The Garfield Movie movie review

MOVIE TITLE: The Garfield Movie

This family-friendly origin story of America’s favorite lasagna-loving cat premieres in theaters on Friday, May 24, 2024.

RATING: PG

LENGTH: 1 hour 41 minutes

MOVIE REVIEW MOM GRADE: B

SPONSOR of Today’s movie review: https://amzn.to/3UMEpwD

In the movie, there’s a cute scene with some of the characters in backpacks as their disguise, so I thought this was super cute when I saw this backpack with Garfield and Pooky.

IN A NUTSHELL:

The fun flick based on the popular 1970s comic strip was directed by Mark Dindal. Screenwriting credits go to Paul A. Kaplan, Mark Torgrove, and David Reynolds. This is the third version of a Garfield movie.

The film includes a short origin story, and then we’re introduced to Garfield’s long-lost father who forces the lasagna-loving Garfield and his best friend (Odie the dog) to join him in a high-stakes heist at the tightly secured “Lactose Farms” dairy with some other colorful characters.

THINGS I LIKED:

Chris Pratt voices the entertaining cat Garfield.
Samuel L. Jackson’s voice is so recognizable and fun as Vic. Is there any other celebrity who uses their middle initial?
Emmy Award winner Hannah Waddingham from the popular TV show Ted Lasso voices Jinx, the manipulative cat. Did you see her Christmas special last year? She is such an entertainer at heart.
Other voice talents include Nicholas Hoult, Harvey Guillen, Cecily Strong, Bowen Yang, Ving Rhames, Brett Goldstein, and Brett Goldstein. Listen carefully for the voice of Snoop Catt voiced by Snoop Dogg in the scene at the pound.
Speaking of Ving Rhames, there are several super cute scenes when his character outlines a play and trains his team for the heist, giving an entertaining nod to the Mission Impossible franchise in which he stars. The scenes even include music that sounds exactly like the Mission Impossible theme song. His character is hilarious. I’m SO excited to see the new Mission Impossible movie when it is released later this month! I’m such a fan! Another cute shout-out to Mission Impossible is when Garfield proudly states, “Yeah, in case you were wondering, I do my own stunts…me and Tom Cruise.” Ha ha Seriously though, Tom Cruise is a great actor but he has also become a first-class stuntman! The stunts he did in his last movie were absolutely unbelievable.
Another cute nod to a movie is Marge Mallone, voiced by Cecily Strong. She sounds like the Frances McDormand’s entertaining character in the movie Fargo, a reference that will fly way over the heads of young viewers. The Marge Mallone character is also hilarious.
There is a lot of visual and spoken humor. Some of the gags fly by really fast, such as when we see Garfield watching “Catflix” on TV.
Fun fact: When the comic strip was first released by Jim Davis in 1976, it was called “Jon.” Two years later, it was published nationwide to wide acclaim and received the name change of “Garfield.”
Some of the character designs are extremely amusing like the giant Shar-Pei dog. Have you ever seen a puppy Shar-Pei? Totally adorable.
Keep watching during the final rolling credits for some entertaining cat movie clips.
The musical score by John Debney captures the emotions of every scene well.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

The tone of the movie is really designed for young kids.
If you’re a true Garfield fan, you might be annoyed that so much time and energy has been given to a lot of secondary characters instead focusing on Garfield, Odie, and Jon.
As much as I love Chris Pratt, I don’t know that he was the best choice for Garfield’s voice.
The animation is pretty basic but that’s only because we’re so used to incredibly high levels of artistry in other animated films now.
The movie was announced during the pandemic, but experienced a lot of production problems that caused delays in the release. You can see some of the issues in the messy, uninspired, predictable plot.
A lot of the humor just doesn’t land, which is odd because you can tell that the movie is trying really hard to be funny.
The best part of the movie is the origin story of kitten Garfield at the beginning of the film. I would like to have seen more of that rather than the chaotic heist which is the bulk of the story.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Lots of destruction and chaos
We see characters lie and steal
Animated violence
No profanity
Characters are in perilous situations
Bullies

THEMES:

Father/son relationship
Family
Friendship
Adaptability
Teamwork
Forgiveness
Second chances

FUNNY LINES:

“Oh yeah, that feels right.” – Garfield’s father
“If it were a dog barking, I’d be on board for a prank. Them dogs are born for mischief, they just are, not cats! Oh no, cats mean business!” – Margie Malone (Cecily Strong)
“I guess I better get out my finest china to serve a heaping plate of justice!” – Margie Malone (Cecily Strong)
“Has anyone ever told you that you take a lot of dramatic pauses when you speak?” – Garfield (Chris Pratt) long pause…. “Yes.” – Otto (Ving Rhames)
“I have a collar and a tag? How long have I had this?” – Garfield (Chris Pratt)
“I apologize in advance. The eating you’re about to see will not be pretty and, if you have young children, this would be a good time for them to leave the room.” – Garfield (Chris Pratt)
“We’re going to need the big scale!” – veterinarian “Does she need to announce it to the whole office?” – Garfield (Chris Pratt)
“Cheddar cheese is my love language.” – Garfield (Chris Pratt)