When this movie had special screenings in the past few days at certain cinemas, I was busy with a lot of things and only managed to see it yesterday with my wife. It was in the studio that we seldom go to, but it was quite convenient for us. Anyway I'll just get on with the film then.

Brief Story Line

Garfield (Chris Pratt - The Super Mario Bros. Movie, The Terminal List TV series etc) was a large and lazy orange cat who had been living with his owner Jon (Nicholas Hoult - The Menu, Those Who Wish Me Dead etc) and Odie the beagle dog (Harvey Guillén - What We Do in the Shadows TV series etc) for years. However his perfect life was turned upside down when Garfield's father Vic (Samuel L. Jackson - Secret Invasion mini series, Argylle etc) who had abandoned him for years suddenly appeared. Turned out Vic had been in an altercation with the Persian cat Jinx (Hannah Waddingham - The Fall Guy etc) and she forced Vic, Garfield and Odie to perform a crime.

The trio then embarked on a journey to do this task while being watched by Jinx's henchmen, Roland (Brett Goldstein - Ted Lasso TV series etc) and Nolan (Bowen Yang - The Monkey King 2023 animated version etc). Meanwhile Jon also realized that Garfield and Odie were missing and was getting worried.

So what would happen to Garfield, Odie and Vic? And how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

So this movie was exactly as I predicted. It showed Garfield's behavior that would make you shake your head and laugh out loud. From his extreme laziness, large appetite for Italian food, manipulating of Odie to do things for him and many more. Basically all his distinct characteristics that you would have been familiar with if you are fan of his comic strip created by Jim Davis, like my wife. She really had lots of fun watching this movie.

The thing that I liked about the film was the animation that I felt was greatly done as Garfield, Jon and Odie fully resembled their comic book version. I also like the voice acting especially Chris Pratt and Samuel L. Jackson who voiced Garfield and Vic. What surprised me though was the existence of some heartwarming moments which was definitely a plus point for me, in addition to the cuteness of Garfield when he was just a kitten. Personally to me the additional characters were OK to give more color, but they were not exactly that interesting. Obviously the stars of the movie would be the three original main characters.

Other than the ones I mentioned above, there were few new characters introduced here such as Otto the bull (voiced by Ving Rhames - Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 etc), animal control worker Marge (Cecily Strong - Leo etc) and few others. There were even names like Snoop Dogg and the late Angus Cloud (Abigail etc) as support voice cast and famous Hong Kong star Louis Koo as one of the Executive Producer. The movie itself was directed by Mark Dindal who was experienced in directing animated films like The Emperor's New Groove and Chicken Little. Unsurprisingly, the movie was not appreciated by critics who deemed it not faithful enough to the comic, especially making Garfield into a cat full of action. Honestly I was not that excited either and sometimes I felt the action was a bit too much, but the relationship between him and Jon, Odie & Vic was pretty nice to watch and it did grew on me. I guess the movie maker wanted to please the younger kids, although it might make Garfield seem a bit out of character.

Overall this was a funny and entertaining enough animated movie. Those looking for fun without overthinking would be satisfied like me and my wife. But if your preference is the classic Garfield that only wanted to lie down, gave sarcastic comments and did the extreme on Jon and Odie, then you won't find too much of them here cause this Garfield was sweeter and more considerate towards others. It is definitely fun and enjoyable for kids or adults who are very young at heart. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars