The Garfield Movie
Currently only in theaters
Runtime: 1 Hour and 41 Minutes
Rated PG
A brief history to how Garfield adopted John turns into a heist movie about an estranged father, lost love, and lots of Italian food. After Garfield is unexpectedly reunited with his father he is drug out of his perfect, cushy lifestyle and forced to go on a mission with his father to save both their lives.
Themes:
Abandonment, lasana, family, spaghetti, pets, pizza, love, breadsticks, sorrow, cheddar cheese, being pampered, going “out to pasture,” robbery, heist movies, training, betrayal, lost love, daddy issues, revenge, evil, body image, being yourself, meatballs, laziness, parmesan, dairy farms, the evils of salad, and overeating.
Language:
No curse words or religious exclamations. There is some minor name calling like, “half wit.” There is also a bull that says, “son of a cud,” yeah like what cows chew on. HA! The word “bloody,” is used once.
Stuff to be aware of:
If you see this in theaters the new Beetlejuice trailer plays before the movie. It isn’t scary per say, but Beetlejuice does make an apperance.
Sexual Things - There is a man and a woman that kiss on a television show and also a bull and a cow that kiss. When a cow and bull are reunited the song, Let’s Get It on by Marvin Gaye plays in the background. Only the beginning part of the song is played and the words, “lets get it on” never are heard because the music fades out. The bull and cow are seen falling out of the scene in an embrace and the scene goes black.
Violence - There is lots of cartoon, slapstick humor. Think Looney Tunes. Critters getting electrocuted, thrown from high places, and beat up all happen multiple times. One cat eats a talking bird. The bird is not seen again. This is done is one gulp with no gore.
Other things - Garfield is abandoned by his father in an alley. Milk is drank out of martini glasses and a character refers to them as mimosa. There is a possum that looks like he has been ran over. He is kind of gross looking, but he is in fact only playing possum.
Overall:
I guess I am getting old now because Garfield, like Miss Piggy, doesn’t sound like himself anymore. Lorenzo Music will always be the voice I hear in my head. While Chris Pratt does a good job as the overeating cat, it just seemed a bit off. Okay, enough about that….
This is a family movie at heart. This one is pretty safe, but it is also aimed squarely at kids so you won’t find many “over the kid’s heads” jokes or anything that might make an adult laugh out loud. There is lots of slapstick, Looney Tunes style humor but all done in silly fun. The story isn’t going to win any awards, but the animation is nice and smooth. My kids loved it. Adults, you won’t like this. It is not well written or creative. It also lacks the heart and humor that Garfield used to have back in day of comic strips and cartoons.
There are some fun Easter Eggs like Binky the Clown showing up in advertisements and on a cake. One character also exclaims, “Jimmy Davis.” Jim Davis is the creator of Garfield, if you didn’t know.