Dogs can be trained to rescue trapped climbers, guide the visually impaired and, annoyingly for some SAA staff, sniff out drugs. But in Hollywood they have a far more important job ? alongside cute babies they save multi-million-dollar films from sucking.

Enter Marley ? or the 22 Labradors playing the titular canine who could most politely be described as ?excitable?. Easily running off with all his scenes, the four-legged star easily outperforms his big-name colleagues Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston.

But for all his pillow ripping, necklace swallowing, midnight howling and general havoc wreaking, ?Marley and Me? ?is not a dog story?. At least that?s according to John Grogan who wrote the autobiography on which the film?s based.

?When I wrote it, I didn?t think of it as a dog book, and I still don?t,? he adds. ?I saw it as a growth-of-a-family story, with the dog being a catalyst.?

And he?s right. Which means that for close on 120 minutes we see Owen (as Grogan) and Jen (as his wife Jenny) going through the motions of everyday life.

He?s a journalist. So is she. They live in Florida. He works at the local paper. He wants to be a big time news reporter. But he's stuck doing stories on fires in dumpsters ? or, even worse, writing an opinion column. They have a baby. And another. They move. They argue. He buys jewellery. They make up. There's a surprise birthday. A third kid. They move.

New city. New house. New job. Same old boring life.

Nothing wrong with that ? it?s something we can all relate to ? but in the translation from page to screen, the charm and wit of Grogan?s prose has been buried like a bone in the back yard. And what?s left is a series of rather soulless anecdotes strung together by moments of dog disaster.

In fact, all the emotion is stockpiled for the inevitable ending, crudely milked for all its worth in the fine tradition of ?Benji?, ?Lassie? and just about every other animal film seemingly crafted to traumatise kids and sensitive adults.

You?d expect more from the director behind the charming, witty and hugely entertaining ?The Devil Wears Prada?. But, as they say, every dog has his day. This isn?t it.