491: The Garfield Movie

[00:00:00] 198 Let's get to the Garfield Movie, the new one which is a 2024 film just to clarify.

[00:00:08] It is directed by Mark Dindal who also directed The Emperor's New Groove and Chicken Little

[00:00:14] as well.

[00:00:16] It stars Chris Pratt as Garfield, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham, Ving Reims, Nicholas

[00:00:23] Holt, Cecily Strong, Harvey Gullen, pretty decent cast.

[00:00:28] And the synopsis is, after Garfield's unexpected reunion with his long lost father, Ragged Alley

[00:00:35] Cat Vic, he and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered lives to join

[00:00:40] Vic on a risky heist.

[00:00:44] I don't remember when this one was announced, didn't really take any interest at all because

[00:00:49] I just don't care that much about Garfield as I've already discussed in detail but more

[00:00:57] than anything and I don't mean to repeat myself for anyone who listens to the show a lot or

[00:01:01] is maybe listening to certain reviews where I've talked about this, I don't want to do

[00:01:04] that but sorry it has to be said.

[00:01:07] The biggest detractor of this movie and I hate to say it, it is Chris Pratt.

[00:01:12] I am so bored of Chris Pratt at this point.

[00:01:16] I think he is so vanilla bland uninteresting as an actor and I hate that because I love

[00:01:23] Chris Pratt in Parks and Rec.

[00:01:26] I love him in Guardians of the Galaxy, the first one in the first Lego movie.

[00:01:30] I think he has such good edge and comedy and even decent drama when he actually cares

[00:01:37] but more than all that, I wish and I've talked about this on my letterboxed review

[00:01:44] when it comes to lead voice performances, he needs to be put out to pasture.

[00:01:48] I am so tired of having Chris Pratt voice all of these very iconic characters and give

[00:01:54] them nothing because again, I like him in the first Lego movie.

[00:02:00] I think he's very funny in that.

[00:02:01] I think he's okay as Super Mario.

[00:02:04] I don't, I mean he definitely would not have been my first choice at all.

[00:02:08] He doesn't do anything horrible with it but he's not very interesting either and then

[00:02:12] I was like, okay really?

[00:02:13] Do we have to cast him as Garfield as well?

[00:02:15] I just feel like as with the first film, Bill Murray is inspired perfect casting.

[00:02:22] Like that makes sense.

[00:02:23] Bill Murray very much personality wise and what his career has been, that makes sense.

[00:02:29] Just the very snarky, careless, carefree kind of guy that we love and can find very

[00:02:36] charming and funny.

[00:02:39] And maybe I'm wrong here.

[00:02:41] Sorry, I don't mean to hate on him too much but to me, I feel like they cast

[00:02:44] Chris Pratt not because he's the best person for the role but because he's had

[00:02:49] success and animation previous to this.

[00:02:53] That's it.

[00:02:55] He has no, sure he has comedy credits, plenty of comedy credits but I don't see him at all

[00:03:01] as Garfield and what he brings, I mean the writing is not very good either so I don't

[00:03:06] totally blame him but there are so many other people who can voice these characters who

[00:03:11] do a much, much better job.

[00:03:14] Like he might as well have just been Super Mario in this movie again because there's really

[00:03:18] no variety at all and I was so happy when he broke out with all those films I've already

[00:03:26] mentioned and it feels like every year that goes by I'm like this is so bland.

[00:03:31] I just am very, very checked out on Chris Pratt across the board.

[00:03:35] I might still watch what he does but he has not surprised me performance wise in I'd say

[00:03:43] five, six, seven years so really not a fan much anymore.

[00:03:49] But really that's not even the huge overarching issue with this movie is like there are these

[00:03:55] movies now or more so now where they're largely oriented for kids which is fine

[00:04:02] but this one especially it is really like the worst or I guess best showcase for these

[00:04:11] completely like manic frantically paced jam-packed storytelling like ADHD sort of storytelling

[00:04:18] where you have no time to process anything that's going on.

[00:04:23] It feels like this is a movie here our kid needs a distraction for 90 minutes let's take

[00:04:28] him to go see this that's really all that this movie has to offer which hey there are

[00:04:33] worse things but I feel like you could make a movie about Garfield as with the original

[00:04:38] and have it be accessible to really all ages because Garfield is easily relatable

[00:04:44] for most people I would say but there were so many points in this movie where I was just

[00:04:51] like wait what just happened like what is going on.

[00:04:55] There's no time to process the jokes the plot is completely nonsensical there's so much

[00:05:01] going on in a 90 minute runtime the action is really in your face loud like the slapstick

[00:05:08] humor is constant it just feels like who it feels like a movie made by committee it

[00:05:14] does not feel like especially considering this guy did Emperor's New Groove which is

[00:05:19] definitely one of the more underrated Disney animated films of that era

[00:05:25] he definitely has some sense of storytelling and maybe it's a big studio interference I don't

[00:05:30] know what all happened but it felt like this movie was I mean it was 90 minutes ish

[00:05:35] it felt like two and a half it just went on and on and on and I was always trying to give it

[00:05:41] the benefit of the doubt I want to love a movie like this I want to be able to defend

[00:05:45] it and say this is great you are so wrong but as of now it's definitely my least favorite

[00:05:52] film of the year of all the films that I've seen surpassing Godzilla Kong as the worst of the year

[00:05:59] talking about a few okay things not saving graces but things that are okay animation wise

[00:06:07] not really all that interesting I don't really mind the look of Garfield in this but I think

[00:06:11] overall the lighting is just a little flat and not really that engaging

[00:06:19] the performances otherwise besides Chris Pratt are decent I think Samuel L Jackson is fun

[00:06:24] Cecily Strong is pretty funny and you know there's no real issues aside from Chris Pratt but

[00:06:32] everything feels to me it felt like at a distance I never was caring about anything I mean

[00:06:37] there were a couple moments that were like where Garfield is meeting his human owner for the first

[00:06:43] time at that restaurant and then you see the flashback with his dad seeing all that I think that was

[00:06:48] not art wrenching but at least an attempt at being dynamic and emotional I feel with Garfield

[00:06:58] and I know that it's 20 years after the original so the audiences are different what they want

[00:07:04] different expectations blah blah blah but when it comes to a character like Garfield which is what

[00:07:11] the first one did decently well is capture the very lazy style of that character and what he

[00:07:18] really wants like having this super long epic journey for this character and rescuing these

[00:07:35] completely strips away all of those charms and identifiable traits that make him what he is

[00:07:42] and make him as beloved at least in one way or the other as he is so they did not do that well

[00:07:52] writing wise you know really really subpar and it's never gonna be the next toy story it's

[00:07:59] never gonna be the next despicable me or zootopia or anything like that I just feel like they need to

[00:08:06] put this series away and maybe just keep it as a animated kids show but as a feature film no way

[00:08:14] it is really I think three failures now at this point that's a good sign let's put it away

[00:08:22] let's try something else that people nowadays are actually reading and watching and having any

[00:08:29] sort of sense of especially with kids because if you put Garfield on or you said hey let's watch a

[00:08:37] Garfield movie no kid nowadays I barely even knew it when I was a kid like no kid now it's gonna be

[00:08:42] like oh I love Garfield maybe I'm wrong there I don't have a kid of my own but that would be

[00:08:47] my guess 99% of the time and it's only because it's a funny cat that's the only draw he's a goofy cat

[00:08:58] so yeah not a big disappointment I was expecting it to be a turd but it was bad really bad

[00:09:06] I would avoid it like the plague that one is a light one and a half out of five