Garfield | | Cast : | Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Stephen Tobolowsky | | Director : | Peter Hewitt | | Studio : | Fox Home Entertainme | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | June 11, 2004 | | DVD Released Date : | October 19, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 20, 2005 | | Summary | One of the Best Movies Ever. | Content
 | This is one of the best movies I have ever seen in my life! |
| Rating | | | Date | August 15, 2005 | | Summary | GARFIELD The Movie on DVD | Content
| In 1978, cartoonist Jim Henson.. or rather Jim Davis came up with a cartoon comic strip cat that he named Garfield.
In 1983, a cat lover since boyhood- while confined on some hospital, a fellow inmate or rather the-kid-right-beside me lend his VIEW MASTER viewer (you know those snap and slide 3d picture viewer toys back in the seventies) loaded with a GARFIELD disc which eventually got me hooked to this great fat cat even since, all before this creation by Jim Davis became really that popular .. and by '87, I was at the peak of being a Garfield fanatic back then.
And thus to finally see GARFIELD in his first major motion pic is quite a treat, but then again- it so turned out that this movie rendition of the beloved cat falls so bland, granted that its nothing more but another commercial foil to line with the likes of the many disappointing cartoon/comic/strip adaptations such as that 80's Dennis The Menace- where the talent of the late Walter Matthau's completely wasted in the fitting role as Mr. Wilson. (more on the list later)
What wind up with this adaptation other than that the story which went on for the movie is not so well thought-out - it's that a lot of the characters have turned into a pale depiction against the comic strip basis. Garfield's owner Jon Arbuckle (played here by one i thought was the same guy who played Shaggy in that yet-another disappointing cartoon movie adaptation SCOOBY DOO) could've been well portrayed by John Lithgow, whilst Jon's love interest, the grumpy vet Liz (portrayed here by Jennifer Love Hewitt) would've been well if they maintained the character faithful to what the strips are.
Odie don't look like Odie. Nermul (that kitten who'd often steal the show from Garfield), is just not Nermul. And like a spoiled brat.. er, kid who just didn't get what he wants! I'm just so totally disappointed of this movie to the point of temper tantrums.
It's clever that they have Bill Murray to play the voice of Garfield - when its peculiar that Bill Murray's character in the cartoon rendition of the GHOSTBUSTER flick is voiced by Lorenzo Music who also did the voice for Garfield on the cartoon features, including that good cartoon series GARFIELD & Friends.
Musical-wise, this should've incorporated what they have started in the company of the cartoon features, and even more so - those that level well with Bacharach. But I guess the people who created this movie adaptation dont really know the material that they have in their hands.
There's a scene where GARFIELD sang a song rendered as 'New Dog State of Mind' which is a very lame alteration of a BILLY JOEL song called 'New York State of Mind' -- totally it went flat (no pun intended).
However, the DVD contains the following features =
* feature lenght audio commentary Peter Hewitt (director) and John Hewitt (producer)
* behind-the-scenes feature: GARFIELD- Bringing the Cat To Life
* Multi-angle content: Jim Davis talks about creating Garfield
* "Gone Nutty" (ICE AGE spin-off featurette)
* Inside Look ( a featurette from the creators new project ROBOTS)
* Deleted Scenes
* Multi-language subtitles
* Scene Access menu
and ~ * Two 'virtual' games
As for the other disappointing comic/cartoon based movie adaptations - we have =
POPEYE (starring Robin Williams)
THE SHADOW
JUDGE DREDD (Stallone said so himself)
SPIDERMAN (late 70's TV)
CAPTAIN AMERICA
RICHIE RICH (this is one the most above it all)
STEEL
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (where the Turtles' personalities turned into some bunch of homies from brooklyn; and at worst! there's Vanilla Ice)
SCOOBY DOO
DENNIS THE MENACE
DAREDEVIL (put ELEKTRA as well on its side)
THE HULK (where good-ol' greenbag turns as big as King Kong (talk about over-doing))
and THE MASK
I guess for these movie adaptations whether based from another source such as a tv or movie feature, including those that've taken their sources from other cartoon, comics, or books series - one of the best adaptation that've surfaced is that of THE LITTLE RASCALS - I don't care what the detractors and/or critics would have to say, but whatever it is they stank to smell only from the stench of them purists.
RATING:
Movie Feature= 2 out of 10
DVD Extra features= 3 out of 5
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| Rating | | | Date | August 12, 2005 | | Summary | A Good Effort! | Content
| I decided to see this movie, mainly because I loved the comic and the TV show, and decided not to give in to all the negative reviews that it was being bombarded with. After watching the movie, I can say that even though it wasn't the best movie that I saw, it certainly isn't that bad as people claim it to be.
The story is about Garfield, the lovable cat, enjoying his life as usual, with his food and TV (and Jon to an extent). Jon (Breckin Meyer) has a crush on Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt), Garfield's veterinarian, who asks him to take Odie the dog and watch over him. Garfield feels threatened by Odie, as Odie is loved by everyone and seems to be invading Garfield's space, so Garfield decides to get rid of him. But once gone, Garfield feels guilty and goes on a mission to save his friend.
The credit firstly should go to the special effects people who created the 3d version of Garfield. I think they did a terrific job in making Garfield look as realistic as possible. Furthermore, people ridiculing the cast such as Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt should stop and consider the fact that these people had to portray emotions to a cat and a dog that actually didn't exist, and were created digitally. It's not easy acting out a role against an imaginary cat on set, and I think the cast did an excellent job on it! Sure, it's not an Oscar performance, but it should certainly not be mocked at. I think Bill Murray did a good job on providing the voice for Garfield. What does everyone expect? Garfield is supposed to sound bored and sarcastic, not yodel for everyone, and I think Bill Murray did a good job on that. The rest of the cast acted sufficiently.
Probably the only disappointment that I had in this movie was the dancing showdown between Garfield and Odie, which became a little annoying after a few seconds. If felt like Peter Hewitt, the director of this movie, was purposely trying to stretch it by adding the dancing sequence. Apart from that, I found the movie to be fun and quirky.
I guess people expected too much from this movie, considering the popularity of the comics and the TV show, which is why almost everyone trashed it. But if you watch this movie without any expectations, then you will be pleasantly surprised to liking Garfield: The Movie. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 08, 2005 | | Summary | Now the cat gets his turn | Content
| So far we have live action versions of Popeye, Scooby Doo, and the Flintstones, and now comes Garfield. Which almost all the characters from the show is seen, expect for pretty Binky, the Farm Animals, Al Swindler, Cactus Jake, and any of the other characters from the show that I am not thinking about, or so on the imdb's page from the show. Garfield looks animated, while it looks like a real dog is playing Odie. What they couldn't find a lot of orange fat cats to play Garfield? What could be next a live action movie of the Jetsons, I wonder who they will cast in that role. In the movie Garfield (Bill Murray replacing the late Lorenzo Music) lives with his owner Jon (Breckin Meyer). But then veterinarian Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt) gives Odie to Jon to take home, and Garfield is not happy about this, and why would a cat be? So one night, Garfield is kicked outside, and before we know it Odie join him outside, and Odie's stuck outside, where he runs away from home, and is kidnapped by a tv show host (Stephen Tobolowsky). You can idmange what it will be like in the morning, but then Garfield realzies it is up to him to save his new housemate. Garfield and Freinds plays in repeats on Toon Disney, so if the kids like this, the introuce them to the show, this movie doesn't have a lot of humor of it to get the critics to hate it, but I am still going to give it a good review through, it seems to me that I love movies like this, but how many more live action movie can we take from an animated tv series, is it wearing out its welcome, it never had? |
| Rating | | | Date | August 08, 2005 | | Summary | If this is a turkey, then I'll take a triple portion :) | Content
| I desperately wanted to love this movie. I read all the damning reviews and heard all the negative word of mouth, but clung to my belief that it would be better than everyone seemed to be saying.
So, after all the bad press what's the verdict? Well, I am a loss to understand why the first Scooby Doo was successful enough to get a sequel and yet this cute vehicle starring the lovable, lazy kitty got slammed both critically and commercially.
Don't get me wrong, I like Scooby and the Mystery Inc. group. But any movie that features the (still) incredible looking Jennifer Love Hewitt and Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield is definitely far from as bad as people say.
Okay, let me put in a disclaimer here. I have a weakness of anything with JLH in it - how else can the fact that I liked "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" be explained?
Back on subject, produced by Garfield's creator Jim Davis and starring Breckin Meyer of "Road Trip" and "Rat Race" fame as Garfield's owner Jon, this movie faithfully sticks to the formula that has made Garfield a cultural icon.
The voice of Bill Murray seems to flawlessly fit into the previous Garfield voice of the late Lorenzo Music. Murray triumphs in so perfectly capturing the qualities that Music endowed in the characters television appearances that, put side-by-side one simply cannot tell that the same person didn;'t do the voice of Garfield.
Here we have what could be considered an beginning story. The movie opens with Garfield as ruler of the roost, comfortable and content to be Jon's sole pet. This set of circumstances is soon threatened however when Jon smitten with sexy veterinarian Liz (played by Jennifer Love Hewitt) asks him to take in the talented pooch Odie.
Horror-stricken Garfield does everything to make Odie unhappy, but the dog remains committed to trying to be friends with Garfield - even joinging him on the porch once Garfield is banished from the house.
It is here that GARIFIELD takes a page out of TOY STORY in which a shunned Garfield is forced to rescue Odie from the clutches of an evil television host Happy Chapman who uses an electric shock-collar on Odie to make him perform tricks.
Special mention here goes to Stephen Tobolowsky who plays Chapman. He plays the part just right for the material here, nicely overacted with just the right amount of sneering menace. For the life of me I could not remember what I had seen him in, until I remembered his part of the nerdy game developer whose voice provides the team in one of my favorite spy movies SNEAKERS with access to the villains lair.
The movie is played with such good humor, some true laughs and such a likeable cast of characters (both human, animal and CGI) that its impossible for me to resist its charm. I was caught up in the entire plot and It made me a happy camper. And at a short 82 minutes my only regret was that it was not longer.
Far better than you may have thought, give this DVD a spin and see for yourself. |
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