| 75 |
Chicago Sun-Times
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.
|
| 70 |
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.
|
| 58 |
Portland Oregonian
M. E. Russell
In short, it's an almost flawlessly innocuous entertainment for kids.
|
| 50 |
USA Today
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.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Tribune
The cinematic Garfield: The Movie feels like an 82-minute commercial for Garfield, The Brand rather than cinematic dumb fun.
|
| 50 |
Dallas Observer
If it weren't for Murray, there'd be nothing at all to the film, which forgets all conventional notions of story or characterization.
|
| 50 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
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.
|
| 42 |
Entertainment Weekly
Cloddish, unfunny dud.
|
| 40 |
LA Weekly
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.
|
| 40 |
The Hollywood Reporter
Unlike that widely appealing picture with the giant green ogre, this one's strictly for the kiddies.
|
| 40 |
TV Guide
The CGI is well-done, but Garfield's presence among the otherwise live cast is a constant distraction.
|
| 40 |
Empire
Jo Berry
Cute and friendly enough, but for anyone over eight, not recommended.
|
| 38 |
Baltimore Sun
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.
|
| 38 |
Charlotte Observer
The filmmakers find "laughs" in sadistic violence.
|
| 30 |
Washington Post
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.
|
| 30 |
Variety
Only very small children still easily impressed by interaction of human actors and CGI quadrupeds will be amused by Garfield.
|
| 30 |
Washington Post
Bland, workmanlike and instantly forgettable.
|
| 30 |
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.
|
| 30 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
The popularity of Davis' strip represents the ultimate triumph of mediocrity, but even the cartoonist's competent hackwork deserves better than this.
|
| 30 |
Chicago Reader
The cat is computer-generated, as are his one-liners.
|
| 25 |
Boston Globe
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.
|
| 25 |
New York Daily News
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.
|
| 25 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
This isn't a movie, it's a marketing ploy. Would you like a plush Garfield toy with that popcorn?
|
| 25 |
ReelViews
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.
|
| 25 |
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.
|
| 25 |
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.
|
| 25 |
Christian Science Monitor
The blend of live action and animation is competently done, but the subtly mean-spirited screenplay has more sour meows than hearty laughs.
|
| 20 |
The New York Times
That Garfield speaks in the supercilious, world-weary drawl of Bill Murray is some small consolation, as are a few of the animal tricks.
|
| 20 |
Los Angeles Times
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.
|
| 10 |
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.
|
| 0 |
New York Post
Garfield is a downright cat-astrophe.
|
| 0 |
Austin Chronicle
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.
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