Doggie Discomfort Bagz, Anyone?!?!?

 

Back onto the picture in question (which Monk might give a look at given he said Marmaduke's a favorite character of his, but now that he found his wife's killer and overcame much of his neuroses, even he'd probably bail before the end now), yes, there seems to be no originality whatsoever, and if they want to beat the film's lesson into your head in the trailer (a lesson that anyone with an IQ over 10 would have easily learned by now anyway), why bother showing up in the first place, I reason?  The best family films let the message speak for itself in the story; Wilder's Wonka being a good example, which allows us to draw our own conclusions on our own time.  And also true about the animal film point; the gimmick will only work if there's substance behind the gimmick, if you end up believing the animal in question is a three-dimensional character.  And even with that in mind, having it do too much unnatural material detracts from the reality; Free Willy and Air Bud stand out as the best animal films of the last 20 years as their heroes remain largely natural--and are as noted above essentially realistic characters in their own right--despite the heightened realities of the situations they're put in.  But of course, the filmmakers here and now only look at the most obvious aspect, so the results will speak for themselves even if it does make a lot of money the first weekend.