There’s a difference between taking a hold-your-nose, straight-paycheck acting job in some deplorable mainstream monstrosity (i.e., Johnny Depp in the Pirate movies, John Cusack in 2012) and having a nice little gig going with the family trade. Nearly all CG-mounted family films are atrocious (i.e., Furry Vengeance), but I’m not feeling the revulsion over Owen Wilson‘s Marmaduke voicing, despite the 11% Rotten Tomatoes rating and the weak opening numbers.

The bottom line is that Marmaduke plus Marley and Me has made Wilson the go-to GenX guy for family dog movies. If he’s smart he’ll play this like Donald O’Connor did with the Francis the Talking Mule movies in the ’50s and dog it as long as he can. Dog movies could be Wilson’s retirement fund/nest egg. Nobody watches them anyway or pays them any mind so who cares? Suck it in, do the job, take a shower.