The Garfield Movie (2024)
Took my daughter to see this and while it did have its moments, this movie is mostly a bit of a mess. Garfield as a kitten is pretty cute and there were some good gags along the way, but the story isn’t very coherent and can’t really handle the emotional depth it tries to achieve. The problem is that the biggest quality is found in the minor characters, like Odie and Jon, and the funniest moments are randomly inserted nonsensical elements thrown in - like a scene where they encounter a used catapult salesman, which I actually found hilarious for how utterly ridiculous it was. But the meat of story with the main characters of Garfield and Vic are not that compelling, and if it is supposed to be a kids movie, it seemed like most of the reactions from the theater came from the various adult cultural references. It doesn’t capture the essence of the sarcastic lazy cat we know and love from the comic and the original animated cartoon Garfield and friends, and it doesn’t even work as a standard kids animated film as it is bogged down by references that that audience group likely doesn’t care much about.
Rating: 1.5