101 minutes of wacky adventure and fun entertainment for the entire family!
read more
Everyone’s favourite Monday-hating lasagna-loving orange colour tabby cat is back! The Garfield Movie, directed by Mark Dindal with a stellar cast featuring the voices of Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham, Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Cecily Strong and Harvey Guillen, brings you 101 minutes of wacky adventure and fun entertainment for the entire family.
The film begins with a hilariously narrated recap of how Garfield (Pratt) came into Jon’s life. Years ago, on a rainy evening, baby Garfield was left alone in an alley by his father Vic. Frightened and hungry, he bravely followed the whiff of food to an Italian restaurantwhere Jon (Hoult) was dining alone. Jon’s first meeting with little hungry baby Garfield with his yearning face pressed up against the window would be sure to tug on everyone’s heartstrings. As anyone would have done, Jon opened the window to let Garfield in and the ensuing events, including little adorable kitten crying a river while perched on a lasagna takeaway box, sets the stage for present day Garfield that we know and love.
The audience sees Garfield and his ever supportive best friend and skilful side-kick, Odie the dog (Guillen), rarely venture out of the house as they are living their best lives with an endless supply of food and other creature comforts courtesy of Jon’s creditcard. In this day and age, it does make us wonder how Jon can possibly pay off the huge credit card bill racked up by the ginger feline.
The fun living soon comes an end when both Garfield and Odie are forcefully taken away by two canine henchmen – Roland (Goldstein), a very large Shar Pei, and Nolan (Yang), a small whippet and are introduced to Jinx (Waddingham) a vengeful evil female Persian cat, who makes an excellent villain replete with her own collar with dramatic mood lighting. We get a particularly hilarious moment when Garfield begs to be release and drawing on his survival instincts, simply rattles out Jon’s credit card details to offer payment to Jinx for their release to no avail.
Thankfully, a mysterious character comes to Garfield and Odie’s rescue, who is none other than Garfield’s estranged father (Jackson). Garfield is unwilling to trust Vic as he is angry that he was abandoned as a kitten in a dark alley.
We then learn that Jinx was seemingly wronged by Vic and wants him to compensate for her sufferings which leads to both Garfield and Odie being roped in to help Vic with a milk heist from a dairy farm. What follows is a wild crazy (and literal) train-ride of an adventure.
The trio meets Otto (Rhames) a bull who was once was one half of an iconic mascot couple of the dairy farm. Otto agrees to help them if they free his beloved counterpart, Ethel (Turrell) currently enslaved in the dairy farm.
Along the way, Garfield and friends have to contend with not only Jinx and her henchman but another villainous character, Marge (Strong) who is an obsessive animal control officer with a tragic sense of fashion. The plan meticulously put together by Otto for the trio is very much in the vein of the Mission Impossible movies and definitely will leave the audience titillated and laughing. In a pleasant contrast to the high stakes mission, Jon is frantic and desperate as he hilariously tries to report his “missing” pets on a helpline with much difficulty.
The voice cast is exceptional and brings to life the iconic characters from the comic strip with an unexpected voice cameo from Snoop Dogg (ironically playing a cat).
Will the trio succeed in stealing the milk and free Ethel to reunite with Otto? Will Garfield ever forgive and reconcile with his wayward father, Vic? Will Jon be reunited with his wayward pets? Well, take a nostalgic trip down memory lane and watch the movie to enjoy the goofy fun and misadventures of our beloved animated characters alongside new friends.This movie is guaranteed to bring both joy and laughter to all families (as well as whetting all our appetites for lasagna) and is a wonderful opportunity to introduce a new generation to the beloved eponymous food-obsessed feline hero.
read less