Garfield the Movie
Garfield the Movie
| Bill Murray is perhaps the best choice in the world for the voice of Garfield. Who else carries that world-weary weight, has that "always tired" quality to his voice, epitomizes aloofness as well as Murray? Bill Murray basically carries this movie, and you never even get to see him - he's voicing the 3D animated Garfield, a cartoon in a movie full of actual humans. Garfield the Movie has genuinely funny moments, and the film is entertaining from beginning to end.
Jon Arbuckle is played by Breckin Meyer, who is kind of a poor-man's Seth Green. Breckin doesn't do anything wrong in the film, but he does not wear that subtle downtrodden-but-hopeful quality of Jon as well as he should. Still, he does a good job. Jennifer Love Hewitt plays Liz Wilson, an old high-school friend and now veterinarian that introduces Jon to Odie the dog. In the comic strip, women are not really much more than artifices that exist to deliver punishment and disappointment to Jon. This works in a comedic sense for a three-panel cartoon strip, but the role of womankind was sensibly expanded for the movie proper. Hewitt as Liz is an actual person, and does not exist solely to proffer one-liners and insults to Jon - she actually cares. Liz in fact has a bit of a crush on Jon, and this works in terms of the actual chemistry that exists between Meyer and Lewis. You can tell they like each other, and it makes the movie better for it. |
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So what is the story of the Garfield film? Well, Odie, being Odie, gets involved in a mix-up where he is taken away from his new home in the Arbuckle household. Poor Odie. Garfield eventually helps to save him, and laughter and adventure abounds.
Garfield the movie works well and it's a fun experience. Kids (and kids at heart) will enjoy some of the silly shenanigans, and Bill Murray's voice is a treat - as a film, or as a comic, Garfield delivers!
Garfield Movie Trivia: Garfield is the only 3D / CGI animal in the movie. Odie, for example, doesn't look like Odie from the strip. The movie logic is that since Odie doesn't talk like Garfield does, the director and writers made the decision to cast Odie as a real dog. Arelene is a regular cat too, sans pink lipstick. Nermal is a regular housecat too. All the fan favorites are there, they just look a little different!
More about the Garfield Movie Sequel here!
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