Movie Thoughts: The Garfield Movie (2024)

• Released: May 1, 2024
  
• Directed by: Mark Dindal
• Running time: 1h 41min
• Rating 2.5/5

Synopsis

Garfield and Odie, together with Garfield's father Vic, wind up in a situation where they have to steal a huge amount of milk to please a crazy Persian cat threatening them.

My Thoughts

Wanted to see this one but I did not have very high hopes going in. In case you don't know this of me, I'm just not a huge fan of the Garfield brand. I find the art-style to be unappealing and Garfield isn't a very likable or interesting character to me. The lazy cat stereotype is overplayed as hell and I don't care much for it.

Aaaannd yeah, this movie really does nothing to change my perspective on that. Garfield is still a lazy cat and the artstyle, while visually a slight bit more polished, still looks like the same Garfield art-style we're so used to. Give the early 2000s Garfield CGI-live action hybrid some credit, at least there Garfield looks vagluely catlike. In the current Jim Davis art-style the cats barely look like cats and the dogs barely look like dogs. Which I need for my xenofiction film, I want to look at an actual animal and not a cartoon that barely looks like the subject in question. I know that this is 100% a personal preference and for most people the art-style probably isn't an issue, but it kept taking me out of the movie. 

That aside, the movie is nothing special. It's a very basic story about Garfield needing to reconnect with his father over this crazy mission. There's some emotional ups and downs, a big epic climax, and all is well. Garfield forgives Vic for being an absentee father and everyone lives happily ever after.

But this story again really didn't do anything for me. I could predict where things were going and none of the emotional beats hit for me because of this. I didn't care about the characters so why should I care about their emotional moments or when they are in peril? The only character I remotely found myself enjoying was Odie. The rest I could care less about.

The development in Garfield also doesn't make that much sense. Not the part where he forgives Vic, I can see that happening. But he literally goes from being lazy and incapable to being a capable hero with no transition. There is no scene in the movie where he slowly starts to become more agile and coordinated and competent, he just suddenly becomes this for the sake of the climax. Which just felt lazy. 

Overall the animation was really good though (even if I don't like the visual style) and I thought the voice acting was solid even if Pratt isn't a very good Garfield. I need to make it clear I do not hate this movie despite how negative this post is, but this is mostly because it barely left an impression on me and the only things that did leave an impression were negative. It's a very "meh" movie for me. Not an offensive or a bad one, but just one you put on to keep your kids quiet for an hour and a half. I just don't think there's really anything here to appreciate other than some good animation and voice work.