Twenty years ago, there was Garfield: The Movie, it got bad reviews but made a lot of money. The problem with movies like this, which was the same as that Curious George, animated movie in 2006 is they’re made for kids but reviewed by adults. I like the 2004 version even though Bill Murray has said he mistook writer Joel Cohen for Joel Coen. He may have but Cohen had also wrote Toy Story for which he was nominated for an Oscar.
Whether or not Murray was confused over spelling or doesn’t want to admit he needed the money really doesn’t matter. He still managed to bring a certain tone and attitude to the furry fat feline that made the movie watchable. One of the most memorable scenes involve Garfield and Odie dancing to The Black Eyed Peas “Hey Mama.” It’s a silly scene but I’m sure it got audiences laughing. It also had a sense of fun and liveliness that seems missing from some kids movies because they’re being taken too seriously.
It’s ironic because when The Real Ghostbusters was on the air, Lorenzo Music was voicing Dr. Peter Venkman on that show. Music, famous for his work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off Rhoda, voiced Garfield on the Saturday morning show Garfield and Friends and all the TV specials. Music like Murray brought the right tone and attitude for the job. But Murray got upset over that same man voicing a cartoon cat was also voicing a cartoon character on which he was based. So, Music was let go and Dave Coulier would go on to voice Venkman. Cut it out.
What I’m getting at here is that Chris Pratt brings the wrong attitude to the role. He’s more arrogant and buffoonish. For his role as Emmett in The LEGO Movie, Pratt was perfect mainly because there wasn’t a frame of reference. He brought the same loveable lunk role he did on Parks and Recreation. I also feel more or less that Pratt was tapped because he’s a big name along with Samuel L. Jackson as Garfield’s father as Vic. The last person to voice Garfield in a movie was Frank Welker, a legend in the voice-casting world. But I guess the producers didn’t want Garfield sounded like Fred from Scooby-Doo. (Incidentally, both Welker and Jackson have a filmography that has some of the highest cumulative grossers ever.)
The movie doesn’t have much of a coherent plot. Garfield, Vic and Odie (voiced by Harvey Guillen) find themselves having to go on a road trip to steal a milk truck from Lactose Farms. They’re order to do it by Jinx (voiced by Hannah Waddingham). Jinx, a Persian, was a former member of Vic’s crew who went away to the pound. She has two dogs as her henchmen, Roland (vocied by Brett Goldstein) a large Shar Pei, and Nolan (voiced by Bowen Yang), a whippet. Garfield and Vic are estranged and Garfield blames Vic for leaving him in an alley across the street from where Jon Arbuckle (voiced by Nicholas Hoult) was having dinner.
It seems the writers and director decided the audience wouldn’t care much about Jon and he’s barely in the movie. Garfield and Odie are kidnapped by Roland and Nolan in the middle of the night but Jon feels they’ve abandoned him and spends most of the movie on hold on a phone call, trying to find his pets. Along their way, Garfield, Odie and Vic meet up with Otto (voiced by Ving Rhames), a purple Highland bull that was the former mascot of Lactose Farms. I actually liked Otto because Rhames handles the character just right.
I didn’t really care for the plot and neither will the kids nor the adults who have to watch this movie. Garfield just seems off here and it doesn’t help that Pratt is totally wrong for the role. Maybe if someone like Ryan Reynolds or Will Arnett were cast, the performance might have the right sardonic edge. It makes Garfield too sympathetic. Part of Garfield’s behavior is that he’s selfish to a degree that he still does stuff that makes him likeable.
Garfield has been around since the late 1970s and while his physical appearance has changed, he’s remained mostly the same mentally. It’s almost like the people who made this didn’t have confidence in their main character they had to change him up. As for Jackson as Vic, the actor seems to have fun with the role. But Vic is a creation just for the movie, which I think will have many people asking where is Garfield’s mother?
I didn’t like this movie not at all, but I don’t loathe it. I felt it was a good 25-30 minutes too long and the whole estranged father angle is overdone. I don’t think they should have made Garfield doing too much action. Garfield’s fat and lazy. The 2004 movie threw him into predicaments where he found himself having to be physical and failing at it. I’m almost certain the movie’s success at the box office will lead to a sequel. But I’d advise the writers to read more Garfield comics because it seems they didn’t when putting this one together.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 