The Garfield Movie (2024)

The Garfield Movie Review

Release date: May 24, 2024 (USA)
Director: Mark Dindal
Distributed by: Sony Pictures Releasing
Adapted from: Garfield
Box office: $104.2 million
Music by: John Debney

Another Garfield movie seems unnecessary to me. It’s like that famous comment about “Nancy,” which, like “Garfield,” was a comic strip that made its mark for the simplicity of its drawing and the lightness of its humor. “What is ‘Nancy’ about?” someone asked, and got the reply: “It takes less energy to read it than to skip it.” Those who have children clamoring to see “Garfield” will know how they feel about this movie. It’s not bad. I wouldn’t say kids will be thrilled by it; but they’ll probably feel as if they’ve been entertained. But their adult companions will be depressed by the vacuity emanating from a film that’s nothing but an IP cash grab. And there may be some parental concerns, discussed below.

Jim Davis’ popular comic strip started almost 50 years ago, and most of that time it has been centered on very few themes and characters. Garfield is a cat who rules the home no one would think of calling Jon, the human he lives with, his owner and makes life miserable for Odie, a dog whose only function in the world of the strip is to be pranked and mocked by Garfield. Although he doesn’t work, Garfield hates Mondays; although he sleeps all day every day except when he’s eating or watching TV he loves food, especially lasagna.

What works in four panels won’t work in 90 minutes (or even 80). So this animated version of Garfield (voiced by Chris Pratt) loves lasagna but isn’t as self-centered and obnoxious as the lasagna-loving fat-cat star of the strip/books/mugs/calendars/T-shirts/etc., etc., etc. In a brief prologue we learn that Garfield was left in an alley by his father when he was small; then we see how Garfield found Jon at a table in an Italian restaurant, ate all of Jon’s pizza, and so charmed the doofus that they became roommates. (As he passes a sign in this scene, Garfield is heard saying “Lorenzo” a shout-out to Lorenzo Music, the first to voice Garfield in TV specials/an animated series/video games/commercials.)

Nowadays Garfield orders drone food-delivery by app on Jon’s phone and watches videos on Catflix. Instead of being annoyed by or competitive with Odie, here they’re friends; Garfield calls O his intern. Everything’s fine until G’s estranged dad Vic (Samuel L. Jackson) shows up, causing G to acknowledge his feelings of abandonment and realize that he has no interest in forging a relationship with the guy. But then Jinx (“Ted Lasso’s” Hannah Waddingham), seeking revenge for something or other, kidnaps G, O and V together and it becomes a heist movie when it turns out that the only way they can escape is to help Otto (Ving Rhames), a gargantuan bull, rescue his love Ethel, a cow.

The story is complex, although not very interesting. It has certain parts which are too esoteric or unsettling for young people and not especially funny to adults. The subject of Garfield’s bitterness against his father is sensitive and may leave something to be desired in terms of satisfaction for kids when it resolves itself. When Otto’s love is separated from him painfully due to the farm being bought up by a big corporation that bases its plotline on this event does little originality justice or connect well with children viewership. A bird dies after being electrocuted; major characters take shocks from cattle prods and an electrified fence. Jokes about actor Daniel Day-Lewis and an extended “joke” about roadkill are poorly chosen. The only two significant female characters are villains who happen to be angry, shrill, domineering women hardly positive representations! At one point someone tells the audience: “If you have young children, this would be a good time to leave the room.” Honestly, my only suggestion is find a different movie.

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