The Garfield Movie: A Lazy, Unoriginal Mess
As I sat through the latest cinematic abomination, I couldn’t help but think of the disdain many had when Chris Pratt was announced as the voice of Mario in last year’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Similarly, Pratt’s involvement in The Garfield Movie has done little to warm audiences to him, and it’s easy to see why.
Chris Pratt’s lackluster performance as Garfield
Unlike Mario, where they at least had a decent gag referencing Pratt’s lack of Italian nationality, The Garfield Movie is just Pratt being Pratt, injecting no ounce of characterization into a figure that appears more lazy than empirically drained. Not that we would entirely forgive Pratt’s vocal work for his disconnection from the character in a better movie, but a story of worth from screenwriters who cared about their credits could have helped soften the blow.
Garfield, the lazy cat
The dysfunctional relationship between Garfield and Jon that made up so much of the original comic strip is nowhere to be seen. In fact, Jon himself, voiced by Nicholas Hoult, is mostly an afterthought of the film, with Garfield’s tale adopting a heist movie mentality that revolves around his long-lost father (Samuel L. Jackson), a scheming cat (Hannah Waddingham) intent on exploiting their relationship for her own revenge purposes, and, somehow, a bull (Ving Rhames) who helps orchestrate the savior of his beloved from a dairy factory.
A heist movie mentality that falls flat
And if seeing all those talented names wasn’t enough to send you into a spiral of depression, Snoop Dogg, Bowen Yang, Angus Cloud, Janelle James, Brett Goldstein, Harvey Guillén (absolutely wasted as canine sidekick Odie), and Cecily Strong are also roped in on this mess of a movie that can’t decide just who exactly it wants to cater to.
Talented names wasted in a mess of a movie
The Garfield Movie’s biggest problem is its identity. Aside from its story that feels so haphazardly constructed, the film’s humor sits in an odd pocket where it can’t decipher if it wants to appeal to children or the adults dragged along out of necessity. Jokes about fast food delivery apps, dating apps, and anxiety don’t exactly speak to the young tykes there to see a grumpy cat, and even with all the distracting action taking place on screen, none of it seemed to land with the children in the audience.
Jokes that fall flat
I’ll happily put my hand up and say a film isn’t for me, but if it’s hitting with the target market, then who am I to take away such a recommendation? But the reaction was more tumbleweeds than tummies rumbling with laughter. And if you’re not even making kids laugh, arguably the easiest audience to entertain when it comes to animation, what’s even the point?
A reaction that’s more tumbleweeds than laughter
On the positive side of things, it’s an appealing film to look at in terms of its animation, which shouldn’t come as a surprise when you know director Mark Dindal has worked in the animation department for such productions as Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Chicken Little. But vibrant visuals should almost be a given, so achieving the bare requirement hardly constitutes a reward for a film that seems to hate its audience as much as its subject hates Mondays.
Vibrant visuals that can’t save the film
ONE STAR (OUT OF FIVE)
