Garfield Reactions

[Prince Adam]

Not sure when this comes out (I only know sometime this week), but before I go see it, I want to make sure it won't be a waste of my time: I LOVE the original comics and TV specials.
Is the humour the same? Is Garfield's voice close to the same?

So far, the only things that have bothered me are that Garfield looks weird (why couldn't they have just done a CGI version of the real Garfield?), and that I heard Odie will be a real dog.

[Ciaobelli]

Do yourself a favor and don't waste your time watching it. have you seen the trailer? Its dreadful. Come on How can you expect a good movie from it???????

[MickeyMousePal]

Garfield is one bad and horrible movie, man.
I prefer to watch Spider-Man 2 or The Chronicles of Riddick.
Don't waste your time on Garfield just skip it and watch Shrek 2.

[Luke]

Garfield is one bad and horrible movie, man.

Oh, MMP, you saw it? Could you tell us some more about it please? How is Bill Murray as the voice? What in particular was bad and horrible about it?

[Ciaobelli]

Luke, here is a review I found.

Garfield: The Movie

Lethargic cat Garfield (voiced by Bill Murray) has it easy with his daily regiment of television, lasagna dinners, and the inexhaustible affection from his owner, Jon Arbuckle (a dreadfully miscast Breckin Meyer). When Jon attempts to woo Garfield's veterinarian, Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt), he takes in a stray dog named Odie in the process, threatening Garfield's comfy world. The fat cat hates the dumb dog, but when an evil television personality (Stephen Tobolowosky, 'Groundhog Day') kidnaps Odie, Garfield springs into action, mounting a rescue mission to bring his loathed competition home again.

First things first: this isn't Garfield. Yes, the film is called 'Garfield: The Movie,' but one look at this strange production makes it abundantly clear where the filmmakers simply decided to go off on their own whims. The film is about the activities of a lovable, curmudgeonly fat cat who hates Mondays and adores lasagna, but that's where the connections to the iconic source material end. This 'Garfield' exists on its own planet, where a computer generated feline can coexist with flesh and blood people and pets who were originally envisioned to be as cartoonish as the cat.

While it wasn't necessarily a rousing call to arms in terms of artistic urgency, Jim Davis's original 'Garfield' comic strip was a charming, genial diversion from the standard funny page offerings. Spun off into a cartoon television series for many years, featuring the rich vocal talents of Lorenzo Music (who passed away in 2001) as Garfield, the show was an excellent adaptation of the strip, and served as the premiere format to get your fill of the feline's antics. For his big screen debut, the 2-D animation is gone, but strangely the filmmakers chose not to fully animate the story in CGI (too expensive?). 'Garfield: The Movie' features only one computer creation, and that's Garfield. The rest of the animals are trained performers, which leaves the film with the unpleasant air of a studio short-sheeting the production. While Garfield is a fully functioning cartoon creation, his animal pals Odie, Nermal, and Arlene are not, which doesn't make a lick of sense. It also ruins the fun for the fans who have spent decades with a visual presentation of Odie chiseled deep into their brains, but here he's a just a genuine dog. How boring.

The rest of 'Garfield' doesn't exactly ring any bells either. There's a labored story engineered to get Garfield out of the house with the help of a random 'bad guy,' but that really doesn't add up to much outside of a way to work in 4 plugs for Wendy's and several other product placements (Petco, Wal-Mart, Goldfish Crackers). And there are the humans of the story: Jon and Liz, played with a palpable degree of embarrassment by Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Love Hewitt in particular seems at a loss for words portraying such a one-note love interest role, as well as parading around in tiny dresses, presumably hoping that the fathers in the audience won't be completely bored.

The only saving grace of the film is Bill Murray's inspired vocal performance as Garfield. Personally, I was guessing that Murray would just phone the role in (and why not?), but his breathless acting as the title character infuses some life into this dull film, and he's a good fit with the cat. He doesn't quite have the sardonic tempo of Music, but his Murrayisms are entertaining, if never truly funny, and he gets an opportunity to sing, with songs from James Brown and Billy Joel. Murray is fun in a film that is anything but.

Imagine if the filmmakers only animated Shrek in 'Shrek 2,' and that might provide an interesting example of the lunacy on display here. Audiences new to the Garfield world might not notice, but to fans, this film is a slap in the face. ------ 3/10

[Sulley]

Disappointed, but not surprised. Fans of the comics know that Odie was not a stray but the dog of Jon's old roommate. Although I can't remember his name, at least I know that much. The only thing good that can come from this is wishful thinking. Specifically, this being a summer movie, it should arrive on DVD around the holidays, which could hopefully inspire the conception of DVD releases of original Garfield holiday specials (please, pretty please?), which doesn't sound totally farfetched with the summer DVD release of the first season of the animated series.

[MickeyMousePal]

Luke Wrote

Oh, MMP, you saw it? Could you tell us some more about it please? How is Bill Murray as the voice? What in particular was bad and horrible about it?

No, I didn't see Garfield: The Movie. I first saw the preview of Garfield I was like this will bomb at the theaters. I didn't like the fact that Odie was not computer graphics he's a real dog. Garfield looks worst then Scooby-Doo. I predict that only kids will watch Garfield not making a lot of money. I also didn't see Spider-Man 2 but I will when it comes out. I know Spider-Man 2 will be good because Dr. Octopus is one bad villain. I can't wait to see Spider-Man 2.

[AwallaceUNC]

...And not so much as one click of the return button!

-Aaron

[TheZue]

I was disapointed that the other animals aren't cg either. That dog looks nothing like odie! Oh, I can't stand Jennifer-my friends call me love-Hewitt either. It's too bad, I always liked garfield.

This will probably give everyone a general idea of what the characters all will look like, it's the garfield line from Ty:

http://www.ty.com/Garfield_Intro

[Mushu2083]

I thought Garfield looked a little creepy. His voice (Garfield's) is nothing like Lorenzo Music's voice in the television specials. I was hoping that he would do the voice of Garfield instead of Bill Murray but I found out that Lorenzo's been dead for three years. I might check out the movie only because I like Debra Messing.

[Ballzo]

WHY?

[toonaspie]

I going to guess that the idea that Jim Davis did advise on the movie was false. Or maybe he is too ill (doesnt have a cancer or something?) Anyway had Jim Davis advised on the film we couldnt gotten one popular Garfield catch phrase and we got zero.

I shouldnt fit though, I'm a huge Garfield fan and keeping up with the animation news I was already prepared for dissappointments. Then I was surprised to discover:

1. Nermal and Arlene do not have their original personalities (or colors) and got very poor screening time. Oh the same goes for Jon as well, it would've been killer to see Breckin Meyer in bunny slippers dancing to polka music.

2. Jennifer Love Hewitt wore very thin straps and even shorter dresses (shudder)

3. It was too kiddie oriented (like your usual talking dog movie, but I think that was to be expected)

4. Too pop oriented as well (though I like Black Eye Peas). I thought Lou Rawls and Desiree Goyette were working music on this film but that's my imagination astray from reality again

still I will buy the DVD when it comes out

[Mermaid Kelly]

I was planning on seeing this movie, but now I'm not so sure

oh and TheZue, I bought that TY Garfield plush a couple weeks ago! I didn't bother with Odie though since it looks nothing like the real Odie.