Movie Review: Garfield: The Movie

FILM REVIEW: GARFIELD: THE MOVIE

By Robert K. Elder

Chicago Tribune Staff Writer

2 stars

Although "Garfield" survives as the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world (in 2,570 newspapers) and has been inducted into the Licensing Hall of Fame, it hasn't produced a genuine giggle in a decade or more. Over the years, Garfield has become less a character and more a benign corporate logo, an orange pelt with a price tag, raising dough for creator Jim Davis's Paws, Inc. licensing company.

The cinematic "Garfield: The Movie" feels like an 82-minute commercial for Garfield: The Brand, rather than dumb cinematic fun. If not for the fresh vocal talents of Bill Murray, "Garfield: The Movie" would be beating a dead cat. Instead, director Peter Hewitt ("The Borrowers") simply pummels the final creative breath out of a comic-strip empire.

In the film, veterinarian hottie Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt) talks Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle (Breckin Meyer), into adopting a brainless dog, Odie. After the selfish orange feline sabotages Odie's welcome wagon, the pooch runs away and is captured by a sadistic, greedy TV personality (Stephen Tobolowsky) bent on cashing in on Odie's doggy dance moves. The uncharacteristically guilt-ridden Garfield then must venture outside his cul-de-sac of comfort to rescue Odie.

Voicing the lethargic "undertall" cat, Murray is perfectly cast as the only computer generated feline amongst a cast of real animals. Not only does Murray bring zing to the few non-cliche lines of dialogue that Garfield spouts (he cheats on his culinary regiment, the "Fatkins Diet"), but his half-asleep delivery echoes Lorenzo Music, who established Garfield's voice in numerous animated TV specials and commercials.

The "Garfield" script frees Jon from the sad-sack box he's been trapped in for years in the comics. Garfield, too, has undergone some cosmetic surgery. He's been declawed; the swiping humor and Monty Python meanness of his early years have been surgically removed for a PG audience - and with it, most of his appeal.

Garfield looks good in close-ups, given the software that now manages hair movement. But too often, Garfield doesn't seem to have much weight on screen or much impact on his surroundings, especially when he's interacting with his flesh-and-blood (or fur-and-blood) costars. When he's hopping around on the porch with Odie, he seems to be on the frame rather than in it.

"Garfield" isn't a bad movie, just a very bland cinematic hairball. Defenders might even justify its lowest-common-denominator approach by labeling it a "children's movie." But given the smart, double-tiered audience appeal of kiddie fare such as "Monsters, Inc." and the "Shrek" movies, we've come to expect more. Another film feline, Antonio Banderas' Puss in Boots, gets more laughs in a supporting role in "Shrek 2" than Garfield gets in his entire, self-titled movie.

When it was time, Gary Larsen bowed gracefully out of his "Far Side" strip, and Bill Watterson ended "Calvin and Hobbes" at the height of his powers. In light of Garfield's curmudgeonly 26 years of service - that's more than 100 in cat years - it might be time to for him to retire with some nice family on a farm in the country.

"Garfield: The Movie"

Directed by Peter Hewitt; screenplay by Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow; photographed by Dean Cundey; production designed by Alexander Hammond; music by Christophe Beck; edited by Peter Berger; produced by John Davis. A 20th Century Fox release; opens Friday, June 11. Running time: 1:25. MPAA rating: PG (brief mild language).

Jon Arbuckle - Breckin Meyer

Liz - Jennifer Love Hewitt

Voice of Garfield - Bill Murray

Happy Chapman - Stephen Tobolowsky

Christopher Mello - Mark Christopher Lawrence