'Marley's' message: sniff, sniff, whimper

"I promised myself I wasn't going to cry, but I couldn't help myself," Lakewood resident Billie Peterson said, dabbing her eyes after a weekend "Marley" showing at the Edwards 26 in the Long Beach Towne Center, which she attended with her two daughters. "But we weren't the only ones. The whole theater was sniffling at the end."

In a season with no shortage of sad cinematic tidings, the most doleful dog story since "Old Yeller" has all but cornered the Kleenex market. "Marley," based on John Grogan's mega-selling memoir, sits as the nation's No. 1 movie, having taken in more than $50 million since opening on Christmas.

Coming on the heels of the talking canines of "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" and countless cartoon critter movies, the uninitiated could be forgiven for thinking that "Marley" is a kid-targeted movie about a wacky dog doing wild and crazy things. 20th Century Fox has marketed the PG-rated movie by playing up the mischief; commercials feature the irascible Labrador retriever yanking leashes, stealing turkeys and jumping out of moving cars while George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" plays in the background.

But although "Marley" doesn't skimp on the shenanigans, it also has much in common with family dog dramas of yore, tear-jerkers like "Lassie Come Home" and, of course, "Old Yeller." Like the current Michelle Williams indie drama, "Wendy and Lucy," "Marley" knows the depths of the bonds that form between people and their pets. Unlike "Wendy and Lucy," it doesn't shy away from indulging in a little overt sentimentality.

"We were talking about 'Terms of Endearment' and 'Love Story' in terms of the impact we were hoping to have," said "Marley" director David Frankel ("The Devil Wears Prada"). "I remember being a kid, people came out of 'Love Story' unable to speak. That's the chord we wanted to strike."

And what better way to do so than to employ a dog? Hollywood has long exploited moviegoers' fuzzy feeling about their furry four-legged friends, knowing that putting pets in peril is a sure-fire way to strike an emotional chord with audiences. And "Marley & Me" is no exception. If you're one of those who didn't buy or borrow Grogan's 2005 bestselling memoir (or one of its other literary spinoffs), it might be time to issue a spoiler warning.