“The Garfield Movie” Is Childish Fun!

HOLLYWOOD—I used to watch this cartoon character religiously as a kid. I mean it was my early morning or Saturday go to cartoon next to “Scooby-Doo.” I’m referring to “Garfield.” Well, we have another animated movie for the iconic character, hell, I even think we’ve had a live-action version of this character that wasn’t that great in my opinion.

With that said, I did find myself a bit surprised by this movie. It was more entertaining than I expected and when you have kids that enjoy the movie as well that is a plus. I mean when my five-year-old niece is enamored with the movie so much to the point, that a kid who normally bounces around and has energy that is impossible to contain is entertained, the animated flick has done its job.

So let’s get into this flick which tells a backstory that quite frankly I didn’t even know existed. I’m referring to the audience learning a bit about Garfield’s backstory in terms of his actual father. Yes, I never even thought Garfield (voice of Chris Pratt) had parents, but this new take is a solid narrative. Garfield’s father is voiced by actor, Samuel L. Jackson. Look, I am going to say something that I may get plenty of heat for, but I don’t care. Jackson is not that great of an actor, even in an animated movie this guy has to yell.

I would love, just love to see Samuel L. Jackson in a movie where he is NOT allowed and doesn’t yell. It has become such an expectation it gets to the point that I feel like Jackson is just being Jackson; he’s not portraying any particular character if you want my honesty. The narrative follows Garfield as he makes his journey to locate his father Vic (Jackson) and learn a bit about how he came to be with the family that he is with that includes Jon (voice of Nicholas Hoult) and Odie (voice of Harvey Guillen).

We know the cat loves to lounge, sit and do plenty of nothing, while eating especially when it comes to lasagna which some of those scenes are quite funny. I actually laughed while watching this flick compared to the other recent animated flick “IF.” Of course the movie has an important message of family being the most important thing in life. You may not always be with the family that gave birth to you, but those who love you unconditionally those are key to your growth and maturity, which Garfield learns over time.

What he thinks he knows about his father Vic may not be all true, there might be more to the story than what he has been told or what he’s hearing. There are some fun side characters in particular Jinx (voiced by Hannah Waddingham) as an overweight cat, WAY bigger than Garfield and Jinx who has an ax to grind with Vic who left her out to dry. Her henchmen Rolan (voice of Brett Goldstein) and Nolan (voice of Bowen Yang) are hilarious too; it is always amazing when you witness those sidekick characters who are fiercely loyal to someone, but that person is not loyal to them.

Will “The Garfield Movie” change your life? No, but it  was fun, delivered some laughs and entertains both adults and children and that is what an animated movie should do.