The Garfield Movie (2024)

This is an interesting one. Without doubt this was high on 2024's wish list of the cinematic going duo that is myself and my daughter. She cites Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006) as one of her favourite films of all time- admittedly a choice that must be fairly niche when compared to the average list.

However, I'm with her that it is in fact a better film than its predecessor, the Bill Murray voiced Garfield: The Movie (2004), a film that, whilst perhaps not as abysmal as most claim, certainly isn't any good.

So there was absolutely no need for The Garfield Movie. It changes tack by being completely animated unlike the previous cinematic incarnations, and has been criticised by many in having barely anything in common with its source material. I understand these condemnations, and having not really followed the character through the years can't really argue with them either, but The Garfield Movie does seem, to me, to be aimed at kids who are highly unlikely to be au fait with the comic strips.

That doesn't mean that it's any good though. The voice cast is prominent, boasting Chris Pratt (as Garfield), Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Hannah Waddingham, Samuel L. Jackson, and Snoop Dog of all people. The plot is utterly ludicrous as you might expect, with Garfield's long lost Dad becoming reacquainted with his son and plunging him into peril as an angry female cat seeks revenge for past misdeeds.

It's hard to lay into the film too much though. In my opinion the film sets out to do something, and that is: keeping kids attention and making money. The film this week passed $100 million in worldwide box office gross, not bad for a film that has been pretty much slaughtered from all angles.

I hate to go back to Challengers again, but Luca Guadagnino's film, so widely praised by everyone in the world except me, failed to achieve what it set out to do. It did. I don't care if no-one else agrees.

The Garfield Movie on the other hand, unlike Challengers, succeeds in what it sets out to do. It might be redundant and totally unwanted, but it's far from dreadful, and had at least one person in our party of two calling it their favourite film of the year so far.

Which was great to hear, having paid north of £30 for two tickets so we could enjoy it in the comforts of our local Everyman Cinema. Even if such a statement was nonsense coming from someone whose last cinema outing was Pablo Berger's sumptuous Robot Dreams. She'll learn. 5.0/10