‘Marley & Me’ should be called ‘New Yeller’

Full Story At msnbc.com

A word of warning to parents out there who have been seduced by the adorable-puppy-in-Christmas-bow advertising of “Marley & Me” and are considering taking their youngsters to see it: Don’t. The dog — and this may technically count as a spoiler, even though the movie is based on a best-selling book — dies. And “Marley & Me” milks audience grief (and will traumatize children) more than “Bambi” and “Old Yeller” combined.

I can report first hand that a veteran film critic of the crusty and cantankerous stripe came close to walking out of the screening I attended — and not because he didn’t like it. And even as I was rolling my eyes over how manipulative this movie gets, I had to choke back a few tears myself over just two words spoken by the family’s eldest child at the climactic doggy funeral