A Review of The Garfield Movie: Somehow That Cat is Still Funny After All These Years
Thanks to The Garfield Movie I also know Garfield’s real name. I feel flattered to have an answer for such a mystery.
I had to bum another ride today to get my glasses fixed, so rather than go to the shop and then all the way back home, I found a movie that I wanted to watch instead. That movie was The Garfield Movie that came out recently. Once again, I had no idea what to expect. That's probably because I like to mute commercials. Run a trailer as much as you want and I’ll mute it every time... I don't want to know that shit.
This movie has been out for almost three weeks, so I wanted to catch it before it faded. I was the only person in the theater when I watched it. I ordered my food and started watching one of my favorite characters from my childhood live his life like he always did - in an Italian food haze, with a fear of spiders, and hatred of Mondays.
This story was a bit different than the others I've seen. This movie outlines the origin story of Garfield and how he "adopted" Jon Arbuckle the owner. That was a great joke that Odie rolled his eyes at. Before I go into my history with this character, let me answer the question you need to know.
Should You Watch The Garfield Movie
It depends.
If you have a history with the character and want to see a different take on Garfield's slowly diabetic life: absolutely.
If you love a good boy like Odie: most definitely.
If you have kids and are looking for a movie to get them out of your hair for an hour and a half, then you've probably seen it already and should take them one more time.
If you're not in any of those brackets, I'd say stay home or watch the Bikeriders or something. You probably prefer movies about crime. Yeah you're bad, aren't you? I bet you are. You wannabe crime boss.
I had a ton of fun with this film. Lots of classic Garfield-esque comedy. You know he's going to eat all the food. You know he's going to annoy Jon Arbuckle. You know he's going to find a way to get what he wants. What you might not know is that he's learned how to use apps to get food delivered "Now," but when you think about Garfield, that makes perfect sense. Now is always better than never.
Like Vic Like Garfield
My History With Garfield
It took this movie to remind me of how much I loved Garfield as a kid. My childhood was made by the Garfield comics as much was by Marvel comics. Until I was around 12, every time my school had a book fair I'd leave with one or two Garfield comics. It was a lot of reading to do in those fat books and I definitely got my money's worth.
Each book has a title and a number as if it were continuous… it isn’t.
I went so far back with Garfield that I knew who Odie's original owner was. He’s not in the movie but he definitely left his dog for Jon to deal with. I knew Garfield hated Mondays, and would get a pie “splut” on his face with every Monday passed. I knew how much he hated the younger, sexier cat Nermal and how he'd send him to Abu Dhabi when he got angry. I even knew the difference in art styles from the very beginning and how it changed to make Garfield more lithe and athletic, but still hella fat.
Woo wee! That’s a big ol boy right there!
My friend Billy and I would sit around all day reading Garfield books. He'd find something funny and demand I read it and I'd do the same. Garfield was everywhere! Teachers had calendars with him. There were the sticky dongles you'd slide on the windows of your car. There was a wide variety of Garfield activity books too. Garfield had a cartoon from 1988 to 1994 that featured voice actor Lorenzo Music as Garfield and contained another Jim Davis creation **U.S. Acres.** That's the show about Orson the Pig and the innertube-wearing duck, loud rooster, and sheep he lives with. I found U.S. Acres fun because I knew Jon Arbuckle's family would come from "the farm" to visit. These were often the funniest scenes in the book. I liked to think Jon's family lived with Orson the Pig.
There was this moment in time where everything was Garfield. But one day, I guess I got too old. My Garfield days ended abruptly. I don’t know if I was too focused on video games or just read too many of his books. Garfield, Odie, Orson the Pig, and them all rolled to the back of my mind along with Do the Bartman. Do you remember that song? It was written by Michael Jackson when he was set to appear on The Simpsons. Due to a label dispute instead of Michael Jackson being on the show, they made him a crazy guy who thinks he’s “Michael Jackson.” I think it's fun to be reminded of things you forgot about. It doesn't happen a lot, because forgetting something makes it hard to remember you forgot it.
Garfield says his life is perfect, but he ain’t got no daddy so what does he know?
I Promised to Tell You Garfield's Real Name
So in this movie, we see an adorable little kitten being set aside and told to wait by a much larger cat. Rather than staying put, the kitten creeps out and sees a lonely cartoonist at a nearby Italian food restaurant. The kitten crawls on the window, pressing his paws up against it. The cartoonist opens the window to give the cast some of his delicious yet overly large pizza. The kitten eats all of it. He starts purring... He’s so cute! When the cartoonist turns away, the kitten becomes an avalanche of hunger. He starts eating everything he can find while the cartoonist tries to make it seem like he’s not there. Luckily, the cartoonist bought lazagna, the kitten’s very first one. He appears in the box it’s in. The cartoonist tries to let the kitten go back to where he came from, but the little kitten doesn't want to leave and the cartoonist takes him home.
That's how Garfield “adopts” Jon Arbuckle's. Arbuckle must be rich because he leaves his apartment for a two-bedroom house, gets an Odie, and gets Garfield more food than he can eat. This means he should be eaten out of house and home, but Jon somehow makes it work.
Eventually, we get to meet Garfield's father. Along with Garfield and Odie, they are forced to do a heist for a mean (actual) cat lady and her vicious dog conspirators. Garfield's father calls him "Junior." Garfield's dad's name is Vic. He's an outdoor cat voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. So if Vic's real name is Victor and he calls Garfield, "Junior" then Garfield's name is also Victor. So I started calling him "Victor Garfield" which makes him sound like a gangster. From there these animals do a bunch of odd human-esque things (like use cell phones) as they launch the heist and solve their problems with each other and everybody else.
This movie is a reminder of how funny the concept of Garfield can be. I hope you go check it out.
