Marmaduke | 2022 | TV-Y7 | – 1.3.2

Why is “Marmaduke” rated TV-Y7? The TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board rating indicates that “this program is designed for children age 7 and above.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes some flirting between dogs, tight-fitting outfits that accentuate exaggerated body shapes, several scenes of near peril that end without injuries, a lot of scatological humor, many arguments, some bullying between humans and dogs, and some mild language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Animated feature based on the comic strip, about a sloppy Great Dane (voiced by Pete Davidson) that’s forced to compete in a worldwide dog show by his owners and a greedy dog whisperer (voiced by Brian Hull). The dog confronts the underbelly of the dog show world, causing odd situations. Also with the voices of JK Simmons, David Koechner, Julie Nathanson, Terri Douglas, Erin Fitzgerald, Stephen Stanton and John Bosch. Directed by Mark Dippe, Phil Nibbelink, Youngki Lee & Matt Whelan. [Running Time: 1:26]

Marmaduke SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A man flirts with a woman by phone, offering to take her to a cozy restaurant and they both giggle. A female dog kisses a male dog on one cheek and hearts appear over his head. A female dog sniffs the tail end of a male and winks at him when he turns around; the male acts confused.
► A woman wears tight-fitting short-shorts in several scenes. A man disguised as a woman is hit by an object that knocks off his wig and deflates balloons under a shirt and he gasps.

Marmaduke VIOLENCE/GORE 3

 – Many scenes include scatological humor: a large dog has many episodes of growling stomach and accumulation of intestinal gas; a dog overeats and loudly belches up green gas, and flatulates creating large green clouds and a small dog grimaces at the smells and runs away; a larger dog overeats until his stomach drags on the ground, his stomach has visible contractions as we hear it rumble, and he runs to a dog show trophy cup, jumps in the air, and gets his rear end stuck in it as giant green clouds fill the dog show arena and we hear flatulating and rumbling (people scream and cough, a man leans over the opening of a hat as if to vomit but does not, a woman yells that they are all going to die and we see that the trophy cup is labeled as radioactive waste); a young girl blows a raspberry that sounds like flatulence; and, in two scenes, dogs in a show file past a water hydrant and each lifts a leg against it, but we neither see nor hear urine and the area is marked as a doggy restroom.
► In two scenes, a young boy twirls two large toy pistols in close-up and in the second scene, he fires laser lights that do no harm; a cat knocks the lights out of the air with its paws and is unharmed. A young boy, a dog, and a cat have a dance off, all three wearing cowboy hats. A dog dodges many spears in a demonstration show, but the spears pierce the clothing of an announcer, pinning him to his chair, uninjured.
► A large dog falls down some steps and into a big display of animal shampoos; the display collapses over a man who is taken to the hospital, where we see him bandaged head-to-toe, unable to move, and crying for a few seconds (we hear that the injuries are serious, but hear no specifics and the dog is fine).
► A large TV camera and a man fall from a collapsing scaffold and land on top of a dog that lies on the floor, looking dead; adults and children gather, mourning the dog until the dog wakes up and asks for food as people cheer. A large dog is pulled out of a house by its collar every morning to train for a show; the trainer is mean and takes away the dog’s name until it earns it back by mastering an obstacle course that it is forced to run, it falls several times, and suffers strikes from hoops and pylons, but is not injured; the dog is forced through a set of three hoops on fire, makes it through, but finds the tip of its tail on fire and blows it out.
► In pouring rain, lightning and thunder, a car misses a dog in the street, its tires squeal, and two cars miss a cat, also with screeching tires; the dog runs over the tops of cars to retrieve the cat, that’s unharmed. A dog runs away from home to run around the world and swims away from a giant shark. A dog dreams of diving into the mouth of a shark and startles awake as we see the shark’s wide gaping mouth and many sharp teeth.
► A large dog snores loudly and slobbers many times throughout the film, leaving slobber on food, objects, and one man’s face (the man grunts, shudders, and tries to wipe it off). A dog breaks kitchen and living room furniture as a young boy rides him like a horse through a house (no one is injured). A large dog is locked in a bedroom to prevent him from upsetting a picnic outside, but in an altercation with a growling bumblebee that causes green goo to flow from the bee, the dog falls out the window in slow motion and splashes into a pool, splashing water that becomes a tidal wave on which children laugh and surf while some parents shout, but nobody is harmed; a gas grill has a small explosion in a puff of smoke and flames that are immediately extinguished. A large dog knocks over a man dumping old bones in a dumpster and the dog dives into the dumpster. A large sports car speeds away, lurching and squealing its tires.
► A large dog and a man argue as the dog seems to have thunder and lightning coming from three of its paws; the two characters use martial arts kicks to jump at each other and into a tree until they collapse to the ground and no one is hurt; the man raises a leg and slaps the dog’s face five times, without injury, and the dog kicks himself in one leg and falls, but is OK. A large dog bites into a lamp shaped like a bone and is electrocuted (his body lights up and we see his skeleton lit up, but no injuries occur).
► A large dog uses expensive shampoo that causes his fur to emit cosmic light that captivates an audience; when the trance is broken people shout and applaud; the dog and his owners convince people to buy the shampoo, but are later thrown out of a dog show as frauds and one of the owners is pulled out of the frame by authorities as two dogcatchers put capture loops over the dog’s head and lead him away while the dog protests.
► A man lifts heavy weights and his small dog uses his teeth to lift a judges’ platform full of people, and even the floor of the arena by metal handles embedded in the floor. A mean dog steps on the head of a small dog and later kicks it in the face, but no injury occurs; the mean dog pours slick liquid under another dog’s feet and the second dog slides and falls through an obstacle course, but finishes without injury. A mean dog insults and intimidates other dogs before a competition to make them lose, but the disembodied paw of a martial arts dog comes out of thin air three times and smacks the mean dog in the face (there’s no injury). A dog emits a force field to keep a mean dog away. A mean dog roars at another dog that falls down. A dog roars at a mean dog that collapses momentarily and then leaves.
► A young boy and a young teen girl are taunted by classmates; the boy becomes angry at home and loudly breaks a vase without injuring anyone, while the girl is sad and cries. A young boy argues with a man briefly.

Marmaduke LANGUAGE 2

 – 2 mild anatomical terms, name-calling (loser, stupid, crazy, jerk, varmint, dirty little…, buzzy little…, messy, clumsy, fleabag, furbag, failure, lame, lousy mutt, weasel, suckers, disgusting, Zusor, El Stinko, Not-So-Great-Dane, Scooby Poo), 3 mild obscenities/exclamations (darn, heck, freakin’, diggedy dang, cowabunga, ooh la la, you stink (no smell is apparent), ugh, whoo, whoa, whoo-hoo, yahoo, yee-haw, wow). | profanity glossary |

Marmaduke SUBSTANCE USE

 – None.

Marmaduke DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Talking animals, forcing individuals to compete, exploiting pets, money, fame, cheaters, dishonest contest judges, frauds, humiliation, sadness, taking action, determination, winning and losing.

Marmaduke MESSAGE

 – Make the seemingly impossible possible by learning from your mistakes and believing in yourself.