The Garfield Movie

The Garfield Movie (not to be confused with 2004’s Garfield: The Movie) stars Chris Pratt as the famous orange cat, whose idyllic life of luxury and lasagne is suddenly interrupted by the re-appearance of his long-lost dad, alley cat Vic (Samuel L Jackson), who has been press-ganged by his former partner-in-crime Jinx (Hannah Waddingham) into committing a dangerous heist. With Garfield also forced into the scheme, and the ever-faithful Odie (Harvey Guillén) along for the ride, father and son must settle their differences and work together to make it through this adventure in one piece.

The Garfield Movie has a very standard kid’s film plot: there’s some mild cartoon peril, jokes a-plenty, flashbacks with a baby version of the main character just begging to be made into marketable plushies, the works. Its writing is perfectly fine, with just enough meat on its bones to keep younger audiences entertained but not providing much beyond that.

One area where the film is no slouch is its visuals, with a dynamic and expressive art style that perfectly translates the world of Jim Davis’s comics to the big screen, facilitating some fun and engaging hijinks as well as some great physical comedy. However, these strong visuals also work against the movie in one specific regard – while the world and characters are stylised to match the simple aesthetics of Garfield strips, the film also features heavy product placement, with brand logos and products on display that don’t get the same treatment. This often creates an odd, uncanny effect, with cartoony characters frequently interacting with objects more detailed than anything else around them.

This feature leans heavily on its celebrity-heavy stunt casting for its voice actors, and one of the biggest talking points leading up to its release was Chris Pratt as Garfield. Pratt’s approach to the character is much the same as his voice-over work on other animated titles – which is to say, his regular talking voice – but while he doesn’t particularly sell Garfield’s lazy, sarcastic energy, his performance doesn’t ruin the production.

The Garfield Movie is perhaps the platonic ideal of a middle-of-the-road film. It doesn’t do anything spectacularly but doesn’t commit any grave sins. It’s not an ambitious piece by any stretch of the imagination, but it accomplishes its straightforward narrative goals effectively, with a sense of humour and surprisingly gorgeous aesthetics – tasty if not substantial, like the cinematic equivalent of fast food.

Umar Ali

The Garfield Movie is released nationwide on 24^th May 2024.

Watch the trailer for The Garfield Movie here: