‘The Garfield Movie' REVIEW: Technically a movie about Garfield
‘The Garfield Movie’ REVIEW: Technically a movie about Garfield
Image courtesy of Columbia/Alcon/DNEG
In three comic panels, Garfield introduces the titular cat briskly — someone who prioritizes food above all else, is lazy, and hates Mondays. Other characters in Garfield’s orbit, human Jon and dog Odie, are all tested by how willing they are to put up with Garfield’s whims.
Despite his patience-testing demeanor, Garfield’s sardonic nonchalance always wins them over just enough to make Garfield a comic strip with enduring appeal to readers for decades. He’s got the kind of charm that keeps convincing film studios to concoct their own big-screen Garfield hit.
This Garfield Movie is reflective of what studios think would make for an entertaining film today — a long list of names familiar to adults who’ve watched a decent amount of recent TV, intense adorability, and an adventure with emotional resonance. The latter point is how this Garfield iteration tries to distinguish itself. He’s lazy, but not lazy enough to navigate a phone to order in.
He still annoys Jon and Odie, but his humor is drained of anything sanity-testing that the comics had in spades. He still hates Mondays, which, along with a love for lasagna, are the film’s only hollow reminders that it’s Garfield being shown on-screen. Placed among recent animated films, it feels no different, and Garfield seems like any other animated feline made to generate income.
The film’s story ropes Garfield into an adventure to steal a large amount of milk. It’s littered with a lot of new characters with familiar voices. The one with the most prominent role is Vic, Garfield’s dad who abandoned him as a kitten. Vic is voiced by Samuel L. Jackson, who brings life to an otherwise familiar character type.
Chris Pratt… is actually okay. He’s charming enough to keep kids endeared. Pratt is certainly no Bill Murray, who brought much more life to his largely-forgotten Garfield twenty years ago. But if you listen closely, you may feel glints of Pratt’s charm shimmer through. You can kind of understand why some people behind the camera think Pratt’s good enough to be the defining cinematic voice of two characters with enduring legacies.
One scene in the film is emblematic of the film’s nondescript qualities. In need of being ready for their big heist in the climax, a bull named Otto ties Garfield and Vic to a tree to speed their reconciliation up. Who is Otto? He’s got a backstory sympathetic enough to sell merch but is otherwise nothing beyond the familiar stoic character who intimidates the protagonist just enough to get it together.
After their expected reconciliation, Otto concludes that they are still not ready, but due to lack of time, he declares them ready anyway. It’s a punchline that works in its absurdity, except if you’ve heard it before, you’ve heard it done better in… The Emperor’s New Groove, when Kuzco and Pacha wonder how Yzma and Kronk got back to Yzma’s lab before them.
The same director, Mark Dindal, is in charge of this Garfield. Clear from its callbacks to Groove and other films — including Tom Cruise references in the middle of its action — it seems like this Garfield Movie runs on the same effort as Garfield himself would exert on a Monday, as minimally as possible.
The Garfield Movie seems bound for profitability, something to keep DNEG Animation (credited here as Prime Focus) afloat following their previous success with Nimona, which didn’t get a shot at an extended and international theatrical run.
In the opposite way, when this becomes available for home viewing, you’ll be glad to play it for the kids while you scroll on your phone or do errands and glance at the recognition of familiar voices and sight of cute characters, including a cat voiced by Snoop Dogg.
Will another remake of Garfield actually make for a great movie since they say third time’s the charm? Let’s find out in twenty or so years.
The Garfield Movie premiered in Philippine cinemas on May 29.
