This 2022 Animated Netflix Movie Based on a Classic Character Might Be Its Worst Ever

Netflix’s push into original content has carved a path for the release of some of the best films in recent memory, including Beasts of No Nation and Dolemite Is My Name, but another Netflix original movie just may hold the title as the streamer’s worst.

Released the same year as the streamer’s Oscar-winning film All Quiet on the Western Front, 2022’s Marmaduke, about a messy and mischievous dog voiced by Pete Davidson, may not only be one of the streamer’s worst films, but worst originals altogether, the film so poorly received that it was compared to “fingernails on a blackboard.”

Marking the second feature-length film based on Brad Anderson’s comic strip of the same name, the animated movie centers around a mischievous Great Dane named Marmaduke. The epitome of the “overgrown lap dog,” Marmaduke is known for being messy and getting into trouble. Despite being the exact opposite of what a show dog should be, that doesn’t stop him from teaming up with a legendary dog trainer to prove he’s capable of winning a trophy at the Westminster Champion Contest.

Davidson voiced the titular character, with the film’s voice cast also featuring J.K. Simmons, Brian Hull, Shelby Young, David Koechner and Julie Nathanson.

Although Marmaduke managed to jump onto the Netflix streaming charts upon its May 2022 release on the platform, even ranking No. 10 worldwide, by the time the end credits rolled, those viewing the film seemed to come to a consensus: Marmaduke was not worth a rewatch. The movie was rated rotten in both metrics in Rotten Tomatoes, only earning a 38% audience score and a staggeringly bad 0% critics score.

Reviewing the film for FilmWeek, Charles Solomon dubbed Marmaduke “the cinematic equivalent of fingernails on a blackboard.” Critic Matt Conway, meanwhile, described the film as “a drug-fueled nightmare.” Writing for The Guardian, Charles Bramesco said that the “action is guided less by causality than by deep, primeval urges for which our civilization has no name, animal-brain impulses thrusting an unusually human animal from one hijink to the next.”

The film was largely considered to be the worst animated film of 2022, and to this day remains among Netflix’s lowest-rated original movies. Those curious about the movie can still check it out on Netflix.