Garfield - The Movie

Rating:
Summary: Why listen to the critics? This movie's great!
Review: Entertainment Weekly said Garfield was a cloddish, unfunny dud.

For all I care, they can wear dunce caps on their heads (ha ha.)
I personally like Garfield, especially the part I like to call, "cat meets gravity, cat hits truck window." Garfield has tyke-friendly jokes, but, WHO CARES? Garfield is a fun movie that I would recommend to all fans. So, Garfield fans should just push the critics aside, and enjoy Garfield.

Rating:
Summary: GARFIELD HAS LEFT THE CUL-DE-SAC!
Review: Fans of the long-running comic strip get to see their favorite fat cat come to bold life in this pleasant family film featuring Bill Murray as the voice of the one-and-only Garfield. The story: Garfield's owner (um, primary caregiver--sorry Garfield), love-struck Jon Arbuckle, takes his favorite feline to the sexy local vet Liz for yet another unnecessary check-up so he can strike out one more time. But Garfield's easy life as the apple of Jon's eye is about to get unceremoniously upended--when Liz asks Jon to adopt a homeless dog named Odie, the lovestruck guy just can't turn her down, much to Garfield's chagrin. Garfield goes out of his way to roll out the unwelcome wagon, but somehow Odie just never gets the hint. But if Garfield doesn't want Odie a local TV personality does, and when Happy Chapman kidnaps the hapless canine Garfield surprises everyone--most of all himself--by setting out to rescue him.

Granted, this is not high drama, but it is a harmless, fun picture that is particularly good for kids and which adult fans of the classic strip should enjoy as well. There's nothing even remotely offensive in the whole movie, with some nice messages about family and friendship to boot. Murray's laconic, self-indulgent inflections are perfect for the narcissistic Garfield, and it's easy to imagine most of his lines coming right from the comic. Breckin Meyer does a good job as the rather backward Jon, and Jennifer Love Hewitt is highly appealing as the seemingly unattainable object of his affections. The only film element I question is the decision to make Garfield the only animated character in the whole cast. It would've probably been better to either make all the animals animated or, better yet, use a real cat for Garfield. As it is, Garfield certainly stands out--but maybe too much. But after all, isn't that how Garfield himself would want it? No, "Garfield: The Movie" is not the best thing since "Macbeth" and it won't win any Academy Awards, but it is positive cinematic fun the whole family can watch together--and that makes it a winner in my book.

Rating:
Summary: Well animated but not true to the strip
Review: Garfield: The Movie is a fairly straightforward story with no secondary tales or other touches that could take this film out of kidvid. The interaction between the animated Garfield and the real actors and sets is subtle, rather than the eye-popping wow! of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Unlike better family films such as Shrek or Finding Nemo, this one is strictly for kids as there is little to keep an adult's interest.

The movie starts out with a few scene-setting vignettes, brief unconnected tales much like the Jim Davis comic strip the movie was lifted from. But right away something is amiss. Jon, Garfield's human, isn't presented as a complete loser. He lives in a very nice house in an unspecified part of the midwest that looks suspiciously like Oak Park or a similar John Hughes location. The furnishings are tasteful and reasonable quality. And Jon isn't completly incompetent in his day to day actions.

And what's worse, Jon's unrequited feelings for Garfield's veterinarian, Liz, are not thrown in his face (as per the strip) but returned within the first 20 minutes. The vet character is just as wrong as Jon; both are cute, thin, and dress well. Jon should be a zhlub, Liz should be strictly business. Here, Jon's a heartthrob and Liz dresses like she's on her way to a disco. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

The major plot point is okay (evil cable-TV animal show host kidnaps Odie after dog wins a blue ribbon, Garfield rescues him), the animated Garfield is done well, and the status quo is preserved. My kid liked it okay. But I would not advise anyone over 12 to watch this unless accompanied by an interested elementary schooler. 14 June 2004 by mad-haus

Rating:
Summary: Garfield the movie.
Review: I saw this movie. I like it. It's funny, cute. Good movie.

Rating:
Summary: Tons of Fun and Full of Laughs
Review: It has been a long time since the famous cartoon cat Garfield has been dreamed of entering the Hollywood stage. I would give this cat a tremendous round of applause for his performance as the cat with personification. (He talked like humans, yet retained much of original actions of a cat. Truly lovable!) In whole, the movie is definitely full of laughs and tons of fun.

First of all, the cat has done an excellent job on the animation within the real world and Bill Murray marvelous imitations on conversations. Originally, this cat has black stripes in cartoon, which looked pretty nice. If it is done the same way in animation similar to characters made by Pixar (like Toy Story 1 and 2 and Finding Nemo), Garfield would be a tiger! Fortunately, the cat is painted in dark orange stripes, which gives the cat a very handsome look. Also, Bill Murray had the best voice in imitating Garfield. His humor, wits, and quick thinking enable him to make the whole movie extremely entertaining. Bravo, Garfield and Murray!

Second of all, Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt have performed lovely from the beginning to the end. Meyer, who played Jon Arbuckle, may not be the most handsome of all actors, his innocent and clean-shaved look and romantic act really suits the love story within the film. Hewitt, who played Dr. Liz Wilson, has the talent to treat Garfield, Odie, and Jon with profound respect. Not an easy job. They both end with working together to rescue Garfield and Odie from the main antagonist Happy Chapman. Way to go, Meyer and Hewitt.

Finally, the whole story really has lot of funny scenes and unstoppable laughs from the start to the end, with well organized sequence. Garfield's life was turned up-side-down when Jon, the owner of Garfield, adopted the dog Odie. Garfield wanted Odie to be out for life. Later, Odie was "kidnapped" by Mr. Chapman with his villainous plans to put Odie into the pet food commercial. Garfield realized Odie was in danger; therefore, the fat cat had to "jump" out of his couch and went to the city to rescue Odie before it was too late. This cat had met with many different obstacles that he had to challenge, yet he eventually showed courageous act to stop the evil from taking Odie. This movie really taught us some lessons of our life. It tells us (1) never give up all the time and you may be able to reach your goal sooner or later, and (2) love those around you, even your enemies, by understand each other objectively without rebuke and insult.

"Garfield: the Movie" is the movie you and your family can enjoy. Watch it as soon as possible and you will truly understand that this movie is not boring. Do not believe in other people's criticism about the movie; those people may have not seen the movie before but, rather, they prejudge the movie before they start watching. Believe in yourself and watch the movie. I give the movie five stars. Garfield rules!

Rating:
Summary: One of the worst movies I have ever seen
Review: Though not in my top ten list of the worst movies ever made, Garfield is still godawful. I went to see it with my nine-year old brother and though he claims to have liked the film I think he'll forget he ever saw it tomorrow.
The stars, Breckin Meyer and Jen Love Hewitt, provide very little to the humor or plot to the film. Both seem to know that they are of no importance in the film and don't even try to act like it. Their small love story is insignificant and they have no romantic chemistry, though both try, to the best of their abilities, to wield their shy (and sometimes charismatic) charms to have the audience care about them.
The kids I saw this film with were mainly impressed, not with the star of the movie, but rather with the little dog that played Odie. His physical comedy got the most laughs out the kids. His big eyes, dancing (a.k.a. jumping on his hind legs) and Garfield's constant abuse towards him got the most laughs out of the audience.
Billy Murray, though well casted as the wry, and cynical Garfield, needed a better script to get more out his role.

Rating:
Summary: One of the worst movies I have ever seen
Review: Though not one of the top ten worst movies I have ever seen, it definitely one of the worst. The Jen Love Hewitt and Breckin Meyer look as though they're trying to obtain any sort of romantic chemistry but ultimately fail. Even the jokes fail in the long run. The kids in the theater didn't even find most of the movie appealing. The only life raft in this stinker of a movie is the dog playing Odie. He got the most laughs and captured the hearts of the kids with his big eyes and constant physical jokes (basically being pushed off chairs and jumping on its hind legs).
Though I must say Bill Murray did capture the correct tone of wry humor and sarcasm for the role of Garfield.