. Also be sure to give David Kempler's review of Marmaduke a sniff.
The Picture
The 2.40:1 image is simply lovely, with vibrant colors befitting this too-good-to-be-true world. There are minor amounts of video artifacts visible during fast camera pans as when Marmaduke drags his owner, and elsewhere, but the sharpness and detail in slower and static shots are striking, particularly in the delineated grass and sand. The CGI mouths of the talking beasts look almost perfect in HD. I saw a little noise in the usual suspects like night skies, but not enough to diminish my fondness for this master.
The Sound
Most impressive in this DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 channel mix is the assortment of barks. First there's one behind and to the right, and before I knew it they were coming from all around, discreetly placed in the various speakers. Crowds fill the surrounds more than once, while thunder and a rogue wave display respectable power. Some incidental effects, as when Marmaduke destroys a dancing videogame system, are extremely dynamic.
The Extras
The bonus material boils down to eight deleted scenes (approximately nine-and-a-half minutes total), three minutes of bloopers and a few featurettes. "Puppy Marmaduke and Kitty Carlos: Home Movies" (three-and-a-half minutes) is a bit of in-character backstory, which is rather silly. "Cowabarka!" explores the dog-surfing sequence and "Canine Casting" shares the screen tests of some of the working critters from the film (five minutes and three minutes respectively). All of these extras are in high definition.
Disc Two is a DVD with the deleted scenes, "Cowabarka!" and "Casting." Too bad there's no Digital Copy, which I always consider a big plus on younger-skewing titles like this.
Final Thoughts
Exhibiting neither bark nor bite, Marmaduke strives for innocuousness and achieves it admirably. I definitely sank my teeth into the sound however, and the video is a high-def enthusiast's best friend.
Product Details
Where to Buy:
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Movie | |
| Extras |
