गारफ़ील्ड

Jon is a lovable schmuk with a crappy life, not a faceless "nice guy" who seems to have a good house, car and presumably job.

Nermal is a terminally cute yet astute grey kitten, not some idiot Siamese neighbour.

Arlene is the gawky, gap-toothed girlfriend, not a grey bitchy neighbour.

Garfield's bed, as ANYONE who has read the comics should know, is a box with a plain blanket in it, not some kind of cutesy, oak, mini-human-bed affair.

Garfield is a lazy, witty smart-arse, not an annoying, dancing(?!?!?!?) loud-mouth who just never shuts up.

Garfield stories are existential little comments on life, how it sucks for Jon, how stupid Odie is and how wonderful lasagna and sleep are, not extremely, extremely lame, generic, feel-good, I-hate-you-but-now-I'm-going-to-rescue-you rubbish. (I stopped the movie at 25 minutes and correctly predicted exactly everything that was going to happen from then on.)

In short, apart from having a large orange cat in it (well animated though he is) - this has nothing whatsoever to do with Garfield. Did the makers actually read ANY of the comics?

As a huge fan of the laziest cat on Earth, I confess that I was really expecting too much of this movie, but when I watched it, I got a bit disappointed... "Garfield" is not a bad movie at all, but is far away than all the fans expected, for some reasons in particular:

First of all, this movie is basically for children. Anyone who read the original Garfield's comic books knows that his sarcastic humor is for all ages, not just for kids.

The second problem in my opinion maybe can divide some opinions, but let's go: Garfield is lazy, as we all know, but this is an action movie...and nothing is more anti-Garfield than action! I think that a comedy of situations based on all Garfield's countless books could be more interesting, his loyal legion of admires will certainly agree with my point of view.

But, after all, if you just want some fun for a while, this movie will entertain you. Bill Murray is great doing Garfield's voice, very faithful to his shameless and ironic personality. The rest of the cast is OK; a bit affected sometimes, specially Breckin Meyer (Jon Arbuckle), he looks a lot like the cartoon version of Garfield's owner, but I really think that he is exaggerated, always trying to look goofier and goofier... Well, whatever, I think that I must getting older and complaining about things that are not so serious. Kids will love "Garfield" and adults with child's heart will like it as well...at least, if you're not so hard to please as I am...

All the years I've been a loyal reader of the Garfield comics, I never had the impression it's merely meant for kids. On the contrary, most of the dry humor and charismatic Garfield poses are difficult to 'get' for young children. And yet, the film completely aims for a youthful audience. I have no problem with a movie being pro-children, but this is exaggerated and hardly accessible for adult viewers. The movie totally lacks all the elements that make the comics so entertaining. Garfield's clever and sarcastic remarks, Jon's clumsy womanizing techniques… All this has been replaced with an unhealthy dose of feel-good messages and lame jokes. The computer engineered Garfield doesn't appeal and the other, real pets are badly chosen. The plot is standard-sentiment, with Garfield saving his new housemate puppy from a sneaky, fame-chasing TV host. Breckin Meyer (as Jon Arbuckle) and Jennifer Love Hewitt (as the yummy vet Liz) walk around without anything to do and Bill Murray voices Garfield like it's some sort of dire job he wants to get rid of asap. The first (long-awaited?) cinema adventure of everybody's favorite cat appears to be a quickly produced and unprofessional flick soon to be forgotten. Too bad, since you're left behind with the feeling they could have done something better with this.

I don't see why people blast this movie so much. It is funny, well acted and well animated. Breckin Meyer plays the nerdy Jon very well and acts like the pet loving dork that we loved so much in the cartoon. Garfield looks amazing, almost identical to what he looked like in the cartoon. Bill Murray is perfect to play him and his voice is similar to Lorenzo Music. They included all the trates of Garfield- lasagne, TV and being a lazy fat cat. Thye kept Odie the moronic but lovable dog. They kept the fact that Garfield has an agreement with the mice and gets on with them. They kept Liz the vet, which brings so much more to Jon. This is a great kids movie, that i am sure adults who watched this as a kid will love too.

As simple good clean entertainment this movie really isn't that bad. The movie however fails to making a lasting impression. Nothing in the movie is something new or memorable. The story itself is also extremely simple. The fact that the movie is so incredible short makes the story seem even worse than it perhaps is.

I'll admit that Garfield is a better looking CGI-character than Scooby-Doo was. Still that doesn't mean that Garfield looks incredibly impressive or realistic. Plus of course this movie has very little to do with the original cartoon, so many grew up with. None of the characters really make an impressive appearance, not even Bill Murray's voice talent can change this. Jennifer Love Hewitt is looking good in this movie but she gets very little to do and her characters just felt needless for this movie. A big disappointing character was the villain Happy Chapman he was not fun, not villainous enough and his exact motivations were too unclear and/or too lame.

The movie also fails to be really funny. The movie will perhaps make you grin at times but it almost most certainly won't make you laugh out loud. Still as simple clean entertainment it serves it purpose and I can't not entirely trash this movie. It does has its few moments but it simply all doesn't make a very lasting impression.

Entertaining enough to watch it once.

5/10

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