The Worst Dog Movie Ever

I once said I was going to do movie reviews & haven't really followed through with that one pretty well. Well, I've watched one movie recently that begs for a review.



Monday night Jeremy & I rented Marley & Me. Now, if you've already seen this, you may be groaning already in sympathy for us. If not, well, sorry but I'm about to spoil this movie for you. But would the ending really be something you didn't see coming?



We saw a preview recently for it that did it more justice than other previews. So we were interested. It looked cute. A couple, John & Jen, get married, buy a house & are just adjusting to being husband & wife. Then John gets Jen a dog, hoping it'll pacify her desire for a baby for a bit.



The puppy is just precious. The kind that just melts your heart. That first night Jen had a business trip so it was just Marley & John. John leaves him in the garage to sleep. Except neither one sleeps. Marley cries & howls all night. It brough back memories of our first few nights with Keira. It's so cute for a little while till 2am when you haven't slept more than 20 minutes at a time.



As Marley grows he becomes a bigger & bigger handful. He eats everything, won't heal on the leash, jumps on people. You know, typical bad dog behavior. He even gets kicked out of doggie training school.



So as we're watching this we're thinking it's just gonna be about this couple adjusting to a very active dog, there'll be some kind of dilemma, & in the end they'll see that this in fact isn't the "world's worst dog" but is their best friend. Aw! How sweet!



Nope, they wanna make this real. Too real for us.



Here's the big spoiler we didn't see coming. Jen gets pregnant. Yah! Marley will have to behave himself before the baby comes. More crazy antics to come!



No. John & Jen are at their first OB appointment. She's almost 10 weeks along. They're so excited. John wants to know if they can find out the sex of the baby yet. Already I speak out that they can't see that this early. Then the nurse does the sonogram & already I can see the screen. She leaves & gets the doctor & he confirms it. There's no heartbeat.



Yeah, tears flowing now. That was a moment in our life we will unfortuantly never forget. But what's worse was that was our moment. No one else was there (not counting the doctor). But now it was like a hidden camera was there recording us. Reliving that moment was just not something I wanted to do, especially in a movie.

What I did like but had me crying even more was when they came home. Jen sits on the couch & John goes in the kitchen asking about taking a vacation, obviously trying to be uplifting to her. When he comes back in he sees Jen sobbing & Marley laying his head in her lap. That was Kaylee. I still remember how she would lay by the couch with me & how that first night she slept on my side of the bed (on the floor, of course) & stayed there the whole night. She knew her Mamma wasn't ok.

Well, it gets happier later as they are able to have children & have 3, 2 boys & a girl. But then the stress of kids, work, & the "world's worst dog" cause issues in their marriage. They work things out thankfully & decide to move to Philiadelphia. They get a great house outside the city with lots of land & all is happy & well.

But the movie doesn't end here.

You've probably already guess what happens. Marley dies. But not by being hit by a car or attacked by a bear. He has some weird stomach thing & his old age made surgery unlikely to be successful. They come to a point when they know it's time. I can't even tell you how hard it was to watch these 3 kids tell their dog good-bye. And then John stays with Marley as they put him to sleep.

But that's not it folks! No, now we have to bury him & make us even more miserable. Jen leaves her necklace John gave her in the grave because it was the one he gave her to celebrate the start of their family (1st pregnancy) but really Marley was the first addition to their family. More tears flowing.

And that pretty much ends the movie.

For anyone who has lost a dog, I may not recommend this movie. Jeremy went through the exact thing & he said it was scary how accurate they were to his experience. As far back as he can remember there was Annie. But his senior year of high school she had to be put down.

So I think the sadness of the movie isn't just losing a dog (or any pet for that matter). But it's when you've had a dog in your family for so many years that they are a part of your family.

Maybe I'm just extra sensitive to these things. But for me, I wouldn't suggest rushing to see this movie.