Garfield, the well known comic strip that revolves around the lovable lasagna-loving cartoon tabby cat that hates Mondays and his owner Jon, was first created by Jim Davis and published locally as “Jon” in 1976 and nationwide as “Garfield” in 1978.
We all know of Garfield! And you – the one reading this – have probably already heard of the newest Garfield movie titled “The Garfield Movie” that was released on May 24, 2024, starring Chris Pratt as the Monday-hating cat himself and directed by American filmmaker and animator Mark Dindal, who’s known for his work over at Disney as well with directing the film “The Emperor’s New Groove.”
When the trailer for the movie was released I already knew it was something I just had to watch. The movie itself focuses on Garfield and his long lost father, who indirectly gets him in trouble with another cat named Jinx that Vic, his father, had crossed. Odie and Garfield are then forced to go along a high-stake heist with Vic to pay Jinx back. Right now as of posting, the movie is currently only in theaters.
Quality wise, The Garfield Movie was very well made and animated in a way that made things look bouncy and more cartoony which I absolutely loved. The movie itself had it’s fair share of slapstick comedy, cutoffs, references, you name it, and by references I mean A LOT of them as well with fourth-wall breaks which I thought was pretty funny.
And not forgetting to mention the newer characters, it’s hard to choose a favorite from the new characters but one thing’s for sure: I absolutely loved the main villain Jinx. I personally think that she’s a very fun character and I loved the scenes that she was in as well with the scenes with the secondary antagonists that act like her henchmen up until the very end of the movie: the dogs, Ronald and Nolan.
The story for the movie was well-made and thought-out and not to mention addressed WHY Garfield and Odie were even dragged into that mess when it was just Vic who abandoned Jinx, even though personally I don’t think the explanation was all too good. It kind of felt like an excuse to get Vic and Garfield working together, but it’s for plot reasons so of course they would. But they still technically gave an explanation.
And as you may already know, Chris Pratt is cast as Garfield. I don’t think it was the best choice to cast Chris Pratt as the voice of Garfield nor do I feel does it remotely sound anything like how Garfield is known for sounding, but besides that I can get behind it, it isn’t too bad.
Overall in the end, despite its flaws the movie was great and I highly recommend watching it for yourself if you enjoy Garfield and don’t mind the fact that Chris Pratt voices him. With that being said I would rate the Garfield Movie a solid 8/10.
