Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

This second collection of Garfield TV specials, Holiday Celebrations, offers 24 minutes of delight for a day specific to each of the last 3 months in the year. Based on the Jim Davis comic strip, Garfield, a lazy cat that eats too much, has always made me laugh. He lives with Odie the sloppy dog and Jon the lovable loser always trying to hook up with his pets’ vet. Garfield’s cynical attitude contrasts against Jon’s innocence and Odie’s stupidity in hilarious ways and may make you wonder what your cat is REALLY thinking about.

The TV cartoons are more kid-oriented than the comic strip as far as dialogue and exposition. That may make some fans of the strip not like the show so much, but as far as I know most fans of one are fans of the other.

They generally contain a couple of songs (counting the opening credits) that are often cute/funny. I don’t like musicals much, but I overlook that for Garfield. I tend to like the funny songs more than the sweet ones, but I still would prefer no singing.

The animation quality is not what you may have seen in the Garfield and Friends series (which itself is not necessarily impressive compared to some more modern toons), but the entertainment is pretty much the same. These older shows have more grain, are not as sharp, and have less detail in the background art. High quality they aren’t - this is 80’s animation don’t forget. They weren’t drawn to impress art critics but to delight fans, and they should still be able to do that after all these years.

Now that you have an overview I’ll tell you about the individual specials.

Review 1: Garfield’s Halloween Adventure
Garfield learns from TV what Halloween is about, going out to have other people give you candy. Any holiday that involves eating is a good holiday for Garfield. He realizes that if he takes Odie there will be two full bags at the end so he goes to find costumes for them both. As they finish for the night Garfield realizes there are many more houses on the other side of the river – more houses mean more candy! He and Odie, in their pirate guises, commandeer a rowboat but end up floating further downstream than they intended. They seek shelter in an old house only to find out it has a ghostly secret. The night becomes a frightful flight that lands Garfield drowning in the river.

This one is slower paced than I remembered. Garfield and Odie interact with others, even Jon, minimally. I thought there would be more ghosts, goblins, and such. I also thought there should have been a mystery they solved or someone they helped that left their mark on the haunted house. The focus, though, is on their relationship and ends with Garfield’s response to Odie having saved his life. There are some good laughs throughout, but there isn’t a strong Halloween atmosphere. It’s great for Garfield fans and younger audiences, but if you’re looking for something animated to set the mood this Halloween you’d be better off with the Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror or The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Review 2: Garfield’s Thanksgiving
Jon finally gets a date with Liz the vet. She’s coming to his house for Thanksgiving, and Jon’s the chef. The problem is he couldn’t fix a good turkey if his life depended on it. Worried that his dinner date will be ruined he panics until Garfield suggests he call Grandma. (Remember this aired after the Christmas special when the two of them met). Can she save his date?

This is one of maybe 2 Garfield specials I’ve never seen or read so there won’t be any comparison to early impressions this time. Production-wise it’s actually the last in the set, but I can understand why they wanted to put them in the same order as the holidays. The only problem is that the chronology of Garfield and Grandma’s relationship isn’t right. I doubt anyone will care very much about that (if you do then just watch the Christmas special first), but if you’re aware of it then it makes a little more sense.

The quality of the art and production is better with this one than Halloween. I also think it’s the funniest of the three. If you enjoyed the movie you’ll like seeing the original development of Jon and Liz’s relationship (if you can call it that). Garfield’s quips about Jon’s desperation and the wrongness of dating his cat’s doctor are priceless. Though Christmas is my favorite special for sentimental reasons, Thanksgiving would probably be tops otherwise.

Review 3: A Garfield Christmas
I used to go nuts whenever a Garfield special would come on TV. The Christmas special in particular I would watch for every year. Now I don’t have to rely on the networks to provide me with a Garfield-influenced holiday cheer fix, I can watch my favorite childhood Christmas special on MY time-table. The Christmas special captures the mood of its season better than the Halloween Adventure does and has the best (‘cause they’re the funniest) songs at the beginning and in the middle.

The show opens with Garfield dreaming about getting a gift-giving machine for Christmas. He wants lots of stuff! He awakens to Jon telling him they’re going to the farm for the holidays, but Garfield is not too happy about that. When they arrive everything but Grandma annoys Garfield. He stays in a bad mood pretty much until Odie gives him a particularly thoughtful present. He finally comes to realize that Christmas isn’t about stuff, it’s about love.

I didn’t care about watching Frosty or Rudolph or any of the still popular annual kids specials, but any Christmas with Garfield on the TV put me in the holiday spirit. Maybe this isn’t as Christmassy as a tale of baby Jesus or Santa, but its anti-materialistic message is fitting for any church-oriented gathering. It’s full of laughs and good feelings even if the song at the piano is a little too syrupy sweet and the closing song a little too corny.

Content:
I don’t think there’s anything questionable. It’s kid safe with positive messages.

DVD:
They could have done a better job with the DVD. It’s 3 specials for about $10 which is not bad, but that’s it. The video has not been cleaned up at all. Even if they didn’t do anything else they could have improved the quality. The audio, too, is mono and poor quality.

The interface is nothing more than a simple picture. There are no extras which is surprising considering the amount of Garfield material there is out there. Scans of the corresponding books would have been at least something. Any materials with Lorenzo Music, voice of Garfield, ought to be released in his memory, and a Jim Davis commentary or just an intro would have been awesome.

There is, at least, a Play All feature so you can watch all 3 specials as 1 long presentation.

Final Thoughts:
If you don’t like singing in your cartoons this might not be your speed. If you like the comic strip or Peanuts cartoon specials you’ll probably like Garfield. Since you’re not paying a lot for the collection the lack of effort that went into it shouldn’t deter you from owning these great specials. I struggled with giving it 4* because I like Garfield or 3* because we’re given poor quality and no extras. Since I can’t do 3.5* I’m going with 4 in hopes that if this set sells well enough they’ll release all the specials in a better pack.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8