Kids in London - Marley and Me

At a recent cinema visit to see "He's just not that into you" the only thing that was memorable was seeing a trailer for the Marley film. Remembering that reading the book was a laugh out loud experience, I took my 11 year old along to see this movie last night.

I was nervous about how this brilliant book (and anyone who has had a dog or ever thought of owning one should read it) translated onto the silver screen but I wasn't completely disappointed. There were numerous laugh out loud hard moments which were filmed beautifully. Jennifer Aniston was, well, Jennifer Aniston - and got close to real acting when portraying a sleep-deprived mother of a new baby. Owen Wilson managed to maintain that benign happy look even at the saddest and most dramatic parts of the film. But they both look good on screen don't they?

Youngsters will appreciate the numerous "naughty dog" moments. But some of the more serious messages - like dogs are a big responsibility, that raising kids is really hard, that parents make a lot of sacrifices and that even well loved pets must someday die (yes, be prepared for a tearful ending if you have very sensitive ones with you) come across.

While a lot of the subtlety of the book (e.g. the big issue about being on the dog beach, the exasperation with Marley's constant chewing and eating of things he shouldn't etc) was missing from the film it was a very pleasant way to escape for a few hours.