Since I started talking about Marley & Me in the previous post, I thought that I might as well review it for this post. After all, the movie outgrossed a Brad Pitt movie on its day of release – there must be something to it, right? If you do not know it yet, the movie is based on the book written by John Grogan, a journalist who wrote about real life “adventures” with his family and dog named – you guessed it – Marley.

Owen Wilson plays John Grogan while Jennifer Aniston plays his wife. The movie starts off with the couple leaving Michigan for Florida, in an attempt to start a family. They are both journalists and work for two different papers – competitors at that.

The story sounds common enough, doesn’t it? What sets the movie apart from all the other releases on the same day?

I think that the “normalcy” of the story is what makes it so appealing to the average movie goer. Plus, you can’t really go wrong with a dog. Marley, after all, comes from the species that we all call “man’s bestfriend.” More than being a “dog story,” however, I really think that the plot, which revolves around family life and its complications, is what makes the movie a good one. It is not extraordinary. The truths set forth by the movie are things that we all encounter in our daily lives. And sometimes, that is what we are after when we watch movies. We want to know that we are not the only ones experiencing these things.

Easy viewing without the fantastic element, that’s what made the movie $14.8M on its first day.