GUEST POST BY:
MELISSA CASTRO
Current school: San Francisco State University
Favorite T.V. show: Law and Order: SVU
Favorite musician: Taylor Swift
Favorite author: Nicholas Sparks
Dream vacation: Italy
This article was first published Oct. 27, 2010
“Marley & Me”
Directed by David Frankel
Release: 2008
Sometimes I enjoy sitting quietly on my bedroom floor and watching my two Australian Shepherds sleep. They are like my own little babies – everything they do is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. I wonder if anyone else could possibly love his/her dog(s) as much as I love mine. But then I start watching “Marley & Me,” and I realize that there are people in the world who feel that exact same way.
I have watched “Marley & Me” a good 30 or more times since the firm first came out in 2008. As an ardent dog lover, I couldn’t help but fall in love with the story of Marley, a male Labrador who joins the Grogan family shortly after Jon and Jenny (Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston) are married. Marley is quickly nicknamed “The World’s Worst Dog” for eating too many mangoes, being the first dog ever to be kicked out of obedience school, his apparent love for all things that look like poodles, and his physical destruction of the Grogan home. Marley’s free-spiritedness is endearing and charming to both viewers and, although driven crazy by Marley’s antics, the Grogans.
However rowdy Marley is, like a good friend he stands by Jon and Jenny through career changes, new homes, and the birth of their three children. Marley ages alongside the three Grogan children, and like all living creatures, his health begins to fail. His family is then faced with the inevitable reality that Marley’s life is coming to an end.
Two years ago, I sat in theatres and watched Marley give the Grogans a lifetime of good laughs and a lot of gray hairs. I endured a burning throat as I fought to hold back tears when I saw Marley experience the same illness that caused my first dog’s death. There is a delicate balance between sadness and laughter, and just when I can’t hold back the tears for another second, the family cracks some inside jokes and I feel better instantly. No matter how many times I watch the movie, the burning throat always returns as I try to hold the tears back. It’s possible that I still cry because I’m a bleeding heart, but I’m convinced that it’s because no one could watch someone bless a family like Marley has and not cry as that life comes to an end.
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Thanks, Melissa. I now plan to watch this film. If you are still a doubter, check out the trailer. Maybe I’m a sucker for Owen Wilson’s style of comedy, but this film looks like it’s got a good story to tell.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDRhk1Z-GKM
