What?

While you'll never hear me complain about talking animals (in the sense that their speaking ruined a movie for me--I love them, but the film should still be done right and not be carried along by its "OMG SO CUTE" factor)...it may not be such a terrific idea to introduce an adorable, silly, talking puppy following the beauty and poignancy of the first Marley film. I don't think anyone knows enough yet to judge, but this sounds as though it could very well be another trite little cash cow seeking to capitalize on all the kids who'll want to go see baby Marley. Not that anything to do with a puppy could possibly be the worst choice of movie to see. Still, I'm trying to figure out how it could hope to be a worthy follow-up to the original. "Puppy Years"--so are they going to expand upon Marley's puppyhood antics? If so, it would have to include some of the original cast again...his owners got him early on in his life...:/

Sorta reminds me of the "prequel" storybook "Clifford's Puppy Days," of the awesome Clifford the Big Red Dog series--except that I'm not quite sure how they could fill a whole movie with such stories/anecdotes.

And for the record, the first two Beethoven movies are among my all-time favorites. The third one was fairly good in my opinion; the fourth and fifth pretty abysmal; and Beethoven's Big Break merely cute, but hardly worth the effort to make. I enjoyed the original Air Bud and a couple of the Buddies movies--on the whole, though, that franchise needs to run out of steam. Or, well, just end, because it really has already. The two Beverly Hills Chihuahuas were fun to watch, but certainly not what I would call great.

Live-action animal movies are, for me, epitomized by older ones with real style and intelligence: the Homeward Bound films, The Incredible Journey, Fluke, both Babes, Milo & Otis, To Dance with the White Dog, Bingo, Animal Farm, Cats & Dogs (Kitty Galore disappointed me, though I somewhat liked it anyway), Shiloh, Old Yeller, Greyfriar's Bobby, Legend of Lobo, My Dog Skip, Charlotte's Web, Big Red, Where the Red Fern Grows, Savage Sam, etc. Why they just can't seem to "make 'em like they used to" is a sad mystery I've been trying to solve, while hoping for some great movie to come along and set them all back on the right track. That said, my love for animals prevents me from being TOO hard on most of these films. I did like Marmaduke quite a bit.