Makes needs the change last correction was drastic to now to give up her job and become a stay-at-home mom, prompting to take on a daily column for a pay increase. Due to the crime rate, the couple decides to move to a larger house the safer neighborhood of Boca Raton, where Marley delights swimming the backyard pool. Although she denies she is experiencing postpartum depression, exhibits all the symptoms, including a growing impatience with Marley and who asks to care for the dog when insists they give him away. She quickly comes to realize he has become an indispensable part of the family and agrees he can stay. accepts a job for The New York Times and moves away. Some time later, and welcome a daughter, into their family. celebrates his 40th birthday and later goes skinny dipping with their swimming pool. Increasingly disenchanted with his job, he decides to accept a position as a reporter with The Philadelphia Inquirer with 's blessing, and the family moves to a farm rural Pennsylvania. realizes that he is a better columnist than reporter and pitches the column idea to his editor. Life is idyllic until the aging Marley begins to show signs of arthritis and deafness. attack of gastric dilatation volvulus almost kills him, but he recovers. When a second attack occurs, it becomes clear surgery not help him, and Marley is euthanized with at his side. The family pay their last respects to their beloved pet as they bury him beneath a tree their front yard. Because the film covers 14 years the life of the dog, 22 different yellow labradors played the part of Marley Todd McCarthy of said the film is as broad and obvious as it could be, but delivers on its own terms thanks to sparky chemistry between its blond stars, and Jennifer Aniston, and the unabashed emotion-milking of the final reel. Fox has a winner here, likely to be irresistible to almost everyone but cats Animated and emotionally accessible, Aniston comes off better here than most of her feature films, and spars well with her, even if, the film's weaker moments, he shows he's on less certain with material than he is with straight-faced impertinence. Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter observed that seldom does a studio release feature so little drama and not much comedy either, other than when the dog clowns around hatever Marley wants to be about the challenges of marriage or the balancing act between career and family gets subsumed by pet tricks. Dog lovers won't care, and that basically is the audience for the film. From Fox's standpoint, it be enough Marley Me is a warm and fuzzy family movie, but you do wish that at least once someone would upstage the dog. Persall of the St. Petersburg Times was also very positive, graded the film B and commenting, Marley Me practically leaps at viewers like a pound puppy seeking affection, and darn if it doesn't deserve some Things could get mushier or sillier, but Frankel and screenwriters and Don Roos who usually handle grittier material decline to play the easy, crowd-pleasing game. Their faith Grogan's simple tale of loyalty among people and pets is unique, and it pays off isn't extraordinary cinema, but it relates to everyday people the audience a way that few movies do without being dull. Walter Addiego of the San Chronicle said, this love letter to 's best friend make dog fanciers roll over and do tricks. It's so warmhearted, you'll want to run out and hug the nearest big, sloppy mutt. The praise continued with of The Philadelphia Inquirer awarding the film three out of four stars and saying, Marley and Me operates on the assumption that happiness is a warm tongue bath. And those who endorse this belief enjoy this shaggy dog story The anecdotal structure does not make for a gripping movie. For one thing, there's no conflict, unless you count the tension between a guy and his untrainable pooch. Yet Marley boasts animal magnetism Mawkish? Sometimes. But often very funny and occasionally very moving. The film opened on 3 screens the US and Canada on December 25. It grossed $14 million on its first day of release, setting the record for the best Christmas Day box office take