489: Garfield: The Movie

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: 196. Let's get to Garfield the Movie, which came out in 2004 and I'm going to be doing this one,

[00:00:09] [SPEAKER_00]: the sequel and the new Garfield movie as well as a few bonus reviews, which you can get

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: info either at filmbuds.bandcamp.com or subscribe through Apple podcasts and get all premium episodes for

[00:00:23] [SPEAKER_00]: five bucks a month. So Garfield the movie is directed by Peter Hewitt, who also directed the second

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Bill and Ted movie. It stars Bill Murray as Garfield or the voice Jennifer Love Hewitt,

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Reckon Meyer Steven Tabalowski, Evan Arnold and a few others and the Snapses is John R. Buckle

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_00]: the second pet, a dog named Odie. However, Odie is then abducted and is up to John's cat, Garfield,

[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_00]: defined and rescued the canine. So I decided to just go and do this since the new film was out and

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I knew I was going to watch it at some point. So I figured hey why not go back and revisit the whole franchise

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_00]: as it were? I've never been a big Garfield fan but why not just go back and check it out, see if

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_00]: it still holds up and I watched all three of these movies in a night pretty much. I think I'd

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_00]: seen this one when it first came out when I was really young but remember nothing about it so

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_00]: basically was the first time watch and I think and we'll get to it with the new film for sure

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_00]: but what I don't understand and I can appreciate this one more so than the new one because it is

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_00]: the first one and I don't fault people for saying hey let's just try and get Garfield into a movie

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and try and get a whole series going, I can see you know the logic in that I don't think that's

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_00]: anything crazy but at this day and age where none of them really did all that well financially or

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_00]: critically it's really only got progressively worse. What battles me now is this new film

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: where after 20 years of inactivity that hey you know what would do really well at the box office

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_00]: will be a huge hit Garfield you know that's gonna blow the doors off and I'm just like who

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_00]: who is having these ideas like what producers are green lighting this you know 80 hundred million dollar

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_00]: movie for Garfield. I'm just like never in my life, never in my 30 years of life, have I ever heard

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_00]: someone mention how much they love Garfield like the cartoons, the comics, anything like that. I've

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_00]: never heard someone mention that nor the movies these movies like Garfield is something that just seems to

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00]: be in the pop culture zeitgeist but it's never actually really that loved by at least newer audiences

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I would think but this one it is just trying to get things going it's giving him a very decent,

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: lazy, fairly narrativeless movie and it's something that most people could enjoy like it's pretty

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_00]: accessible and watching this one now I don't think it's all of that good. I think at the time

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_00]: I probably would have liked it more if I was just a age and I could understand it more but now

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_00]: the overall style feels pretty dated I think Bill Murray though fantastic as Garfield like that is

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00]: perfect casting whereas we'll get to it with Chris Pratt where I feel differently but Bill Murray

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_00]: to the little knowledge I have of Garfield perfectly encapsulates the character and that's

[00:03:40] [SPEAKER_00]: partially the writing as well but I think he is so good in that role and really he's underused even

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: so and he really gives way more than he needs to for a movie like this and I don't mind that

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: the movie is very much a pretty much a hangout kind of film and it's largely just about this

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: rescue of this dog that the human owner adopts but I think with all of these films considering

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_00]: it has come from a cartoon like just a comic strip after about 20 minutes in this as much as I

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_00]: wanted to love it like I don't have anything against this kind of movie as much as I wanted to love it

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_00]: by the end or so the first act I was just bored pretty much and there were a few moments here

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_00]: in there that kept my interest in Bill Murray would keep me laughing here and there but it really

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00]: runs out of steam so quick and I'm like I don't mind that original setup where Garfield is in

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Paradise being pampered and he's also just lazy couch potato loves food I can get into that for sure

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: but then this dog comes into the picture and he's basically just trying to maintain the best

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_00]: friendship with his owner Garfield that is and that's the large overarching theme or emotional

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: line of the movie which is fine and that part I like but when it really just isn't

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: entirely focused on this very shallow rescue like there's really not much else going on there's no

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_00]: real ideas happening the humor once it gets into the meat of the movie it really falls off so

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: it really becomes so dry and aimless where even though it's only I think like an hour and 20 minutes

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: it felt so long and all these movies they feel so long for summaries I don't know why that is

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: exactly because I want to love a Garfield movie I think there's a great movie out there for someone

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: to do I still think it's happened yet but I don't know why the pacing of these movies whether

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_00]: it's a lot of story or two little story they just feel like a slog but also one thing I love

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: certainly for anyone who listens to the show a lot I love movies about talking animals I

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_00]: know that's weird but anything from like lying kings utopia anything like that I love I don't know

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: why I just do so this movie is inherently in my wheelhouse to enjoy but talking about some

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: specific scenes that are okay I think there's relationship with Garfield and the

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_00]: niche and chase after Garfield and Garfield is just taunting him all over the place and then

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_00]: him having this very immature petty battle with the dog before the dog escapes all that's good

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: and I do like the lead actor I saw him first I think in rat race something he's a very good

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_00]: comedic actor the show like the pet show dog show whatever it is sequence where Odie

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_00]: does insane tricks and blows everybody away I think that's pretty clever

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_00]: one thing though actually that I'm so glad is not really a thing anymore it's occasionally they do this

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: but not so much I'm really really happy that they moved away from the seemingly live action or real

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_00]: animals but you just animate their mouths moving to when they speak as opposed to just

[00:07:15] [SPEAKER_00]: animating an animal like they did with Garfield I'm so glad that that's like CG has developed enough

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_00]: to where we don't do that I just hate that it looks so bad it looks so goofy and takes me out of it

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_00]: like I'd rather it be a quote unquote live action lying king movie and just watch the animals

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_00]: speaking because they are actually animated then us seeing a real dog and them just changing their

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_00]: mouth movements I think that's just terrible and it looks bad I don't mind the look of Garfield

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_00]: though I think for early 2000s movie the animation is really not that bad I think it only

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_00]: looks a little if you when he's out in too much sunlight and you can see the edges of the

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_00]: the digital haze and all that I think it looks a little air and the shadows and lighting are a

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: little bland but for the most part he still looks like a part of that world in most cases I mean to

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: say an extent so I didn't really have a problem with that I was expecting it to look terrible but

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I thought it looked okay the scene in the pound I enjoy where the girl comes in and tries

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: to pick a cat I think that's pretty funny so I definitely did not hate the movie I was kind of

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_00]: bored in large stretches but it's still fairly harmless there's nothing I don't think offensively wrong

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_00]: with it it just does feel too much like early 2000s attempting it reinventing a style which I

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_00]: can appreciate you know there's nothing wrong with that and we definitely have moved on and developed

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00]: much more over the years but if you want to see something a little bit different if you like

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_00]: Bill Murray it's on Disney Plus for anyone who does have interest so that one is a light two and a

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_00]: out of five