There ought to be a prize for the worst dog movie of the year. In 2009, it would have gone to the mirthless, sentimental Marley & Me starring Owen Wilson as a Florida journalist writing a popular column about rearing a labrador. This year, Lasse Hallström's Hachiko: A Dog's Story seemed likely to take the biscuit until the arrival of Marmaduke, the ingratiatingly cute tale of a Kansas family relocating to California with their great dane, apparently based on a newspaper comic strip that appears in 600 newspapers in more than 20 countries.

In this film, instead of owning the dog, Owen Wilson plays the lovable beast, or at least provides its voice. So expect this year's Lousy Lassie Award to go to Marmaduke.