The Garfield Movie Review
The Garfield Movie (2024) Film Review, a movie directed by Mark Dindal, written by Paul A. Kaplan, Mark Torgove and David Reynolds and starring Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham, Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Cecily Strong, Harvey Guillén, Brett Goldstein, Bowen Yang, Snoop Dogg, Dev Joshi, Luke Cinque-White, Janelle James, Lynsey Murrell and Alicia Grace Turrell.
Mark Dindal directs the latest big screen adventures of Garfield, the lasagna-loving cat, in the new animated family film, The Garfield Movie. Chris Pratt takes over voicing duties this time out and adds some distinct humor to the role which was voiced in the past by the great Bill Murray. Though I didn’t think we needed another Garfield movie, this latest adventure is still entertaining to watch although the story line is essentially bare bones and hardly has the substance to carry it through its 101-minute running time (including end credits). But, young kids will be amused enough by Garfield’s antics and massive eating skills to see this as the perfect pre-summer movie treat.
The film opens as Garfield orders a lot of Italian food via an app on the phone. Garfield goes through eating some delicious pizza and other tasty human treats super fast. Then, the movie shows us how Garfield was taken in by his owner, the kind-hearted Jon (voice of Nicholas Hoult). Turns out, Garfield appeared outside a window at the Italian restaurant where Jon was eating by himself. The lovable orange cat causes mischief by eating other people’s food in the restaurant and then, Jon flees with Garfield with some family-style lasagna. Jon ends up taking Garfield home.
But, that night where Garfield met Jon, something else happened prior to their meeting. We wind up learning a bit later on that Garfield’s dad, a fat (as in over-sized) cat named Vic (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson), abandoned Garfield that night. When Vic returns into Garfield’s current life, Garfield and his live-in dog pal, Odie (Harvey Guillén’s voice) become enlisted to help Vic pay off a debt to a shady female cat called Jinx (the enjoyable voice of Hannah Waddingam). That debt that needs to be paid off is there because Jinx served quite a bit of time in the pound (read: jail). So, Garfield and Odie have to help other characters pull off a heist which involves getting a milk truck out of a dairy factory and delivered to Jinx and her henchmen.
The heist, itself, provides some of the better moments in The Garfield Movie. As Garfield tries to make his way through the factory while the employees are out on break, Garfield nearly gets sliced and burned by the machines making the cheese there. Different cheeses become embroiled in the action with hysterical results. Later on, there are sequences with daring escapes as Odie tries to help his number one bud out the best way he can. There’s a cliffhanger or two towards the end which will keep kids’ attention throughout.
The love Vic has for Garfield comes into question during the course of the movie. Questions arise as to why Vic abandoned his son but, it turns out, Vic is a caring dad who just wants what’s best for his son. Vic used to sit across the way from Jon’s house to watch Garfield. Vic would count the times when he was there by putting stick lines which were scratched into the tree bark. This is heartwarming stuff that will be more entertaining for parents than for their kids.
Snoop Dogg’s voice makes its way into the new film as Dogg plays a character at the pound who helps Garfield realize that Vic really loves him regardless of what has happened during the course of the heist which predictably goes awry. Snoop Dogg’s charm is recognizable here and he even contributes some lyrics to a song at the picture’s conclusion.
Samuel L. Jackson voices Vic terrifically. Jackson adds his signature style to this vocal performance throughout. Garfield’s dad, it turns out, isn’t so bad underneath his tough exterior. Vic loves his lasagna-munching son and wants what’s best for Garfield. Chris Pratt is predictably droll in his line delivery and does a fairly good job at taking over where other voice actors for Garfield have left off. Pratt’s no Bill Murray, though, but the kids going to see this new movie probably don’t know who Bill Murray is.
Some scenes in The Garfield Movie are simply outrageous. Drones arrive with a very large order of pizza and meatballs for Garfield to use against the bad guys in the movie at one point. Garfield orders enough food to feed an army and he does, indeed, fight his opponents by jumping on pizza boxes and, in one instance, spitting out hot sauce on a key villain. It’s funny but, also, a bit over-the-top.
The plot development in The Garfield Movie is minimal. This film mostly consists of scenes with Garfield being Garfield and trying to deal with some crazy circumstances. He bonds with his real father in the interim and the movie has a sweet nature underneath all of the antics it displays. A stronger story line could have enhanced the movie’s appeal and made it a better film, though.
That being said, The Garfield Movie is surprisingly touching when it wants to be and the film has enough feline high-jinks to make most viewers satisfied overall. Don’t look too closely at how wild it all is and this movie could win over you and your family and make for a nice afternoon out at the movies. Judging from the preliminary success of this film overseas, Garfield will be back on the big screen again in the not-too-distant future.
Rating: 6.5/10
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