Collaring in laughs and tears.

Marley & Me

(PG, 115 mins) Comedy/Drama/Romance. Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Eric Dane, Alan Arkin, Kathleen Turner. Director: David Frankel. Contains no swearing, no sex and some violence.

*****

ANIMAL lovers will go bow wow wow for David Frankel's comedydrama about one man's journey of self-discovery with a mischievous Labrador, based on the memoir by John Grogan.

Adapted for the screen by Scott Frank and Don Roos, Marley & Me provokes decent laughs with uproarious interludes as the four-legged central character runs amok in sunny Florida.

However, the script plumbs surprising emotional depths too, eliciting strong performances from lead stars Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston as a young couple struggling to juggle professional and parental responsibilities.

Audiences should cram every available pocket with handkerchiefs because Frankel's film is a modern-day Old Yeller, following the relationship between man and his best friend to its natural conclusion.

Forget a polite, covert dab to the eyes.

Grown men will be reduced to sobbing and snivelling wrecks by the picture's final frames.

Newlyweds John and Jenny Grogan (Wilson, Aniston) move from Michigan to the subtropical climate of West Palm Beach to pursue careers and settle down.

When fellow reporter Sebastian (Dane) plants a seed of worry in John's mind about his wife wanting a baby, the husband decides to dodge the bullet by buying Jenny a yellow Labrador pup called Marley. The tiny, adorable bundle of fun soon grows into 100 pounds of uncontrollable energy, chewing up anything and everything in John and Jenny's home, including their clothes and furniture.

An expensive necklace has to work its way through the dog's digestive tract before Jenny can wear it around her neck.

The couple label the pet "the world's worst dog" and hope an obedience trainer (Turner) might be able to instil some discipline.

Inevitably, Marley wreaks havoc. "Leg humping is like a virus: once it starts, it takes control of the group!" lambasts the trainer, quickly expelling the Labrador from her group.

Marley & Me wrings every chuckle and tear out of its familiar dramatic set-ups.

Wilson and Aniston demonstrate impeccable timing, but their roles also test their acting mettle as they are driven to the brink of exhaustion by their efforts to raise a family.

Frankel confidently handles the abrupt shifts in mood, and strikes just the right tone for the heartbreaking final scenes as John looks at his companion and tenderly whispers, "Let me know when it's time."

Only the stone coldest heart - or a cat lover - would fail to be moved.

CAPTION(S):

RUNNING AMOK - Jennifer Aniston is taken for a walk, below, Marley the pup