Garfield: The Movie, also known as Garfield, is a 2004 American live-action film based on the Jim Davis comic strip of the same name. In the film, Garfield the cat was created with computer-generated imagery, though all other animals were real. The film was produced by Davis Entertainment and 20th Century Fox.

Production

The film was directed by Peter Hewitt, produced by Davis Entertainment for 20th Century Fox, and stars Breckin Meyer as Jon Arbuckle, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Dr. Liz Wilson, and features Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield.

The film was released in the United States on June 11, 2004. Reviews of the movie were generally very mixed, although Murray's voice work received some positive notices. Murray has claimed that he only took part because he was under the misguided impression the screenplay, actually co-written by Joel Cohen, was the work of Joel Coen.^[1]

Filming was at several locations including Los Angeles Union Station in downtown where the Metro Gold Line & Metro Red Line as part of the metro's hub.

Plot

Garfield is a fat, lazy cat who lives with his owner, Jon Arbuckle in a middle class American cul-de-sac. Garfield passes his time by harassing Jon and mocking a neighbor Doberman Pinscher, Luca. Aside from Jon, Garfield maintains an unlikely friendship with a mouse, Louis. He also interacts with and occasionally manipulates his fellow neighborhood cats, including the dimwitted Nermal and Garfield's his romantic interest, Arlene (who are both seen as live-action cats). Meanwhile a local television host, Happy Chapman, known for his cat "Persnikitty" is introduced as supposedly a happy man, but in reality he is jealous of his brother Walter J Chapman a news reporter, and wants to outwit him in success wise by performing on TV show Good Day New York.

Jon has made a habit of bringing Garfield to the veterinarian, hoping to woo vet Dr. Liz Wilson. Jon tries to ask her out, but due to a misunderstanding, he is given custody of a stray dog, Odie. Regardless, Jon and Liz begin dating. Garfield is displeased at having to share the house with a dog, of whom Jon grows fond. Odie is brought to a canine talent show, where Liz is a judge. Garfield gets involved in a ruckus there with other animals, which moves Odie to the center of the ring, where he begins dancing to "Hey Mama" by The Black Eyed Peas. His impromptu performance is a hit. Happy Chapman, who also is a judge of the dog show is impressed with Odie, and offers Jon a television deal for Odie, but Jon declines leaving Happy to apparently be envious of Odie.

After Garfield causes a mess inside Jon's house, Jon puts him outside, where Odie comes to comfort him. Garfield reacts by running inside and locking Odie out. Odie runs away, and is picked up by elderly Mrs. Baker. A distraught Jon works with Liz to search for him, while the neighborhood animals ridicule Garfield for what he did to Odie. Meanwhile, Chapman and his assistant find a "lost dog" found poster Mrs. Baker created, of Odie and recognizing the lucrative possibilities, claim Odie as Happy's own. When Garfield sees Odie on television and hears Chapman announce he and Odie are going to New York City by train for a big performance on Good Day New York, Garfield, realizing his selfishness, vows to intervene. Garfield leaves his house on a rescue mission for Odie. At Chapman's studio at Telegraph Tower, Garfield finds Odie captive in a room; Chapman enters and secures a shock collar to Odie, which, when activated, releases an electric discharge that forces him to perform tricks. Chapman heads for the train station, with Garfield in pursuit. However, an animal control officer snags Garfield as a runaway before he can reach Odie. Meanwhile, Jon contacts Mrs. Baker through her poster, and is told Odie's real owner had already retrieved him. Garfield is sprung from the pound by Chapman's abandoned feline star, Persnikitty who turns out to be actually named as Sir Roland.

At the train station, Chapman boards the train, with Odie in the luggage car. Garfield arrives only to see the train depart. As the train speeds away from the station, and seeing a child with a toy train engine (probably the flying Scotsman in a different shape and size) makes Garfield remembers that his train set at home is similar, so he sneaks into the control room and attempts to stop Odie's train. The tracks get rearranged, leading to an impending train wreck. Garfield hits an emergency control and causes Chapman's train to return. Garfield frees Odie and they exit the train. However Chapman notices them walk out and gives chase. Chapman corners the two, and threatens Odie with the shock collar, but is greeted by the pound animals, led by Sir Roland. They swarm and attack Chapman, allowing for Odie to escape. Chapman gets up to find the shock collar has been placed on his own neck, from which he receives two powerful jolts. Jon and Liz arrive to reclaim the animals and find Chapman off-balance. Jon punches Chapman for stealing Odie, and leaves with Liz and the two animals. Chapman is arrested for his supposed involvement with the trains, as well as for abducting Odie. Garfield regains the trust of his animal friends.

Back at home, Liz kisses Jon, while Garfield seems to have learned about friendship, love and not to envy others. He then shoves Odie off his chair repeatedly. The film closes with Garfield singing and dancing to James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)". He does a split and can't get it back up without help.

Cast

Live action actors

• Breckin Meyer as Jon Arbuckle
• Jennifer Love Hewitt as Dr. Liz Wilson
• Stephen Tobolowsky as Happy Chapman
• Evan Arnold as Wendall
• Mark Christopher Lawrence as Christopher Mello
• Eve Brent Ashe as Mrs. Baker (as Eve Brent)
• Juliette Goglia as Little Girl
• Joe Bays as Raccoon Lodge Member
• Leyna Nguyen as News Reporter
• Joe Ochman as Engineer

Garfield creator Jim Davis appeared as an uncredited drunken conventioner, but his role was cut from the final cut of the film.

Voice actors

• Bill Murray as Garfield
• Nick Cannon as Louis
• Alan Cumming as Persnikitty (he renames himself "Sir Roland")
• David Eigenberg as Nermal
• Brad Garrett as Luca
• Debra Messing as Arlene
• Richard Kind as Dad Rat
• Debra Jo Rupp as Mom Rat
• Wyatt Smith as Kid Rat #1
• Jordan Kaiser as Kid Rat #2
• Alyson Stoner as Kid Rat #3
• Jimmy Kimmel as Spanky (unnamed in the film)

Music

Baha Men performed the song "Holla!" for the film and its soundtrack. The music video premiered in early summer 2004 and featured clips from the film and gags showing obvious references to the Garfield franchise (such as lasagna jokes).

Reception

Critical reception

Garfield: The Movie was panned by critics. The movie received a "rotten" 15% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, 5 points shy of being placed on the website's "100 Worst Movies of All Time" list.^[2] Rotten Tomatoes's consensus was that "when the novelty of the CGI Garfield wears off, what's left is a simplistic kiddie movie." Yahoo! Movies critics' gave it a C-.^[3] Among the few positive critics were Roger Ebert who gave the film a "thumbs up," saying the movie was "charming."^[4] Nell Minow of Common Sense Media gave the film a positive review, saying that the film is "cat-astrophic for adults, but kids will love it." She gave the film 3 out of 5 stars.^[5]

In the film Zombieland, actor Bill Murray says he regrets having taken part in the movie. In an interview, Murray stated that he took the role, because he thought Joel Coen--not Joel Cohen--wrote the script for the film. It is unclear, however, what made him return in the sequel.

Box office

Sequel

A sequel, entitled Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, was released on June 16, 2006 in North America.

References

External links

• Garfield: The Movie at the Internet Movie Database
• Garfield: The Movie at AllRovi
• Garfield: The Movie at Box Office Mojo
• Jennifer Love Hewitt interview for Garfield