Studio: Sony
Release Date: 8/27/2024
Rating: PG
Film Grade: D+
The Story: Meet Garfield the cat. Abandoned by his father as a kitten, he’s adopted Jon as his owner. But his father isn’t completely out of the picture. He’s gotten himself into a pickle and will need Garfield’s help to get out of a big jam.
My Take: Full disclosure: I’m not a cat person and I’ve never been a fan of Garfield. My wife does like the character, so this title was added to our reserve list in hopes of finding it at least amusing, but no such luck.
The two biggest flaws are the story and characters. It has the feel of a generic animated adventure movie with Garfield just plopped into the non-distinct script. Sure, they added in some superficial elements to make it fee like a Garfield movie. We get a montage of him devouring tons of food and all the reasons he hates Mondays, but like the many Easter eggs to be found, it’s all irrelevant to the plot. Instead of the action being driven by Garfield, he’s simply shuffled around to hit various story points in an inane series of events.
There’s a newly created origin for the character that introduces the audience to Garfield’s father for the first time. Oddly, his established mother is completely left out of the story, not even garnering a mention, adding to the feel of this being a tale disconnected from the characters.
Then there’s the miscasting of Chris Pratt as Garfield. What an odd choice. Classic Garfield is lazy, self-absorbed, cynical, and generally dour. In contrast, Pratt’s portrayal is peppy, mostly sunny, and openly emotional. There’s always and argument to be made that the original character has a big heart underneath his gruff exterior, but there’s no such subtly here; it’s right out in the open and a big part of the film. Yet director Mark Dindal always envisioned the movie with Pratt in the role, telling him to play it as himself. To me, Pratt’s personality would have been a better fit for Jon.
The movie features a ton of big-name voice talent, largely wasted. Samuel L. Jackson is Garfield’s heretofore unknown father, Vic. Nicholas Holt is given the rather useless role of Jon. Other notables include Ving Rhames and Cecily Strong doing what they can with their supporting characters.
One performance worth noting was Hannah Waddingham playing the mysterious cat, Jinx. It had similar vibes to Eartha Kitt’s take on Catwoman from the old Batman TV show, a feel that was further enhanced with her punny, purring delivery, and singing voice. Even without much screen time, she’s the standout of the movie, injecting some much-needed life and character to the part.
Visuals: We’ve really been spoiled by computer animated movies, with each one feeling like they’ve made gains on previous releases. That trend stops here. This one feels rushed and sloppy, with little in the line of distinction or definition. Yes, there’s lots of bright colors, but the style, like the script, feels remarkably bland. Food should play an engaging part of the movie, but even it has a fake, unappealingly plastic look to it.
During one of the final scenes, my wife noticed that one of the character’s feet has very little definition, almost as if it was never fully rendered, with toes melding into the overall blobby-looking foot. This isn’t a horrible entry, but not noteworthy in any way, even as simple eye candy.
What is noticeable in the film is the prominent product placement. It starts early with Garfield using Sony-branded headphones, followed by Olive Garden, Walmart, Popchips, among others. It’s startlingly obvious, reviving a trend that seemed to have been on a downturn lately.
Audio: Disappointingly, the Blu-ray only comes with a 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack. But what a soundtrack it is! Filled with a jaunty musical score, tons of dynamic range and an active use of the supporting speakers, it’s remarkably well-mixed. There’s a surprising amount of bass in just the right spots, that add some much-needed energy into the lifeless script, raising my grade from a D to a solid D+. I can only imagine how much better a proper Atmos mix might sound.
Special Features: The usual fluff pieces are to be found here, nothing notable or insightful.
- Gag Reel
- Easter Eggs: Garnishes à la Garfield
- Deleted Scene - Animatic, featuring Hannah Waddingham
- Indoor Cat, Outdoor Adventure
- Cast of Critters
- How-to-Draw: Garfield, Odie, Vic, and more!
- Animation Reels & Gallery
Final Verdict: The cynicism of Garfield’s character has been replaced by the cynicism of the filmmakers and studio thinking they can take a simple adventure story, toss the money-making character into it, add a healthy amount of product advertising, and turn out something appealing to the audience.
This is not a movie that was meant for me, but it doesn’t seem to be a movie aimed at anyone in particular, other than very young children. Will they be amused by the glossy colors, action pieces, and low-level physical humor? Maybe. Will adults be bored? Likely. It’s sad to say, but there wasn’t anything in this movie to elicit even the slightest chuckle from me. There’s usually some level of depth to today’s animated movies that will land with the older audience that’s lacking in this misfire.
My wife, who was inclined to like it, only laughed a few times. One of the gags of the movie was having Garfield sitting back and enjoying the Catflix streaming service, consisting of YouTube-style clips of cats doing cat things. She found those clips to be more enjoyable than anything else in the movie and would have graded it movie with a slightly more generous C-.
It’s worth mentioning that Jim Davis, creator of Garfield, thought the movie was great and that Pratt nailed the character, so take that into account if you’re a fan. Maybe it’s worth checking out when it hits a streaming service.
Fun Quote: “Toughen me up? Hey, I know tough, Vic. You’ve obviously never been in an Olive Garden that’s run out of breadsticks.”
My Review System:JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
Oppo BDP-93
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup
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