The Garfield Movie: Film Review
Garfield first made his debut on our film screens in the early 2000s with two movies voiced by Bill Murray. Our favourite lasagne-loving orange tabby cat is now back, with Chris Pratt in the lead voice role.
After swiftly covering his origin story, The Garfield Movie begins in earnest when Garfield (voiced by Pratt) and his dog pal Odie (Harvey Guillen) are captured by Roland (Brett Goldstein) and Nolan (Bowen Yang), the goons working for an evil Persian cat named Jinx (Hannah Waddingham). She is fresh out of the pound and looking for revenge on Garfield’s estranged father Vic (Samuel L. Jackson), her former partner in crime. To repay his debt, Vic, Garfield and Odie must break into Lactose Farms and steal a lot of milk.
It seems odd to put Jim Davis‘ notoriously lazy feline in a stunt-heavy action comedy but hey ho, here we are. The classic Mission: Impossible-style heist has been done many times before so this feels quite generic, lightweight and unoriginal. However, there are some entertaining moments of physical comedy and light threat that children should enjoy, such as a chase on top of a train and a sequence inside the manufacturing plant.
The film’s sense of humour is hit-and-miss. The solid voice stars really try to sell their lines but sometimes the jokes fall strangely flat. It is littered with pop culture references, most of which are aimed at parents. For example, Cecily Strong impersonates Frances McDormand‘s Fargo character with her Minnesota-accented Animal Control officer Marge. That’s so random, especially in a kids’ film. It’s not a complete dud though – there are some decent comedic moments that made me chuckle, but I just wish the hit rate was higher.
What I found most bizarre was the amount of product placement in this animated film. Sony headphones are fair enough (it’s a Sony film after all) but you also see brands like Walmart, Popchips and Netflix (which has been renamed as Catflix). How much in-film marketing does one film need?
Pratt was heavily criticised when he was cast as Garfield – much like when he was cast as the voice of Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie – but I had no problem with his take on Garfield. It doesn’t match up to Murray’s work but at least he didn’t try to copy it. My favourite voice star was Goldstein doing his best Roy Kent as the gangster Shar Pei and Ving Rhames as a depressed bull named Otto.
Naturally, I’m coming at this from an adult’s perspective – this film was not made for me and I don’t think it’s anything special. Despite being lacklustre and uninspired, there’s enough going on to keep the kids entertained for almost two hours.
In cinemas from Friday 24th May