“I hate Mondays.” As a child of the 1980s, I felt this phrase deep in my bones, which is likely why I owned several of the Jim Davis-created Garfield book collections so that I could revisit the three-to-four panel adventures at my leisure — just as Garfield intended. Since it first published in 1976 as Jon before being retitled to Garfield in 1977, Davis’s strip has become a global phenomenon with merch, books, and various adaptations in animation and live-action. The latest to join the collective catalogue is a Mark Dindal-directed (The Emperor’s New Groove) action/adventure animated family film, The Garfield Movie, featuring an all-star cast and, now that’s its available on home video, a collection of behind the scenes materials for budding animators to explore. The Garfield Movie may not be the strongest tale overall, but it’s solid enough to stave away those Monday blues … at least for 100 minutes or so.
L-R: Garfield (voiced by Chris Pratt) and Jon (voiced by Nicholas Hoult) in THE GARFIELD MOVIE. Photo Credit: DNEG Animation. © 2023 Project G Productions, LLC.
As a kitten, Garfield was abandoned by his father, Vic (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), and adopted by Jon Arbuckle (voiced by Nicholas Hoult), who gave him a roof over his head and all the food he could eat. Years later, with Garfield (voiced by Chris Pratt) settled in, alongside his silent heterolifemate, Odie (voiced by Harvey Guillén), things are going great. That is until a blast from Vic’s past arrives, a disgruntled cat named Jinx (voiced by Hannah Waddingham), with vengeance on her mind, resulting in the reunification of father and son on a mission that will either end them both or enrich their lives more than they could imagine.
L-R: Odie (voiced by Harvey Guillén) and Garfield (voiced by Chris Pratt) in THE GARFIELD MOVIE. Photo Credit: DNEG Animation. © 2023 Project G Productions, LLC.
Written by David Reynolds (The Emperor’s New Groove; Finding Nemo), Mark Torgove (The Late Bloomer), and Paul A. Kaplan, the plot of Garfield is frustratingly simple: father and son are separated, reunited under duress, and eventually reconcile through the process of trying to make good on the past. With other family films allowing for more complex structures or surprises, the fact that audiences can predict the path of Garfield from start to finish makes elements agonizing to get through. Sure, the moments between start-to-finish offer a bit of levity — a montage of “Mondays” being particularly clever, as well as a particular monologue from bull Otto (voiced by Ving Rhames) in both visual and sound design — but it’s otherwise more difficult for adult audiences to not predict where the film’s going to go. Family films don’t *have* to be aimed at kids and are capable of entertaining the young and young-at-heart with recent examples like The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021), Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023), and Nimona (2023) striding the age divide beautifully (as well as eschewing expected animation techniques to create very unique worlds). That so much of Garfield’s narrative runs exactly as expected makes the narrative ride more akin to The Barnstormer than the Carolina Cyclone. Does this translate to a massive miss for their target? No. As a family film, it’s entirely not offensive or challenging, it’s brightly animated except for a few scenes involving Jinx in order to make her menacing, and as warm in tone as a freshly-made lasagna tray. For some, that’s plenty, possibly even more than enough, if just trying to entertain some youngins and create some family memories.
Jinx (voiced by Hannah Waddingham) in THE GARFIELD MOVIE. Photo Credit: DNEG Animation. © 2023 Project G Productions, LLC.
Thankfully, there’s creativity in the art, production, and character design, as well as some wonderful shifts in perspective, that elevate the entire film and allow for some fun. Though much of the look of Garfield does take inspiration from Davis’s original designs, if you pause the action and look more deeply at the screen, you’ll see where they inserted some personality into the frames. Street signs aren’t ramrod straight, but possess curves, or characters like Brett Goldstein’s (Ted Lasso; Thor: Love and Thunder) Roland, a shar pei whose folds are used to hilarious effect, animated so as to contain weight, shape, and seemingly-touchable fur. It’s a bit of an odd thing that the sequence involving Lactose Farms (the location of the heist) and its security leader Marge (voiced by Cecily Strong) takes on a feeling of Chicken Run (2000), like due to a similarity between the human character design in both this and the other series, but the facility itself is constructed in such a manner as to give it a cleverly bizarre atmosphere befitting the antics these animals gone over the hedge are experiencing.
L-R: Vic (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), Garfield (voiced by Chris Pratt), Odie (voiced by Harvey Guillén), and Otto (voiced by Ving Rhames) in THE GARFIELD MOVIE. Photo Credit: DNEG Animation. © 2023 Project G Productions, LLC.
If art is your passion, the bonus features on the home release are a bit of a mixed bag, but definitely are an excellent place for the extra-curious to start their path to cartoon artistry. The two-minute “Animation Progression Reel” shows off different scenes from the finished film (young Garfield meeting Jon, Vic & Garfield in training with Otto, a scene with Jinx) in various stages from storyboards to previsualization to animation, with simulation and effects displayed as the finished version is displayed in the upper right. Viewers are given just enough text explanation to understand what they’re seeing, even if the lack of walkthrough provides concrete insights. For more hands-on learning, character designer Taylor Krahenbuhl (The Bad Guys; The Sea Beast; Ron’s Gone Wrong; DC League of Super-Pets) does a split tutorial, one seven-minute guided demo of Garfield, Odie, and Jon, and one 11-minute demo of Vic, Otto, Jinx, Roland, and Nolan, so that viewers can get a sense of how the animation team thought through the design of their versions of the Davis originals and new additions, while keeping within Davis’s style. If you’re a longtime fan like this reviewer, the near-four-minute “Easter Eggs: Garnishes à la Garfield” shines a spotlight on a few places where important dates, names, and Garfield elements are referenced throughout the film. Frankly, I’m disappointed in myself for not recognizing the reference to the Garfield car suction cup toy during the early train jump sequence. If you enjoy the film and want a little more, there’s one animatic deleted scene featuring Waddingham belting out a cut song. For those who know, Waddingham is a fantastic singer and it’s a fun little bop (as the kids might say (do they still say that?)), but it’s understandable why it was cut as the film is already strangely long. The remaining two featurettes are a three-minute “Indoor Cat, Outdoor Adventure” and four-minute “Cast of Critters” which drill down into the concept of the film and the recording of it from the perspective of the cast and crew. As this is a kid’s film, make sure to stop off for a glance at the two-minute gag reel and get a sense of the shenanigans that didn’t quite make it into the film.
L-R: Odie (voiced by Harvey Guillén) and Garfield (voiced by Chris Pratt) in THE GARFIELD MOVIE. Photo Credit: DNEG Animation. © 2023 Project G Productions, LLC.
Despite what you might think, The Garfield Movie is not akin to a Monday. It’s cute at times, clever at others, and generally gives audiences nothing more than it is. Would it be great if it gave more by not treading a well-worn path? Sure, but there’s no rule that it has to be anything more than what it is. In that vein, doing as little as possible for the most gain, that feels like a Garfield-ism in and of itself. And if the bonus three-panel Davis original at the end of the film is any indication, we haven’t seen the last of this iteration just yet. But whether that is an unrealized stinger remains to be seen. I’m sure someone, somewhere, will be excited to see another story. Perhaps even my kids.
The Garfield Movie Special Features:
- Indoor Cat, Outdoor Adventure (3:25)
- Cast of Critters (4:08)
- Gag Reel (2:34)
- Easter Eggs: Garnishes à la Garfield (3:49)
- One (1) Deleted Scene – Animatic, featuring Hannah Waddingham (2:41)
- Two (2) How-to-Draw featurettes (18:15)
- Animation Reel (2:07)
- Image Gallery
Available on digital July 9th, 2024.
Available on Blu-ray and DVD August 27th, 2024.
For more information, head to the official Sony Pictures The Garfield Movie webpage.
Final Score: 2.5 out of 5.
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Categories: Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews, streaming
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