What is Garfield (film)?

Garfield
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Hewitt
Produced by	John Davis
Written by	Joel Cohen & Alec Sokolow Jim Davis (Garfield creator)
Starring	Breckin Meyer Jennifer Love Hewitt Stephen Tobolowsky Bill Murray (voice)
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	June 11, 2004
Running time	85 minutes
Language	English
Budget	US$50,000,000
Followed by	(2006)
IMDb profile

Garfield (also known as Garfield: The Movie) is a 2004 live-action movie based on the Jim Davis comic strip Garfield. In this movie, Garfield the cat was created with computer-generated imagery, though all other animals were real.

The movie was directed by Peter Hewitt, produced by Davis Entertainment for 20th Century Fox, and stars Breckin Meyer as Jon Arbuckle, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Dr. Liz Wilson, and features Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield.

The movie was released in the United States on June 11, 2004. Reviews of the movie were generally very negative, although Murray's voice work received some positive notices.

A sequel, , was released in movie theatres on June 16, 2006 in North America.

Summary

The movie for the most part follows the comics. Garfield is a fat, lazy, and clever cat who hates Mondays and eats a lot. One day, his owner Jon takes him to the vet. There, they meet a homeless puppy, Odie (portrayed as a "normal" house dog). Dr. Liz Wilson tells Jon that Odie will be taken to the pound if nobody claims him, so Jon brings him home, much to Garfield's chagrin (in this film adaptation, Liz is portrayed as Jon's love interest). He attempts to expel Odie from Jon's house, but finds a minor kinship with the dog. One day, Jon and Liz go out to a dog show with Odie. Odie steals the show with his dancing (accompanied by the Black Eyed Peas), which does not go unnoticed by Happy Chapman, a nasty television host who features house pets and desperately tries to upstage his newscaster brother (played by the same person, Stephen Tobolowsky). He offers to put Odie on his show. Jon refuses. One night Odie gets lost (after Garfield lets him out) and Garfield had a lot of explaining to do to Arlene and Nermal, and Odie's kidnapped by Happy Chapman. Garfield, together with Louis, one of Jon's pesky house mice, Persnikitty, Happy Chapman's ex- cat, and other characters, set out to rescue Odie, although Garfield is seemingly indifferent at first ("Nermal" and "Arlene" [both are briefly named in the film] resort to shaming Garfield and attempt to make him feel guilty in order to get him to help), but Garfield decides to rescue Odie all on his own.

Reception

The movie was released with huge backlash from many critics. The movie received a "rotten" 13% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, 4 points shy of being placed on the websites' "100 Worst Movies of All Time" list. ^[1]

IMDb gave it 6 out of 10 stars, while users gave it a rating of 4.7.^[2] Yahoo! Movies critics' gave it a C-.^[3]

Overall, a majority of critics called it strictly a "kiddies' movie".

Color and Print

• Technicolor

Box office

First Week Gross	US$	21,727,611
Domestic	US$	75,369,589
Non-Domestic	US$	123,595,312
World-Wide	US$	198,964,901

Differences

• In the movie, Liz is portrayed as Jon's love interest, which is significantly different from her comic portrayal (until July 26, 2006), in which she essentially "hates Jon's guts", repelling Jon's advances and insisting on keeping the relationship professional (although they did date in one episode of Garfield and Friends). Jon's entire romantic life in the comics is a series of cancelled or failed dates.
• Although Garfield retains his original design (rendered in CGI), all other characters are portrayed as normal animals.
• Nermal is portrayed as an older gullible cat who is a playmate of Garfield. In the comic strip, he is a vain kitten that often visits Garfield to remind him of his old age, usually on or near his birthday, which usually results with Garfield doing something to him.
• In the comic strip and animated series, Garfield is portrayed as an extremely lazy cat, seen mostly sleeping or eating. In the movie, Garfield can be seen dancing, running, jumping, and making a lot of other movement (this was also in common with the television cartoon Garfield and Friends).
• Jon got Odie from Liz in the movie. In the strip, Lyman showed up with Odie in tow.
• Odie in the film is a dachshund mix. In the comic strip, Odie is a beagle with a black spot on his side.
• Arlene's fur was dark gray instead of pink. Nermal's colour was different too, as his fur was dark brown/white. His original colour was light gray.
• Garfield mentions Jon not being able to understand what he's saying. However, in the comic and the TV show, Jon seems to be able to understand Garfield, at least occasionally.
• Arlene in the film appears to be more of Garfield's friend whereas in the comic, she is his love interest.
• In the comics and cartoons, the animals did thought speech. In the films, the animals talk for real.
• In the comics and TV series, Jon is portrayed as a nerdy loser with very little success in love. In the movie, he is no longer portrayed as a loser, has a good relationship with Liz and even knocks-out the antagonist, Happy Chapman, in one punch.

Trivia

• There is a considerable amount of product placement in the film. For instance, Jon drives a green 2004 Volvo S60 (instead of his red sedan from the comics), uses an Apple Macintosh and buys pet food and supplies from Petco. There are also products from Kellogg's (Frosted Flakes and Apple Jacks) and General Mills (Cocoa Puffs) and a 12-pack of Pepsi Blue, and commercials for Wendy's and Wal-Mart on the TV, among others. Garfield in one scene chows down on "Flavor Blasted Goldfish". Major transportation companies, such as Amtrak and Greyhound, also appear. Also, when Jon said to Garfield, "You're going somewhere that always makes you happy", one of Garfield's guesses was Chuck E. Cheese's, Olive Garden, and Wendy's. During the dog show, a sign for Ace Hardware could be seen when Garfield was being chased by the dogs.
• The movie was shot in suburb Detroit, Michigan.
• All the scenes, such as those involving dancing, utilised motion capture to render Garfield.
• A dwarf wore a motion capture suit to portray Garfield when he pushed Odie off of the couch in the last scene.
• The song "Old Time Rock 'n Roll" by Bob Seger was featured in the trailer, but did not appear once in the film; the use of the song in the trailer, set to Garfield's dance scenes, was an homage to Tom Cruise's classic dance number to the song in the 1983 film Risky Business.
• "Gone Nutty", shown on Ice Age DVD, preceded the movie and also on the Purrrfect Collector's Edition on DVD
• As a joke on the fact there was another movie about a famous cat, the movie's tagline is "It ain't The Cat in the Hat."
• This film reunites Bill Murray and Stephen Tobolowsky although they're never on screen together (Murray voices Garfield).
• Bill Murray played Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters, who was then played on The Real Ghostbusters by Lorenzo Music; Music also voiced the cartoon cat Garfield in Garfield and Friends who was then voiced in the movie by Bill Murray.
• Jim Davis had a cameo as the leader of a club in an unfinished scene that was to show Garfield sneaking into the bus.
• DJ, the dog who played Demon & Max in the movies Eight Below and Snow Dogs makes a brief cameo appearance.

Cast

• Breckin Meyer - Jon Arbuckle
• Jennifer Love Hewitt - Dr. Liz Wilson
• Stephen Tobolowsky - Happy Chapman
• Bill Murray - Voice of Garfield
• Evan Arnold - Wendall
• Mark Christopher Lawrence - Christopher Melo
• Nick Cannon - Voice of Louis
• Alan Cumming - Voice of Persnikitty
• David Eigenberg - Voice of "Nermal"
• Brad Garrett - Voice of Luca
• Debra Messing - Voice of "Arlene"
• Vanessa Christelle - Miss True-Value
• Daamen Krall - Announcer
• Rufus Gifford - Dog Owner #1
• Randee Richer - Dog Owner #2
• Ryan McKasson - Dog Owner #3
• Susan Moore - Dog Owner #4
• Eve Brent - Mrs. Baker
• Bill Hoag - Roy the Lodge Member
• Michael Monks - Deputy Hopkins
• Mel Rodriguez - Security Officer
• Juliette Goglia - Little Girl
• Ben Kronen - Older Man
• Fabio Serafini - Red Cap
• Jerry Hauck - Cop
• Jerry Giles - Conductor
• Evan Helmuth - Stewart
• Annalea Rawicz - Information Agent
• Danny Gil - Engineer #1
• Frank Payne - Engineer #2
• Joe Ochman - Engineer #3
• Leyna Nguyen - News Reporter
• Joe Bays - Raccoon Lodge Member
• Danna Hansen - Older Woman
• Joseph Edward Taylor - Frank
• John F. Schaffer - Larry
• Ariel Joseph Towne - Technician
• Joseph Hale - Little Girl's Dad
• Jimmy Kimmel - Voice of Spanky
• Valek X. Sykes - Puppeteer
• Richard Kind - Voice of Dad Rat
• Debra Jo Rupp - Voice of Mom Rat
• Jordan Kaiser - Voice of Kid Rat #1
• Yatt Smith - Voice of Kid Rat #2
• Alyson Stoner - Voice of Kid Rat #3

Clip

• Old Yeller
• The Simpsons
• Lassie
• Wal-Mart Commercial
• Oh Heavenly Dog
• An Affair to Remember
• Cheaper by the Dozen

References

External links

• Garfield: The Movie Official Site
• Boxoffice information
• Jennifer Love Hewitt interview for Garfield

Garfield
Characters
Garfield | Jon Arbuckle | Odie | Nermal | Arlene | List of Garfield characters
Television specials
Here Comes Garfield | Garfield on the Town | Garfield in the Rough | Garfield's Halloween Adventure | Garfield in Paradise | A Garfield Christmas | Garfield Goes Hollywood | Happy Birthday, Garfield | | Garfield's Babes and Bullets | Garfield's Thanksgiving | Garfield's Feline Fantasies | Garfield Gets a Life
Video games
Garfield | | | | Garfield Labyrinth | | Garfield's Mad About Cats | | Garfield & His Nine Lives | | Garfield's Nightmare | | Garfield Gets Real
Films
Garfield | | Garfield Gets Real
Other media
Am I Cool or What? | Garfield As Himself | Garfield and Friends | List of Garfield and Friends episodes | Garfield's Holiday Celebrations | Pet Force | | |
Other
Jim Davis | U.S. Acres | Gnorm Gnat | Mr. Potato Head | Comic strip switcheroo