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Stars:
Jennifer Love Hewitt, Breckin Meyer, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Bill Murray as the
voice of Garfield
Writers:
Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow
Based
On Characters Created By: Jim Davis
Director:
Pete Hewitt
Feature length: 82
minutes
Extras: Filmmaker
Commentary, Sneak Peek Featurette
Languages: English
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and French and Spanish Language Dolby Surround
Sound
Subtitles: English
Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging: Amaray
Keep Case
Chapter Stops: 28
Sound: Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year of Theatrical
Release: 2004/DVD Release: 2004
Theatrical
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Home Video
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA Rating: PG
Reviewer: Mark A.
Rivera
“Garfield,”
the chubby, wisecracking, cute as a button, lasagna loving cat is brought to
life on the big screen through the magic of CGI in this live action adaptation
of the popular comic strip. Though he does not exactly fit in with the live
action animals around him, let alone the people, I think the filmmakers did a
better than average job with bringing the character onto the big screen as is.
Bill Murray is a good choice for the character’s voice, and there is cuteness
in watching the CGI Garfield interact within his environment. Where the film
falters a bit is in the story regarding Odie, Garfield’s rather dimwitted, but
ever-loving canine pal, being kidnapped. I would have rather just seen a
contemporary film with Garfield and Odie getting into trouble around the house
as is. The love interest relationship between Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character
and Breckin Meyer’s character may not carry any real onscreen chemistry, but I
don’t think anyone looking for a real romantic film will rent or buy
“Garfield The Movie” expecting to see that. This is really a kid’s film
the whole family can watch and enjoy. I just think the story might have been
funnier if we stayed within Garfield’s world since the idea of his owner not
only bringing a new pet into the house, but a love interest should be enough to
bring the character’s best comic strip moments to life. The other misstep in
the film is the fact that the dog used to play Odie is so adorable that he
steals the film away from Garfield in every scene they share. In fact I enjoyed
watching Odie more at times because I am an animal lover and I especially love
dogs and the canine they got to play Odie is just so cute, he reminds me of my
own mutt back home.
Presented with the
choice of either an anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio or a full screen
(1.33:1) full screen aspect ratio on the same dual layered disc, “Garfield The
Movie” looks as pleasant and bright as a fine summer day. The English Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is well mixed and there are also French and
Spanish Language Dolby Surround Soundtracks as well as English Captions and
Closed Captions for the hearing impaired and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded
as options.
In addition to a
feature length audio commentary with Director Peter Hewitt and Producer John
Davis, there are two music videos (5:51), and a promotional featurette for the
upcoming CGI animated feature “Robots” (4:21). The main menu features a CGI
Garfield dancing onscreen and all of the interactive menus are easy to navigate.
“Garfield The Movie” is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and
offline courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
© Copyright 2004
By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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