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Garfield
EMAILPRINT20th Century Fox Film Corporation

Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 46 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Animation | Comedy | Family/Kids
Written by:
Joel Cohen
Alec Sokolow
Jim Davis (comic strip Garfield)
Directed by: Peter Hewitt
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 11, 2004
DVD: October 19, 2004
Running Time: 82 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for brief mild language
Starring Bill Murray, Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Stephen Tobolowsky, Evan Arnold, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Daamen J. Krall, and Rufus Gifford
Garfield marks the long-awaited motion picture debut of America's favorite feline and the world's laziest cat. (20th Century Fox)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The filmmakers obviously understand and love Garfield, and their movie lacks that sense of smarmy slumming you sometimes get when Hollywood brings comic strips to the screen.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Peter Lowry
Overall, Garfield's first movie might not be as amusing as the cartoon but it was still a lot of fun to watch.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
In short, it's an almost flawlessly innocuous entertainment for kids.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Not even Bill Murray could save Garfield. Perhaps the comedian -- so pitch-perfect as the sardonic actor in "Lost in Translation" -- got too deeply into character.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
The cinematic Garfield: The Movie feels like an 82-minute commercial for Garfield, The Brand rather than cinematic dumb fun.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson
If it weren't for Murray, there'd be nothing at all to the film, which forgets all conventional notions of story or characterization.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
However terrific Murray is, if Antonio Banderas, mellifluous voice of Puss-in-Boots in "Shrek 2," went paw to claw with Garfield, Puss would definitely triumph.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Under Peter Hewitt's phoned-in direction, Garfield chugs along like the slow train to Chattanooga, with only Jennifer Love Hewitt, as the local vet, twittering pertly in a desperate effort to raise Jon's feeble pulse.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
Unlike that widely appealing picture with the giant green ogre, this one's strictly for the kiddies.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Angel Cohn
The CGI is well-done, but Garfield's presence among the otherwise live cast is a constant distraction.
Read Full Review >Empire Jo Berry
Cute and friendly enough, but for anyone over eight, not recommended.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Garfield the comic strip stopped being funny about 10 years ago. Garfield the Movie makes it to about the 10-minute mark before tedium sets in.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The filmmakers find "laughs" in sadistic violence.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
There's nothing to recommend about this film except its sheer innocuousness. And Bill Murray's off-screen voicing as Garfield adds no "Robin Williams" element to the movie.
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
Only very small children still easily impressed by interaction of human actors and CGI quadrupeds will be amused by Garfield.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ben Kenigsberg
No one can accuse Garfield: The Movie of infidelity to its source: It faithfully conveys the banality of Jim Davis's cartoon.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
The popularity of Davis' strip represents the ultimate triumph of mediocrity, but even the cartoonist's competent hackwork deserves better than this.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
A black-dressing young intellectual of my acquaintance recently ascribed a "lazy generosity" to Garfield and his daily antics. If so, the movie gets the laziness but misses the generosity.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Thanks to that dog-torture element, Garfield may be too upsetting for younger kids. Meanwhile, older kids (let alone parents) will want to put this movie behind them like yesterday's hairball.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
This isn't a movie, it's a marketing ploy. Would you like a plush Garfield toy with that popcorn?
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
This a neutered Garfield, one part tomcat and three parts pussy, recognizable only by his orange coat and love of lasagna. This feline's got a serious case of mange.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego
Nothing really works here, and nobody seems to have put in a huge amount of effort, except maybe the marketing department -- there are many product placements.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Peter Debruge
Now here's the reason America won't love Garfield: The Movie: Garfield's gone from the listless feline we all know and love to a fast-stepping, break-dancing cat about town. What's worse, the other characters are even farther from their roots.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The blend of live action and animation is competently done, but the subtly mean-spirited screenplay has more sour meows than hearty laughs.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
That Garfield speaks in the supercilious, world-weary drawl of Bill Murray is some small consolation, as are a few of the animal tricks.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
Bill Murray completists, tots under 5 and their unfortunate chaperons are the only ones who need experience the soulless excuse for an entertainment called Garfield: The Movie.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
The best way for Fox to atone for releasing this shameless pile of c--- is in the manner befitting all unwanted kittens: put all the negatives in a bag filled with rocks and sink them in a very deep river. Sprinkle some garlic over the water for good measure, to make sure the movie never rises to torment the living again.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman
You'd have to be a real a..hole to hate this movie, loaded as it is with adorable animals. Sadly the task falls to me.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 4.3 (out of 10) based on 46 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Laila V. gave it a0:
I really like garfield but this movie it's a waste of time and the cat it's very stupid.
Chantz E. gave it a0:
The worst movie i have ever seen that was not white chicks. The comic strip is mildly amusing, and the character is I guess tolerable as a ploy to sell T-shirts, I mean, Who cant love a fat cat? But who cant HATE a fat cat all Comp Generated, voiced by the lackluster bill murray,and set in a TERRIBLE plot line? The characters were just taken from the comic book and edited to fit this ABOMNIATION to humanity. I have lost all faith in god.
Joe E. gave it a10:
I really liked this movie. befor i never payed attion 2 movies like garfield but when i saw it i loved it.
Anthony D. gave it a10:
Best movie ever i like garfeild i am 16 years old and loved it, best movie ever!!!
T S gave it a10:
The best movie I have ever seen.
Joe B. gave it a0:
I nearly gone insane watching it. There should be a law to stop crap like this. Garfield Sucks!
[Anonymous] gave it a6:
Good enough to watch once, but not interesting enough to watch twice.
