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Garfield - Bill Murray, Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Peter Hewitt

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

It ain't the cat in the hat.

Garfield's (Bill Murray) life is great. He eats, and sleeps, and that's all. Now, his owner, Jon Arbuckle (Breckin Meyer), just got a loveable pooch named Odie. Garfield's life spirals out of control now that Odie is in the same household as him. One night, Odie is kidnapped and Garfield feels that he is the blame for what happened. Garfield sets off to find the crook and get Odie back.

Persons of interest

Bill Murray .... Garfield
Breckin Meyer .... Jon Arbuckle
Jennifer Love Hewitt .... Doctor Liz Wilson
Stephen Tobolowsky .... Happy Chapman
Evan Arnold .... Wendell
Mark Christopher Lawrence .... Christopher Mello
Vanessa Christelle .... Miss True-Value
Nick Cannon .... Louis
Alan Cumming .... Persnikitty
David Eigenberg .... Nermal
Brad Garrett .... Luca
Jim Davis .... Creator
Joel Cohen .... Screenwriter
Alec Sokolow .... Screenwriter
Peter Hewitt .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Garfield official movie sites
Garfield movie trailers
Awards and film festivals:

Cinematic Intelligence Agency Trenchcoat Awards 2004: Nominated: Best actor from another species (Odie), Best animation

See also Garfield 2: A tale of two kitties, The cat in the hat
Studios and distributors:

20th Century Fox

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Hmmm. I love Garfield, so any film that tries to say that it's Garfield is up against some pretty stiff cynicism before it's even begun. Taking that into account, however, Garfield is fun, just not as much fun (and not as clever) as it should be.

The animation is good apart from the times when the lasagne king just doesn't seem to be walking on the floor (or on Jon's doona). Much of this is his shadow (the BBC's Walking with dinosaurs had the same problem) as it's too light for the surroundings. No matter whether it's morning, noon, afternoon or night, that shadow way down there on the ground is pretty damned dark. Also, whenever someone holds Garfield it just looks fake. There should've been a physical model for the actors to grab (à la Andy Serkis as Gollum in The lord of the rings). Don't even start me on the rats.

While Garfield has much of the feel of the comic strip (and that is Garfield's natural territory) it lacks some of the heart. Cats spend a lot of their time saying nothing (which is different from not saying anything) but Bill Murray doesn't shut up for a moment. Likewise, the script rolls on and on like a bunch of strips sellotaped end to end. There should be times when the screen is filled with enigmatic Garfield-ness, if only to give us time to think. It's all in the

timing.

But if you want a light-hearted, upbeat movie to share with your kids (or for your kids to share with the babysitter) then Garfield will do just fine. Enjoy.