Garfield und seine 9 Leben

Stumbling upon the 1991 animated movie "Garfield Gets a Life", and never having seen it before, of course I opted to sit down and watch it. Especially since I have just watched two other Garfield animated movie prior to this one.

Writer Jim Davis put together a fair enough script and storyline, though I have to admit that it was not a personal favorite for me. Sure, it was watchable, but it just wasn't outstanding, and it was generally lacking the usual Garfield comedy and wits.

Of course it is nice to have Lorenzo Music voicing Garfield again, and also Thom Huge voicing Jon, as there is similarity to their voices if you've seen other Garfield animated movies from the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The art and animation in "Garfield Gets a Life" is good. It has that traditional Garfield touch to it.

My rating of director John Sparey's 1991 animated movie "Garfield Gets a Life" lands on a four out of ten stars.

In this TV special Jon is the one who needs a life. The highlight of his day is counting the tiles on the ceiling and rearranging his sock drawer. Not content with this forever, Jon takes Garfield to a self help group in order to meet people. How many people will be interested in a loner 20-something who's best friend is a cat?

After several failed attempts at getting a girl, including one cringeworthy dance scene that rivals David Brents' fusion of Flashdance and MC Hammer in The Office (Disco's dead?, says Jon), he is more than shocked to find a cute girl who is as much as a jerk as himself.

Naturally, they get on but Garfield is worried that John will forget about him and prefer having kids to a cat. Fortunately Jon's new girlfriend is allergic to cats.

With slicker animation than past TV specials, this feels like a longer episode of Garfield and Friends.

I never hoped that this cartoon series would run out of ideas, hopefully...until I saw "Garfield Gets A Life." What started out as a typical classic, with cool music and good characters, but it turned out to be the worst. This must have been on the edge of the SEINFIELD Era of comedy. Let's face it, you can't make a cartoon out of nothing.

This should have been GARFIELD MEETS THE SUPPORT GROUP. Jon decides to join a support group to get "a life". Garfield also goes and that's where I'll stop. The supporting characters are NNOOTT FFFUUNNYYY!!! Even Garfield's humor doesn't make sense!!

How could they do this to Garfield??!!!

Although something of a child at heart, with loving animation even more as a young adult and still loving many childhood favourites (even more so with some), the broader my film taste and knowledge has gotten have found myself harder to please over-time. Have found that time has not been kind to some childhood favourites, but it has been kind to the ever funny and endearing Garfield, 'Garfield and Friends' and his numerous specials. With understanding the humour more and finding more to like and appreciate, actually like them even more now.

Having said that, 'Garfield Gets a Life' is for me not one of the best Garfield specials/television films, of which it is the final one. This is not meant in a bad way, it's still good and does the character justice, just that others, particularly 'Garfield in Disguise' and 'A Garfield Christmas Special', left more of an impression on me and stuck with me more. Found them, and pretty much the rest of the other specials/television films, funnier, more emotionally impactful, more memorable and more interesting story-wise, not saying that 'Garfield Gets a Life' isn't any of those things, we are just talking in comparison with the others. Regardless of whether it is one of the best or not (and for me it's a lesser effort, again comparitively) , it does deserve to be better known.

'Garfield Gets a Life' is slight in story, playing more like an extended television episode that would have fitted well with some tweaks in the writing on 'Garfield and Friends'. Perhaps it is a little too Jon-heavy, Jon has always been an appealing and likeable character and he is both here but Garfield and Odie have also always been far more interesting as characters and their material stronger.

As said, other Garfield specials are funnier, have more heart (though neither are in short supply certainly) and stick in the mind longer, the writing is generally fine but some of it for Jon could have had more personality perhaps.

With all of that being said, there is a lot to like about 'Garfield Gets a Life'. The animation is still as colourful as remembered with the generally smooth drawing, far from sparse backgrounds and attention to detail holding up really well, in terms of animation as far as the specials go it's to me one of the slicker-looking ones. The music is as ever pleasant and infectious.

One is not short-changed when it comes to the entertainment value, with the humour (pretty much all of it coming from Garfield) being wry and amusing. This is not something that was made with no soul or care either, while there is plenty of fun and affectionate atmosphere. Garfield is so easy to love and has great comic timing, while Odie is adorable. Can never get enough of their chemistry. Have no qualms with the voice acting, Lorenzo Music has never been bettered, or even equalled, as the voice of Garfield. Frank Welker also sounds like he is having fun.

In summary, good. 7/10 Bethany Cox

On an ordinary day, Garfield and Jon Arbuckle are more bored than before.

Jon Arbuckle finds out that he doesn't have a life. And decides to do something about it by making better use of himself like going to night clubs and finding a woman to be with.

Unfortunately he doesn't have what it takes as he still thinks Disco was still in style, and gets a beating when flirting with women. Garfield accompanies him and just watches him fail every time.

So Jon Arbuckle decides to get some help at a Social center to learn how to be an out standing guy and what not. But will it really be worth it? This is pretty much a Jon Arbuckle TV movie, but the sarcasm of Garfield and performances of Frank Welker makes this one worth viewing. The last of the Garfield TV movies but it's still a memorable one.