(Potential SPOILERS lie herein. Proceed at your own risk)
"Garfield" is an attempt at re-capturing, in some degree, the feel and wit of the original comic strip bearing the same name...however, it might as well not have even been made like this because it is completely unfaithful to the strip. In its glory days, the strip told of a fat, lethargic, fun-loving cat who reveled in those qualities by booting around the ever-unaware dog Odie, keeping the unspoiled owner Jon on his feet with his prowess to devour lasagna, trapping the young kitten Nermal in his own inexperience in the cat world, and laughing as the uninterested vet Liz handily rejected every advance the lovestruck Jon made toward her.
Only the lasagna-snarfing kept some faithfulness. The other elements of what made the strip great have made this movie quite poor with their marked absence.
Perhaps since I am a big fan of the strip in its heyday, I came into this movie somewhat biased, having seen trailers combining a CG cat with a live-action dog and a cordial Liz with Jon. I believe that at least the immediate cast of animals (Odie, Nermal, Louis, and I'm assuming Arlene) should have been CG as well. A live-action Odie sans an oozing tongue and a non-stop tail made for a poor balance to a cat that is most certainly not supposed to be quicker on his feet than Odie.
Even more than that, I would have been much more partial to a well-animated 2D (hand-drawn) movie that can take advantage of its ability to invoke motion and emotion far better than this 3D incarnation did. A fair amount of Garfield's motion seems as if it was unduly rushed through production, so it made a somewhat slick movement choppy and not believable. What with the incessant corporate plugging (WAL-MART appears right in my red cross-hairs), I'd have thought the movie could be held up to higher standards of animation than the display I witnessed. Alas, it appears the resources that should have been allocated to it were wasted in the over-the-top set design. The lack of faithfulness allowed Jon's just-enough income of yesteryear morph into a computer engineering salary.
The live-action cast of characters were not given a substantial script befitting of their talents, especially the under-served Bill Murray. Though he is the only voice I could imagine taking the role over from Lorenzo Music, the producers did him no service by chalking the script full of intestinal jokes and dancing furrball scenes. He pulled off the best performance he could for the material, though. The same cannot be said for the scripts of Jon and Liz. Jon was so lovestruck and dumbhounded in the strip that Liz could see right over the top of him, especially when he lands face-down on the floor after the logistics of a failed kiss. Not here. I'm surprised the movie ended five minutes prior to their potential upcoming marriage.
Perhaps the producers should have literally hit the drawing boards to paw out a better film befitting the cartoon strip. As it is, this stinker's going to get buried and left to decompose in its own lameness.
"Garfield" gets 2 of 10 stars
"Garfield" is an attempt at re-capturing, in some degree, the feel and wit of the original comic strip bearing the same name...however, it might as well not have even been made like this because it is completely unfaithful to the strip. In its glory days, the strip told of a fat, lethargic, fun-loving cat who reveled in those qualities by booting around the ever-unaware dog Odie, keeping the unspoiled owner Jon on his feet with his prowess to devour lasagna, trapping the young kitten Nermal in his own inexperience in the cat world, and laughing as the uninterested vet Liz handily rejected every advance the lovestruck Jon made toward her.
Only the lasagna-snarfing kept some faithfulness. The other elements of what made the strip great have made this movie quite poor with their marked absence.
Perhaps since I am a big fan of the strip in its heyday, I came into this movie somewhat biased, having seen trailers combining a CG cat with a live-action dog and a cordial Liz with Jon. I believe that at least the immediate cast of animals (Odie, Nermal, Louis, and I'm assuming Arlene) should have been CG as well. A live-action Odie sans an oozing tongue and a non-stop tail made for a poor balance to a cat that is most certainly not supposed to be quicker on his feet than Odie.
Even more than that, I would have been much more partial to a well-animated 2D (hand-drawn) movie that can take advantage of its ability to invoke motion and emotion far better than this 3D incarnation did. A fair amount of Garfield's motion seems as if it was unduly rushed through production, so it made a somewhat slick movement choppy and not believable. What with the incessant corporate plugging (WAL-MART appears right in my red cross-hairs), I'd have thought the movie could be held up to higher standards of animation than the display I witnessed. Alas, it appears the resources that should have been allocated to it were wasted in the over-the-top set design. The lack of faithfulness allowed Jon's just-enough income of yesteryear morph into a computer engineering salary.
The live-action cast of characters were not given a substantial script befitting of their talents, especially the under-served Bill Murray. Though he is the only voice I could imagine taking the role over from Lorenzo Music, the producers did him no service by chalking the script full of intestinal jokes and dancing furrball scenes. He pulled off the best performance he could for the material, though. The same cannot be said for the scripts of Jon and Liz. Jon was so lovestruck and dumbhounded in the strip that Liz could see right over the top of him, especially when he lands face-down on the floor after the logistics of a failed kiss. Not here. I'm surprised the movie ended five minutes prior to their potential upcoming marriage.
Perhaps the producers should have literally hit the drawing boards to paw out a better film befitting the cartoon strip. As it is, this stinker's going to get buried and left to decompose in its own lameness.
"Garfield" gets 2 of 10 stars