Garfield (2004)

Jon Arbuckle buys a second pet, a dog named Odie. However, Odie is then abducted and it is up to Jon's cat, Garfield, to find and rescue the canine.

Director:

Peter Hewitt

Writers:

Jim Davis (comic strip "Garfield"), Joel Cohen,

Stars:

Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Stephen Tobolowsky

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Breckin Meyer	...	Jon
Jennifer Love Hewitt	...	Liz
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Happy Chapman
Bill Murray	...	Garfield (voice)
Evan Arnold	...	Wendell
Mark Christopher Lawrence	...	Christopher Mello
Vanessa Christelle	...	Miss Ace Hardware
Daamen J. Krall	...	Announcer (as Daamen Krall)
Rufus Gifford	...	Dog Owner #1
Randee Reicher	...	Dog Owner #2
Ryan McKasson	...	Dog Owner #3
Susan Moore	...	Dog Owner #4
Eve Brent	...	Mrs. Baker
Bill Hoag	...	Roy the Lodge Member
Michael Monks	...	Deputy Hopkins

Storyline

Garfield, the fat, lazy, lasagna lover, has everything a cat could want. But when Jon, in an effort to impress the Liz - the vet and an old high-school crush - adopts a dog named Odie and brings him home, Garfield gets the one thing he doesn't want. Competition. One night Odie runs away and gets dog-napped after Garfield locks him outside. Garfield, in an out of character move, goes to search for and rescue Odie with the help of a variety of animal friends along the way.

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Plot Keywords:

dog | cat | lasagna | veterinarian | kellogg's frosted flakes | 

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Taglines:

coming to theatres 2004... whenever he wants

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for brief mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Fox France [fr] Official site [br]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 June 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Garfield: The Movie

Filming Locations:

Elm Street, Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$849,745 (Italy) (24 September 2004)

Gross:

$1,496,587 (South Africa) (5 November 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Davis Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the film, Jon adopts Odie from his vet Liz's animal hospital. In the comic strip, Odie was originally the pet of Jon's friend Lyman.

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Goofs

When Happy Chapman throws his antiallergic medicine on the table in his bureau, it disappears in subsequent shots.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Garfield: I hate Mondays.

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Crazy Credits

During the end credits, there are still photos.

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Connections

Follows Garfield in the Rough (1984)

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Soundtracks

"Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog"
(1995)
Theme from the motion picture composed by John Scott
Courtesy of JOS Records

User Reviews

Jim Davis would be rolling in his grave, if he was dead

You would think that Hollywood would learn from such wastes of film as Scooby Doo that attempting to turn cartoon franchises into live action movies is a very bad idea. Apparently, they haven't learned yet, and thus, Garfield has been released.

Every single actor's performance in this movie was god awful, to begin with. I realize they weren't working with a golden script, but it was very blatant that nobody was even trying. Now, I expect half-assed acting from Jennifer Love Hewitt, who's only in Hollywood because of her looks, but Bill Murray's poor performance as the voice of Garfield was pitiful. It was sad, too, because Murray is usually a very funny guy.

As well, it was pretty dumb to have a CGI Garfield but have a normal dog for Odie. Instead of computer animation, they used some measly mutt that looks nothing like the cartoon dog and had it dancing on it's hind legs while listening to the Black Eyed Peas. I really wish I was making that up, folks, but I'm not. That part is actually in the movie, and lasts for the entire duration of the song.

Towards the end of the movie, Garfield dances to another song that's been used in about eighty seven billion other movies. Yeah, you guessed right; James Brown's stupid song that's like "I feeeeeel good!" I think it was trying to be funny, but it just wasn't. The same goes for every other joke in the movie. Not funny. Just not funny.

I guess you could understand why somebody who's been reading the comic strip for over a decade would be disappointed with this movie, but it would be just as bad for anyone who's never seen it once. Pathetic CGI animation, such as hands going through Garfield when people go to pick him up, ensures that this movie doesn't even get any visual eye candy. There are absolutely no pros to watch this movie, but so many cons that an educated mathematician would lose count if he tried to keep track of them all. Avoid this movie at all costs.