Review of Garfield (2004) by Melodicvirus — 20 Nov 2022

A family film that barely resembles its source material, Garfield is a bizarre fever dream that I sort of wish never happened.

One thing I liked about this film was Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield, I think he was ultimately the best choice to play the fat cat. But he was given very little to work with in the final film, especially since the script is so poorly written. Everything else is a mixed bag, I was mostly indifferent on Garfield's CGI design but it makes little sense for other characters to have completely different appearances - particularly Nermal and Odie. It was odd to see Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love-Hewitt play both Jon and Liz respectively. They obviously didn't really look into the characters all that much, as they are played as a romantic duo as opposed to the eccentric Jon being a foil for Liz's pessimistic nature. In spite of this, there is very little comedy between the two either. Much of the comedy is displayed through Garfield, which is generally hit or miss. I hated the whole "Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink." attitude whenever it came up, but I admired the slapstick / visual humor as it works quite well for young audiences.

I can't really recommend this film for anyone above the age of 7, but it is a remarkably average film for a family viewing. Do with it as you will.