Garfield (2004)

I hated this movie so much. It bought shame to Garfield and I cannot believe Jim Davis let them make it. Jennifer Love Hewitt is too good an actor to be wasted on this piece of garbage. The only reason I saw it was because I won free tickets to it from a competition run by my local newspaper. It is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. For one, the characters in the movie do not in anyway match the characters in the comic. Garfield himself is a terrible copy of the comic, plus let's face it, he's as ugly as sin. I am refusing to comment on Odie because he is a real shame! Plus this movie is 20 years too late. It should have been made in the 1980's, where the lame jokes and bad acting wouldn't have been noticed, but by the standards from other great movies like A Bug's Life & Harry Potter it was a real shoddy piece of lasagne. I rated this movie 1/10, and it comes to the 2nd worst movie i have ever seen (my least favourite movie of all time is the remake of the Cat in the Hat).

Fmovies: What happened to the cartoon Garfield we've grown to love? Live action mixed with CGI and a simple story line with an unimaginative script; I guess small children are not expected to notice such. Garfield's lasagna gorging and TV watching is slightly interrupted when his owner Jon(Breckin Meyer)falls head over heals for an attractive veterinarian(Jennifer Love Hewitt)that influences the adoption of a puppy named Odie. When Odie is abducted, Garfield is compelled to drag himself off the couch and search for the likable canine. Bill Murray provides the voice of Garfield and is to put it mildly...a p-ss poor fit for the clever actions of the lazy and lovable rotund feline. What happened to Jon the nerd? And he sure shouldn't be deserving the attention of someone as fine as JLH. This movie could have been much more if done in the vain of maybe SHREK or FINDING NEMO. But no doubt...the small fry will probably wear their copy out before entering elementary school.

I just saw this movie tonight with a friend and we both enjoyed it very much, well worth our time and money. This movie is perfect for the whole family. They should make more movies like this instead of those typical slasher/violent movies and also the ones with so much sexual content. When this movie comes out for purchase, I will most probably buy it because I could watch it over and over again. I'm really glad that they made this movie, I would've never thought that they would've done this movie but I am truly glad and happy that they did because I love cats and I love "Garfield". He's my favorite comic strip and read him every single day and will continue to do so for as long as the strip runs in the newspaper.

Garfield fmovies. As a huge fan of the laziest cat on Earth, I confess that I was really expecting too much of this movie, but when I watched it, I got a bit disappointed... "Garfield" is not a bad movie at all, but is far away than all the fans expected, for some reasons in particular:

First of all, this movie is basically for children. Anyone who read the original Garfield's comic books knows that his sarcastic humor is for all ages, not just for kids.

The second problem in my opinion maybe can divide some opinions, but let's go: Garfield is lazy, as we all know, but this is an action movie...and nothing is more anti-Garfield than action! I think that a comedy of situations based on all Garfield's countless books could be more interesting, his loyal legion of admires will certainly agree with my point of view.

But, after all, if you just want some fun for a while, this movie will entertain you. Bill Murray is great doing Garfield's voice, very faithful to his shameless and ironic personality. The rest of the cast is OK; a bit affected sometimes, specially Breckin Meyer (Jon Arbuckle), he looks a lot like the cartoon version of Garfield's owner, but I really think that he is exaggerated, always trying to look goofier and goofier... Well, whatever, I think that I must getting older and complaining about things that are not so serious. Kids will love "Garfield" and adults with child's heart will like it as well...at least, if you're not so hard to please as I am...

After engaging in an effort to find a good review - much harder than I ever imagined it would be - and finding the movie listed at the bottom of the barrel, I felt almost an obligation to go see this on opening day - either to prove the critics wrong, or to get fodder for a scathing letter to Jim Davis. I ended up with neither.

The problem, admittedly, is what some critics have said: Garfield is old and busted. A walk in the theater reveals the new hotness: Harry Potter. The movie is, sadly, 10 years overdue. Just look at the long listing of Garfield TV specials, most of which are 1982-1992, and "Garfield and Friends" began in 1988. It was delayed, I read, because Jim Davis believed the technology wasn't there. It was; it's called regular animation. Garfield is a 2-D medium, either on the comics page or on animated cels. But, I guess, since no one does that anymore, 2004 couldn't have a 2-D Garfield.

The problem is not with Garfield, although some of the characteristics displayed are not those I associate with the cat. The problem is with the supporting cast who look, by and large, not like their animated counterparts. Who made Odie a wiener dog with talent? Why is Nermal Siamese? Shouldn't Arlene be a lot nicer to Garfield? The set design, in bright hues, can't decide whether it's in the real world or in a real-life comic strip. Breckin "Inside Schwartz" Meyer is just not the right fit for Jon. While I can accept the whole high-school- crush of Jon and Liz on each other (something definitely not in the comic strip), the payoff might have been better had they not kissed after the dog show.

The plot arc is not necessarily departed from all of Garfield. It fits more in the mid-1980s, when the strip actually did have week-plus-long plots. In one series, for example, Odie DID leave home, and Garfield DID follow him, and they ended up running away from the circus together. The comments that the strip has declined are not off-base.

It's times like this that remind me where I got my sense of humor. It came from the politically neutral wit and social commentary of the late 1980s - Garfield (both newspaper and television), Calvin and Hobbes, even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That's why I can't disagree with this line from the Chicago Tribune: "He's been declawed; the swiping humor and Monty Python meanness of his early years have been surgically removed for a PG audience, and with it, most of his appeal." And that hurts.

Today, Garfield is trapped in a one-day-only three-panel set of running gags that still make me laugh, but don't capture the same attitude of years past. However, I still prefer it to the overtly political ultra-liberal commentary found in strips like "Boondocks" or some others.

Had a full-length movie been released around 1994, done by the same animation team that did "Garfield and Friends," with Lorenzo Music doing the voice, it might have been wonderful. Live action does not suit the character; the departure from 25 years of what we have known is too much. The animated half-hour shows of the 1980s work so much better that they might have been able to make more money simply by scrapping the film and putting out DVDs. I hear "Garfield and Friends: The Complete First Season" is coming out, a TV show that captured the essence of the strip at its peak so much better than this movie did.

I wish that the networks would put "A Garfield Christmas" and so

I think that this movie accomplished what it set out to do. I don't know why so many people are hard against it. I think it's a very cute movie, beings that I grew up reading Garfield comic strips and watching Garfield and friends. I'm 26 and still am a kid at heart, what can I say, I love cutesy little movies such as this. It won't win any awards or anything, but I think it's great for the kiddies out there, or adults who still have a kid in them. I rate this move about a 6 out of 10. Not too shabby. If you're expecting a movie the calibur of Toy Story, Finding Nemo, them maybe this movie isn't for you. It's mainly for children or fans of Garfield. Rest in peace, Lorenzo Music, you will be missed and your voice matched perfectly for the loving fat orange cat we've all grown to love.