‘Garfield’ A Highly Entertaining, ‘Purr-Fect’ Family Flick

Everyone’s favorite lasagna-loving, Monday hating orange cat was created by Jim Davis in 1976 when he first started to appear in comic strips. After many years of being in the comics and cartoons, Garfield finally made it onto the big screen in 2004 and 2006 with ‘Garfield: The Movie’ and ‘Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties.’ The two live-action movies were modest hits, despite the mixed critic/fan reception.

Now, Garfield and the gang are back on the big screen in a fun, animated adventure.

In ‘The Garfield Movie,’ Garfield, the world-famous cat, is about to have a wild outdoor adventure!

After an unexpected reunion with his long-lost father - scruffy street cat Vic - Garfield and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered life into joining Vic in a hilarious, high-stakes heist.

‘The Garfield Movie’ is a highly entertaining family flick that is absolutely “purr-fect” (pun intended) for both kids and their parents. Garfield’s hilarious journey really delivers some great laughs and even a little bit of heart in a few spots here and there.

This movie somewhat serves as an origin story of everyone’s favorite cat. In the opening few moments where we see Garfield all alone in the alley after Vic (his father) leaves, the scene can be a little heart-breaking - even though we know they will be reunited at some point.

The outdoor adventure that the beloved characters go through is both entertaining, and often times, hilarious. The Garfield/Vic moments can be rather funny, especially

when the heist scenes start up.

During the latter half of the movie where we see Garfield helping Vic out, we get to see a few slightly emotional parts when Garfield reminds Vic that he was abandoned and the whole story around that. Quite a few of the heist scenes, where we see the characters sneak into an upgraded farm to steal something for the film’s villain (who is after Vic), is often times hilarious and almost seems like a kid-friendly version of ‘Mission: impossible’.

Sure, ‘The Garfield Movie’ can be a little cheesy and goofy at times. But, the little ones will have a blast watching Garfield get into some crazy antics. It’s filled with fun moments, adorable and memorable characters, and a good story.

Some of the voice cast: Chris Pratt as Garfield; Samuel L. Jackson as Vic; Hannah Waddingham as Jinx; Ving Rhames as Otto; Cecily Strong as Marge Malone; Bowen Yang as Nolan; Brett Goldstein as Roland and Nicholas Hoult as Jon, among others.

‘The Garfield Movie’ is written by Paul A. Kaplan, Mark Targove and David Reynolds and directed by Mark Dindal (Chicken Little; The Emperor’s New Groove).

It was announced in May 2016 that development began for a new CG Garfield movie, seven years after 20th Century Fox (who distributed the 2004/2006 movies) let their license to the character expire. By 2021, Sony Pictures had already purchased the film rights for worldwide distribution and also revealed the voice casting of Chris Pratt as Garfield.

‘The Garfield Movie’ is rated PG for action/peril and mild thematic elements and has a running time of 101 minutes.

Make sure to keep on checking my Wyoming County Press Examiner reviews page on Facebook for any upcoming new releases I will be checking out and let me know your thoughts on Garfield’s new adventure!