The Garfield Movie (2024) Review — A Purr-Fectly Predictable Animated Film
There’s something strange about the franchise reboot of the big orange tabby in The Garfield Movie. For one, the story completely sidelines the relationship between Jon Arbuckle and Garfield. Another issue is that all the characters are cardboard cutouts, and you know virtually nothing about them besides how Garfield came into Jon’s possession.
Perhaps most importantly, the trademark apathetic nature of the main character is non-existent. It’s as if the studios bought the brand name and turned the character into a clone of any fish-out-of-water animation adventure. That’s what’s wrong with The Garfield Movie. What makes the character great is washed away for a run-of-the-mill animated family film that you’ve seen nine lives over.
It’s purr-fectly predictable from start to its stagnant finish.
Harvey Guillén and Chris Pratt voice Odie and Garfield in The Garfield Movie (2024) | Image via Sony Pictures
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The Garfield Movie Review and Synopsis
The new adaptation of Jim Davis’s classic comic strip character proves that while technology changes, some things remain the same—well, the orange kitty’s behaviors, anyway. Marvel superstar Chris Pratt now voices the famished feline Garfield, whose gluttonous appetite for day-old Italian lasagna has remained unchanged.
Garfield still hates Mondays, but honestly, who doesn’t? However, this insatiable indoor cat is reunited with his long-lost father, Vic (Samuel L. Jackson), a scruffy cat from the streets who wants Garfield to help him with a high-stakes heist. Along with his best bumbling beagle friend, Odie (Reacher’s Harvey Guillén), they go on an adventure that takes Garfield out of his comfort zone.
Nicholas Hoult and Chris Pratt voice Jon Arbuckle and Garfield in The Garfield Movie (2024) | Image via Sony Pictures
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The Garfield Movie Is Purr-Fectly Predictable
The Garfield Movie is from director Mark Dingle, an animator with a history of working in the Walt Disney Pictures animation department. Dingle contributed to several classics, including The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. He may be best known for the cartoon failure of his directorial debut, The Emperor’s New Groove, which has notably taken on a cult-like status in recent years.
However, sticking his neck out for that film (and Chicken Run) may have taken its toll. His Garfield is a tame and run-of-the-mill animated fare. The studio trades the sardonic charm of the source material for a witless Chris Pratt delivery. One problem is that Paul A. Kaplan and Mark Torgove’s script has too many hands involved. Finding Nemo’s David Reynolds was hired to fix issues.
However, only he can do so much. You can tell immediately his influence, with the movie’s best scenes, is the poignant reveal of how Vic left his estranged son behind. And for a man who was originally on Conan O’Brien’s original writing staff, the final film is filled with too many standard jokes and contrived plot devices to move the story along.
Chris Pratt is the voice of Garfield in The Garfield Movie (2024) | Image via Sony Pictures
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Is The Garfield Movie Worth Watching?
In addition, what makes The Garfield Movie not worth watching is the lack of development for Nicholas Hoult’s Jon Arbuckle, the kind-hearted but clueless loner. We learn nothing about the character, whereas this current film seems to restart the franchise with part two, where it may as well be called “The Vic Movie.”
Why not immediately establish this bond with what family means instead of Garfield exploring his roots? The result is an uneven and unnatural animated family film. With the exception of an amusing Top Gun tribute, the humor is pedestrian and tailored for the youngest of children. The movie lacks autonomy for a character that would always march to its own beat.
The Garfield Movie tries too hard to resonate with everyone else’s rhythm.
Chris Pratt and Harvey Guillén voice the characters of Garfield and Odie in The Garfield Movie (2024) | Image via Sony Pictures
You can watch Garfield’s new animated film this Friday, but only in theaters.
3/10
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