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Rob Reviews "The Garfield Movie"

Writer's picture: Rob ErvinRob Ervin

I am starting to wonder what people are looking for in films.

 

Going into The Garfield Movie (not to be confused with Garfield: The Movie from twenty years ago), I chose to set the bar low.  I have spent most of my existence on this planet (the strip debuted in June of 1978, which is a thing you may want to keep in mind when you see it for Easter Egg purposes), and any attempt to make animated media out of it have been things I have avoided due to my love for the strip.  Not having a voice attached to the lasagna-loving, Monday-hating, ego-led orange cat is kind of the way I liked things, but outside of that I didn’t have anything against the attempts.

 

This time around, Chris Pratt voices Garfield with Nicholas Hoult voicing his human dad, Jon Arbuckle.  Jon doesn’t have much going on here outside of the comic relief we are used to him being.  Garfield ends up spending most of his time with Odie (credited to Harvey Guillén, although he doesn’t speak per se) as they are kidnapped and brought before Jinx (Hannah Waddingham).  She has a score to settle with Vic (Samuel L. Jackson), who also happens to be the father Garfield believes left him in an alley to fend for himself.  Jinx sends the three of them to steal a huge amount of milk from the farm that got Jinx left behind by Vic that landed her in the pound, but as their plan is formed, they find some unlikely allies and foes as Garfield and Vic also try to get past the years that they have been apart on different levels.

 

Let’s be clear here: this movie is aimed at KIDS.  Sometimes, kids’ movies should be simply that, but Hollywood has done a lot to try and do any combination of going after the heart strings, making jokes that will only appeal to adults, and/or make their stories more convoluted than the true target audience can appreciate or comprehend.  The Garfield Movie looks to keep things fairly simple with sight gags that the strip was known for with just enough story to keep things moving along.  There are a couple of references that are meant to make the older crowd giggle a bit (examine Ving Rhames’ Otto a bit), but nothing that would need the parents to prepare for conversations on the way home that they may or not be willing to have.

 

I’m not saying that The Garfield Movie is a triumph or carries any form of genius that would break it away from the animated pack, but it is nice to have one that just wants the audience to enjoy the adventures of a cat with an attitude (yes, I know that can be redundant) and just enjoy yourself for a couple of hours.

 

And it has cat videos weaved into the end credits!

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