The Garfield Movie (2024)

Garfield has been a comic and cartoon staple in family homes for generations. From the fat cat's inception in the funny papers to his cartoon shorts on Saturday mornings and even Bill Murray's mistake for the first feature films - the gluttonous feline has been loved by people of all ages for quite some time. There was a formula to the lovable nature of this orange cat with his penchant for laziness, dry wit, and hardcore love for lasagna. In 2024, the studio wanted to change things up a bit and brought this stationary cat to the Mission: Impossible universe with an action-filled family film that has Garfield, Odie, and a few other pets stealing milk. 

The story is preposterous and does no favors for anyone who has become accustomed to the dry wit of Garfield over the decades. This orange cat is voiced by Chris Pratt and crosses paths with some familiar friends and new pets along the way, one of them being voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. Garfield and Odie are forced to steal milk from a lactose farm for a gangster network run by Jinx (Hannah Waddingham) just as they had become comfortable with their owner Jon Arbuckle (Nicholas Hoult). Through a ton of capers and misadventures, this furry feline is having the time of his life and is not the Garfield everyone remembers, as the story dives into action territory rather than familiar dry humor. That's not necessarily a bad thing, however, the plot is a copy-and-paste formula from every previous family movie and after a while feels tiresome. 

Although, The Garfield Movie does add some wonderful origin stories and lore for the fan-favorite cat and dog duo. Good moments include, how Garfield and Odie were eventually taken in by Jon and what their before life was like living on the street. Garfield's love for Italian food and even some distant relatives come into the picture and are told in a sweet and funny way. That doesn't take up much of the film and unfortunately, those are the best segments that should have had a longer stay rather than the usual action-adventure nonsense.

There's just not much to work with even if the filmmakers and studios are trying to bring Garfield into the modern era. But it's just difficult to watch a Mission: Impossible version of Garfield when everyone just wants a simple Seinfeld-like episode of the furry creature. There's enough fun to be had for certain ages, however, stretching the runtime to 101 minutes was a bit much. The animation is simplistic and doesn't add a ton of detail like an average Pixar movie.

Vital Disc Stats- The Blu-ray
The Garfield Movie eats its way to Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Code via Sony Pictures. The two discs are housed inside a hard, blue plastic case with a cardboard sleeve. The artwork features Garfield and Odie as best friends. There is an insert for a digital code. 

Garfield The Movie comes with a 1080p HD transfer and looks excellent in the format. Colors are robust in each segment. The orange and yellow-like features on Garfield and Odie are phenomenal. Odie's red tongue and their bright white eyes always look fantastic. And like a bright ocean jacket, these two animals stick out in a sea of cooler backgrounds that utilize the colors blue and green. Their warmth brightens up the chilly scenarios in every moment. Black levels are inky and the animation looks smooth. The detail in the animation is a tiny bit flat, however, that is the style of the animation which isn't highly detailed like a Pixar film. There are no video problems of any kind here and a bet could be placed on if a 4K version would look even better than this already does. 

This release comes with a DTS-HD 5.1 audio mix that sounds excellent. The sound effects are booming and make use of the surround speakers frequently. Voices, footsteps, vehicles driving by, and other city and farm-like sounds are perfectly utilized with nuanced levels to bring this animated movie to life. Ambient noises also sound wonderful. The score and song choices add those adventure elements to the movie. The dialogue is always clean, clear, and free of any problems. This is a fantastic-sounding audio track where a Dolby Atmos track could add those height sounds too. 

There are about 38 minutes of extras included here with some short, fun moments with the cast, and how to draw Garfield. 

• Indoor Cat, Outdoor Adventure (HD, 4 Mins.) - The cast and crew talk about adding the action element to the history of this character.
• Cast of Critters (HD 4 Mins.) - The voice cast is focused on with line readings and interviews. 
• Gag Reel (HD 3 Mins.) - Some funny bloopers from the voice cast reading their lines. 
• Easter Eggs (HD 4 Mins.) - This segment showcases the winks to inside jokes from the comic series and the creator. 
• Deleted Scene (HD 3 Mins.) - A big scene with Hannah Waddingham is shown here. 
• How To Draw (HD 18 Mins.) - The character designer for the film reveals how to draw the main characters from the movie in two different segments. 
• Concept Art (HD 2 Mins.) - Some movie stills, concept art, and reels of the early animation. 

The Garfield Movie isn't the cat everyone has known and loved over time, but the film brings some great backstory and some silly action scenes for little kids. It's a bit too long, however, most people should be able to find something good from it, even if it's Samuel L Jackson and Ving Rhames voicing some of the characters. The HD video looks great and the DTS-HD 5.1 audio mix sounds wonderful. The extras are fun enough as well. Recommended!