I have read the Garfield comic strip for years. I’ve seen the cartoons, and I have a stuffed Garfield or two around as well. I like him. When I found out that a movie featuring him was being made, I wanted to see it even though I figured it would be silly. I have a Garfield graphic here at Epinions, so how could I not go see this movie? I did enjoy Garfield.
Before the movie started, there was a cartoon that featured Scat, the critter that looked like a saber-toothed squirrel in Ice Age. Scat was till trying to gather nuts, and that caused him some trouble. The cartoon was very cute and funny.
Garfield was a large orange, lazy cat. He lived with Jon Arbuckle. Garfield spent most his time eating and watching television. He went outside to visit with some of the neighborhood cats, Nermal and Arlene, and annoy Luca, a large dog. Jon had a crush on Liz, Garfield’s vet. Because of that, Jon and Garfield made frequent visits. After one visit, Jon brought home Odie, a dog. Garfield was not happy about that. He felt like his place in Jon’s life was being taken over. Odie was cute and wanted to be friends with Garfield. Arlene, Nermal, and Luca liked Odie which also annoyed Garfield.
Happy Chapman appeared on a local morning tv show with a cat named Persnikitty. Happy was allergic to cats and not pleased with being on a local show. He wanted to go national. He believed that he needed a dog in his act instead of a cat. Odie did a dance to a certain song, and Happy managed to see it. He thought that Odie would be perfect for show business, and was shocked when Jon said Odie was just a pet. Odie got lost and ended up with Happy. Garfield decided that it was up to him to rescue Odie.
CAST
Breckin Meyer - Jon
Jennifer Love Hewitt - Liz
Bill Murray - Garfield (Voice)
Stephen Tobolowsky - Happy Chapman
Alan Cumming - Persnikitty (Voice)
David Eigenberg - Nermal (Voice)
Brad Garrett - Luca (Voice)
Debra Messing - Arlene (Voice)
Peter Hewitt - Director
Garfield was released on June 11, 2004. The movie was rated PG and about one hour and twenty minutes long. The movie was based on the comic strip by Jim Davis. I have read the comic strip for years. Some things seemed to remain the same, but other things were changed a bit.
Garfield was entertaining to me. I enjoyed it, though some people will probably find it too silly. I thought that the movie was funny. Garfield said and did some things that made me laugh. Odie was cute and he made me laugh as well. There were a few things that were added in for laughs that were a bit crude, like burps, but there wasn’t as much of that sort of humor in this movie as there has been in others. The movie is rated PG, but I didn’t think there was really anything in it that would be too objectionable for young children to see. Garfield is mainly a family movie, but I think adults could enjoy it as well, as long as they don’t go into it with their expectations too high. It is mindless entertainment. The plot wasn’t original, though that didn’t bother me too much. It was a lot like Toy Story. There was even a scene in which Garfield was trying to cross a busy street that was like a scene in Toy Story 2. It would have been nice if the plot had been more original, but the movie was still entertaining to me.
In the comic strip, Garfield didn’t do too much. He was a lazy cat that loved to eat, especially lasagna. That didn’t change in the movie, though Garfield did seem a little more active. He wandered around in his neighborhood some, and later, he went off to rescue Odie. Garfield did look like the character. Odie didn’t really look the same, but he is a different looking dog in the comic strip. He worked for the movie. Nermal and Arlene, two cats that turn up every so often in the comic strip also showed up in the movie. They didn’t really look like the versions in the comic strip, especially Arlene. She is pink in the comic strip. She was grey in the movie. In fact, she looked very much like one of my cats. I don’t think Odie ended up with Jon and Garfield in the same way in the comic strip, but I can’t remember right now. Liz has turned up in the comic strip every so often as a woman that Jon is interested in.
Garfield was created with CGI. I thought he looked good and the CGI was well done. There were some things that he did that were very much like things one or even both of my cats do at different times. He also did a lot of stuff that no cat does. He did move like a cat does when walking and his tail swished around a lot just like my one cat does. Garfield was the only character created with CGI in the movie. The other animals in the movie were real animals. Odie was the only animal that didn’t talk. I wondered about that at first, but then I got to thinking and I don’t remember Odie ever talking in the comic strip or on the cartoons. Some sort of effect was done to make it look like the other animals were talking. It did look a little strange, but it wasn’t too bad. Real animals with mouths moving like that just look a little strange to me. I thought the same thing with both of the Stuart Little movies.
Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt didn’t have too much to do in Garfield. They took a back seat to the cat. They were fine in their parts, though nothing outstanding. Breckin Meyer had more to do in Kate and Leopold. I thought that Stephen Tobolowsky was good as Happy. I have seen him in several movies, and he has played some very different parts. Last year he turned up in Freaky Friday . I think that Bill Murray did a great job as the voice of Garfield. His voice worked for the cat. Garfield experienced some different emotions a few times, and Murray’s voice expressed them perfectly. Alan Cumming, who played Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, did the voice of Persnikitty. I didn’t recognize the voice, but it went with that cat. Debra Messing was fine as Arlene. Brad Garrett did the voice of Luca, the large dog that Garfield liked to annoy. His voice went perfectly with the large dog. He has done voice work in several other projects, including Finding Nemo. None of the characters were really developed that much, especially the humans.
CHARACTERS
Garfield - Large, lazy, orange cat. He loves to eat and watch tv. He doesn’t chase mice or act like a typical cat. He plots and schemes at times to get what he wants. He wasn’t happy when Odin joined the little family.
Odie - Dog that Jon adopted to look good for the vet. Odie didn’t seem too bright, but he was cute and loveable. He chased his own tail a lot.
Jon - Garfield and Odie’s owner. Jon got irritated with Garfield at times, but still loved him. Jon was shy about asking out Liz.
Liz - Garfield’s vet. She loved animals. She got Jon to give Odie a home. She seemed to be interested in him as well.
Garfield wasn’t the most original movie, but I enjoyed it. My expectations weren’t that high, which is probably why I enjoyed it. I just expected to laugh and be entertained, which I was. People who like the character of Garfield may like the movie.
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