Garfield: The Movie / Jeremy C. Fox
Film Reviews | May 12, 2006 | Comments (1)
That Monday-hating, lasagna-loving, fat cat is back — and he’s come to steal your soul! OK, maybe not, but he wants $10 of your money and 90 minutes of your time, and he doesn’t plan to give you a crumb of entertainment in return.
Garfield: The Movie is a mess. The plot consists of a standard quest to save the hero’s rival (cute puppy Odie) from the villain who’s kidnapped him, with absence (and very little reason) driving sibling rivalry to evolve into loving devotion. The script is constructed around hackneyed jokes that weren’t funny the first 10 times. The animation of the title character is adequate, but never impressive, and at times it’s clear that the people and animals supposedly touching Garfield are in fact touching air. Plus all of those other animals, the dogs, the cats, the rats, and Louis, the friendly, jive-talking little mouse (voiced by Nick Cannon), are live animals, with only the most cursory CGI lips pasted on when they talk. There is no attempt to bridge the visual gulf between these normal creatures and the title cat, with his giant, perfectly round, un-catlike eyes, head, and belly.
Whenever Garfield speaks, one thought runs through my head: What the hell was Bill Murray thinking? I’m sure he didn’t consciously plan for this to be the follow-up to his Oscar-nominated performance in Lost in Translation, given that his dialogue was almost certainly recorded before that film was made, but regardless, what the hell was he thinking? He refused to reprise the role of Bosley in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle , but this he agreed to do? What the hell was he thinking?
The nadir of Murray’s performance is unquestionably his off-key singing of “New Dog State of Mind,” a truly witless reworking of Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind.” Previously, Murray has made comedic use of his toneless singing, but here it’s played straight, meant to convey the cat’s emotional state after having been displaced as the center of his owner’s attention.
In case that wasn’t painful enough, we get Murray warbling “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” when Garfield is briefly caged. And yes, he sings again later, croaking out James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good.” Someone please gag this man.
There are also several dancing cat scenes, about which the less said the better.
As Garfield’s owner, Jon, and his romantic interest, Liz, the jiggly veterinarian wardrobed exclusively in sundresses, Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt are perfectly matched. Neither of them evinces any shred of charm or talent throughout the entire film. If any actors deserve to play second fiddle to an animated cat, it’s these two. Their wooden performances match Murray’s uncommited line readings in the bad acting sweepstakes.
It’s not the writing, the acting, or the effects, so why does this movie exist at all? It must be the product placement. In a flurry of brand names previously unmatched in film, I counted, at a minimum, Iams, Petco, Wal-Mart, Wendy’s, Greyhound, and Red Lobster (endorsed by rats!), as well as clips from the TV shows “The Best Damn Sports Show Period” and “The Simpsons,” and films including Benji, Lassie, Old Yeller, Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog, and Oh, Heavenly Dog! I haven’t seen all those other movies, but it’s safe bet any of them would be a better selection than Garfield.
The little ones, being too inexperienced with moviegoing to spot every bad pun and tired joke a mile away, may enjoy Garfield, but they’ll be embarrassed about it when they get older. Anyone with the burning desire to spend time watching a talking, singing, dancing, CGI cat would be much better off catching Antonio Banderas’ brilliant performance as Puss ‘n Boots in Shrek II. The acting, the animation, the writing — oh hell, everything about it is much, much better than Garfield.
Jeremy C. Fox is a founding critic of Pajiba and a member of the Online Film Critics Society.You may email him at jeremycfox[at]gmail.com.
Comments
Posted by: Mike Stranger at March 16, 2007 4:23 PM
Thanks 123 adware