Garfield (2004)

Director:

Peter Hewitt

Writers (WGA):

Jim Davis (comic strip "Garfield")
Joel Cohen (written by) ...

Release Date:

11 June 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family

Tagline:

It ain't the Cat in the Hat.

Plot:

Jon Arbuckle buys a second pet, a dog named Odie. However, Odie is then abducted and it is up to Jon's cat, Garfield, to find and rescue the canine.

Plot Keywords:

Garfield | Dog | Cat | Veterinarian | TV Host

Cast

Breckin Meyer	...	Jon
Jennifer Love Hewitt	...	Liz
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Happy Chapman
Bill Murray	...	Garfield (voice)
Evan Arnold	...	Wendell
Mark Christopher Lawrence	...	Christopher Mello
Vanessa Christelle	...	Miss Ace Hardware
Daamen J. Krall	...	Announcer (as Daamen Krall)
Rufus Gifford	...	Dog Owner #1
Randee Reicher	...	Dog Owner #2
Ryan McKasson	...	Dog Owner #3
Susan Moore	...	Dog Owner #4
Eve Brent	...	Mrs. Baker
Bill Hoag	...	Roy the Lodge Member
Michael Monks	...	Deputy Hopkins

Also Known As:

Garfield: The Movie (USA) (promotional title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for brief mild language.

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS | Dolby Digital (Dolby 5.1)

Certification:

Denmark:A | Iceland:L | France:U | USA:PG (certificate #40176) | Malaysia:U | Portugal:M/4 | South Korea:All | Finland:K-7 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Canada:G | Chile:TE | Ireland:G | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:G | Norway:A | Peru:PT | Philippines:G | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:U | Germany:o.Al. | Brazil:Livre

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The amount of CG Garfield shots (400) doubles the amount of Gollum shots in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).

Goofs:

Continuity: The cat/dog flap changes from one painted the same color as the door to clear. Although the cat/dog flap might be a model where a plastic board can be inserted to lock the door in one scene it changes between shots with no time for anyone to change it.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Garfield: I hate Mondays.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Birth of Garfield (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Call Me Super Bad

Below average generic kids movie.

And only marginally redeemed by Garfield.

There's not much to separate this from rubbish like Cats and Dogs and Stuart Little. Everything that happens on screen is there to appeal to the youngest of kids. No one over the age of 8 will get much out of this movie. Unlike movies such as Shrek 2 or Brother Bear, there's absolutely NOTHING in this for adults at all. A shame really as the humor in the Garfield comic strip can sometimes be very clever and observant.

It's worse when you go see this with a bunch of screaming kids (and a baby-honestly why bring a baby to the cinema?!?) who laugh at every single thing. And that's including the stuff that isn't meant to be funny. It did get very irritating and proves furthermore that this is a movie for infants.

The tiny bit of humor the movie does have comes ENTIRELY from Garfield. Bill Murray is great, his delivery is catatonically laid-back and dry. The CGI of Garfield is also very good. He looks to cute that you just want to keep him. But any positive the movie has begins and ends right there.

Breckin Meyer may look the part of Jon but he has less than nothing to do in the role. Jeniffer Love Hewitt (gorgeous as she is) is totally slumming it in a role that requires her to do even less than Breckin Meyer and the other animal cast members resemble nothing like their comic-strip counterparts.

I was a little annoyed at seeing Garfield talk in the trailers but in the movie no humans can hear him or the other animals. There are some other things they have changed. Odie comes straight from the vet, though in the comic-strip he came from Jon's friend Lyman. Nermal does not appear to be Garfield's cousin and Arlene doesn't appear to be his girlfriend either.

The story of Garfield rescuing Odie from an 'evil' TV host is completely uneventful and nothing much happens around it. The ending is an unentertaining, unexciting anti-climax and disgustingly childish. I appreciate kid's stuff. I could watch 100 episodes of Sesame Street back to back. But this film was the most brain dead excuse for low, low-grade kid's entertainment in a long, long time. Jim Davis should be ashamed for allowing his wonderful creation to me made into such a lousy movie.

The 3 stars are for Garfield himself ONLY. Otherwise, without him, it's a hardcore 1-star experience. You wouldn't find Calvin and Hobbes behaving this way.