by Nick Ferro, Contributing Writer
As a kid, there were two book series that I collected from the Scholastic book fair: Goosebumps and Garfield. The Garfield comic strip series was always a source of great entertainment, as they are incredibly simple yet incredibly funny. In just three to six frames of art, Jim Davis was able to capture my attention for hours on end. In addition to the comic strip, the short-lived animated series was a favorite of mine as well. However, that wasn’t as easy to keep up with and did not garner syndication the same way other Saturday morning cartoons did, so it quickly disappeared and faded from memory. I even enjoyed the 2004 live action movie. It isn’t great, but it is cute enough, and I have a huge soft spot for Breckin Meyer. All this to say, I have a love for the property that is higher than most people I know, but like most people nowadays, it lives in a nostalgic past. Garfield was certainly not an intellectual property that I would have put on my Cash Grab Movie Reboot Bingo card. Yet here we are…
The Garfield Movie, starring Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicholas Hoult, Hannah Waddingham, Ving Rhames, as well as a few more well-known performers is, at its core, a father/son heist story. Garfield (Pratt) lives a very spoiled life of relaxation and unlimited food. His best friend is Odie, who is “voiced” by Harvey Guillén — and by “voiced” I mean, he makes all the dog noises, and never once utters a word. And thinking about it, I can’t really decide if that is the best job you can get in Hollywood or the worst… Anyway, the two are kidnapped by a pair of dogs and brought to an abandoned mall, where they are roped into working with Garfield’s long lost father, Vic (Jackson), to steal a few thousand gallons of milk for a cat named Jinx (Waddingham). Jinx is out for revenge because she used to be part of Vic’s cat crew and was put in the pound after a heist gone wrong. Abandoned by his father as a baby, which led to him being adopted by Jon (Hoult), Garfield’s feelings toward his father are pretty adversarial. So in the most forced plotting I’ve seen in a while, Garfield and Odie are must help with this heist against their will for… reasons. Once they get to the dairy farm, they are meant to burgle, they see that it is now a family attraction. They ask for the help of the old bull mascot, Otto (Rhames), who has been put out to pasture. Otto agrees to help them if they will in return help him break his cow girlfriend out of the petting zoo, so they can once again be together. If that sounds like a wild left turn for a Garfield movie, then you and I would get along swimmingly. From there, Garfield must learn to forgive Vic so they can work together, all while Odie is being the helpful forgotten side kick of the entire adventure.
Over the years, Garfield has become a pop culture icon, from having stuffed animal car window clings to being a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, and the movie makes sure that it references every single one. Sometimes it stands out and clangs as a producer note, and other times it feels more in line with the love and care that comes out of a fan making a project (see X-Men ’97 as an example). It is very clear the influence that Jim Davis had as executive producer: He clearly put a lot of effort in to make sure the filmmakers nailed the little details that make the character iconic. But unfortunately, I wouldn’t be surprised if most people completely missed all the callbacks and references to the original Garfield comics, of which there are many. It is all the little details, from the shape of Garfield in his bed box, to poses he makes while singing, to other random sight gags. There is a lot for someone like me who grew up obsessed with these books to glom onto. However, it is exactly these moments that stand out like a sore thumb to me, because they’re out of place with the movie’s plot. In fact, I’m not sure this was meant to be a Garfield movie from the start. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that this movie was originally pitched as a kids movie with original characters, and a producer said, “We have the rights to Garfield; can you change it to work for that character?” Ultimately, the core story is nothing like previous Garfield stories. Garfield goes to the vet, he goes to Jon’s parent’s farm, and for the most part, his adventures take place at home with Odie and sometimes Nermal (who does have a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at the end). A road trip heist is not in Garfield’s wheelhouse, especially since he is known to most as being a fat, lazy, overeating, oversleeping Monday hater. But don’t worry, he still hates Mondays! This movie feels like putting a square peg in a round hole, and it clanged for me in the worst way. If Davis wasn’t attached, I would have thought the writers had never even read a Garfield comic.
Plus, the animation is nothing special. It looks fine and is somewhere in between the new look of Puss and Boots and the old look of the Minions. As far as the voice performances go, everyone does a fine job. There are no standouts save for Brett Goldstein, who voices a large Neapolitan mastiff and has some of the best lines of the movie due to his very unique voice. But then again, its always going to be funny to me to hear Roy Kent as a dog.
The best character in the movie is Odie, and he doesn’t utter a word. He is used very well as the “fun” character, mostly through someone doing something ridiculous so we can get an “Odie Reacts” moment. Or Odie is doing something in the background while two other characters are talking. I honestly couldn’t tell you what the conversation is about, because Odie is too much fun to watch. Which may have been the point, but there could have been a better way to get us there without sacrificing the runtime with useless dialogue. The story beats, although telegraphed by the dialogue, are a passable form of entertainment.
In truth, as much of a fan of Garfield as I am, I was not the target demographic for this movie. It is not a four-quadrant film, but simply for the kids. It’s the kind of movie that parents use to keep the kids quiet for 90 minutes so they can get some chores done, or perhaps take a nap. As we were leaving the theater, I asked my kids (six, nine, and 11) what they thought of the movie. The Boy (six) loved all the silly slapstick moments and the trailer lines that he’s been repeating for months. Sitting next to him the whole movie, I can attest that he was glued to the film start to finish. When he’s bored during a movie, he doesn’t sit still, whines, and makes the experience miserable for everyone. The Garfield Movie: Model Citizen. The middle child is obsessed with how cute baby Garfield is, and wants very much to find the Catflix app so she can watch endless cat videos. As for the big one, she said she liked it and thought it was very funny, but when I asked what about the heist/father/son plot she liked, she said she didn’t like any of that. It was all the funny things around the general story. For example, her favorite parts were the asides of Jon sitting on hold with the animal shelter. Although, she did say she liked John Krasinki’s IF more. I stand to reason as an almost teenager, it makes sense that the kid drama would resonate more than the cartoon cat movie. All the other kids in our auditorium seemed to enjoy it as well, so all in all, the movie does what it set out to do: be a kids movie.
Rating: It Was Just Okay
The Garfield Movie is currently playing in theaters
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