A Sad Movie

As I mentioned a little while back, a variety of channels from HBO were added as part of an upgrade to my cable package. Needless to say, I've been enjoying watching HBO more than Cinemax. One such movie I decided to watch was "Marley and Me." It's a movie that came out on Christmas Day in 2008 and it was a highly regarded film. I remember hearing great things about it but that the ending was quite sad. Seeing that I hadn't watched many films during the past three to four years, getting these additional movie channels is a great way for me to catch up. And "Marley and Me" is definitely one of those films I can say I watched.

The film truly is exceptional. It's great for the family - there's no cursing, no violence, and it involves animals. I mean honestly, when there's dogs involved in a movie, not very many people are going to turn it down unless its ridiculously corny - such as the dogs are made to talk. The story of "Marley and Me" is so sweet. A journalist working at a newspaper in Florida has just been giving a promotion, albeit temporary. Meanwhile, as part of a surprise, he brings his wife to a place where they are selling golden retriever puppies. Of course she can't turn down a cute, innocent puppy. The short-term name she gives the puppy is "Clearance Puppy," because the woman selling the puppy gave them a discount on it over the others. Eventually, they'd name it Marley, after Bob Marley.

The story follows the life of this man and woman and their ever growing family, including Marley. The dog is one of the most rambunctious and trouble-some you could ever see. He earns the reputation as being the worse dog ever by its owners (in jest, though). Meanwhile, the couple adds not one or two kids, but three during Marley's life. The family also endures a change in location from Florida to Philadelphia, PA, where John Grogan, the journalist, gets a job as a reporter instead of a columnist. The house is bigger, the family seems to be happier than ever, and Marley is getting older and older.

The last 30 minutes of the movie is exactly as it's been touted as being - very sad. I don't know what it is when it comes to pets and dying, but it's a very difficult subject to endure. I know when we had to put down our family dog over six years ago, I was distraught and devastated. And while watching Marley's life gradually come to end, those feelings came rushing back. I mean, there's the whole scene at the vet's office, the kids becoming teary-eyed at the possibility of losing their best friend, and John's wife also becoming emotional. It honestly became too much for me and I lost it - I have never gotten so emotional over a movie as an adult like I did with this film. It was really a touching movie and one I'll never forget. Would this movie have the same effect on me a second time around? I'm thinking not; but you never know. I decided to purchase the book on the real-life story to find out if there's any additional details left out in the movie. It's probably the first book in a long, long time that I'm looking forward to reading. I'm sure eventually you'll be reading my reaction to the book in due time.