Directed by: Mark Dindal
Starring: (voices of) Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, Snoop Dogg, Gregg Berger, Cecily Strong, Ving Rhames, Harvey Guillen, Nicholas Hoult
Who is this cat and what have they done with Garfield? The Garfield of The Garfield Movie is a glutton, yes, and loves his lasagna and hates his Mondays, but this one is more chipper and upbeat. He's less sarcastic and doesn't prank Odie. In fact, Odie is his best buddy. The edge is gone. Garfield is simply too...happy.
One of the endearing aspects of the Garfield comic strip was how he grudgingly displayed affection, as if there wasn't much more from where that came from. He loved food more than his human Jon or definitely Odie. Garfield was cranky, put-upon, and we loved him for it. The Garfield of this movie is cuter than the comic-strip version, but it seems like we are watching a wholly different cat.
Garfield (Pratt) in the beginning of the movie is abandoned on a dark and stormy night by his father Vic (Jackson). Garfield makes his way to an Italian restaurant where Jon (Hoult) sits alone at a table. Garfield eats everything in sight and Jon takes him home. Garfield's home life is one of luxury, napping, television, and eats. However, he and Odie and kidnapped (or is it catnapped and dognapped?) by cats working for Jinx (Waddingham), who once was an "associate" of Vic's and forces Garfield, Vic, and Odie to plot a milk heist. They are assisted by Otto (Rhames), a cow put out to pasture who is in love with another cow on the farm and thinks the robbery will help win her back.
It's fun to know Jackson and Rhames, who famously co-starred in Pulp Fiction, are together again even if it's just their voices. The robbery itself is nothing we care much about. Garfield is a movie kids will like, since there are bright colors and action sequences which will keep them occupied. Of course, we also learn that Vic's story is not what it seems, and he becomes an addition to Garfield's happy family. I hate to review an animated movie and sound churlish about it, but I saw the movie and that's what I signed up for. I paid the ticket, now I have to take the ride.
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