Movie Review: ‘The Garfield Movie’ Is a Bizarre Animated Tale That’s Not Pur-Fect in Any Way 

This image released by Sony Pictures shows Garfield, voiced by Chris Pratt, in a scene from the animated film "The Garfield Movie." (Columbia Pictures/Sony via AP)
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Garfield, voiced by Chris Pratt, in a scene from the animated film "The Garfield Movie." (Columbia Pictures/Sony via AP)
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Movie Review: ‘The Garfield Movie’ Is a Bizarre Animated Tale That’s Not Pur-Fect in Any Way 

This image released by Sony Pictures shows Garfield, voiced by Chris Pratt, in a scene from the animated film "The Garfield Movie." (Columbia Pictures/Sony via AP)
This image released by Sony Pictures shows Garfield, voiced by Chris Pratt, in a scene from the animated film "The Garfield Movie." (Columbia Pictures/Sony via AP)

If you catch the latest Garfield movie, you might not expect to find the famous orange feline at one point running from bad guys on the top of a speeding train. Lasagna eating? Sure. But any sort of cardio?

Then prepare for “The Garfield Movie,” a curious new animated attempt to monetize the comic icon again by giving him an origin story and then asking him to do things a galaxy away from what he does in the funny pages. It's like if Snoopy ran an underground bare-knuckle fight club.

Chris Pratt voices the Monday-hating, self-centered hero and Samuel L. Jackson animates his long-lost father, who abandoned Garfield in an alley one rainy night, leading to lifelong trauma. That may explain his endless appetite, to fill the void of parental neglect. What does “The Garfield Movie” say about that idea? Are you kidding?

“The Garfield Movie,” directed by Mark Dindal, reunites Garfield and his not-so-savory dad — there's no mention of a mom and there are shades of the plots from “Kung Fu Panda 3” and "Chicken Run” — as he gets caught up in a criminal plot to raid a corporate dairy and steal thousands of gallons of milk.

Sorry, what was that? Garfield is perhaps the most indoor cat in history and seeing him dodge massive chopping blades or boulders onscreen is just plain weird. Making it even weirder is that his partner Odie — traditionally a drooling idiot — is remade here as highly competent, perhaps even a savant. This is not canon.

The movie gets mildly amusing as it recreates the kind of vent-crawling, security guard-avoiding heist in the dairy along to the theme from “Mission: Impossible” and that's largely because the gang is being directed by a bull voiced by Ving Rhames, a veteran of that franchise. There are also nods to “Top Gun”: I do my own stunts,” Garfield says. “Me and Tom Cruise.”

The script — by Paul A. Kaplan, Mark Torgove and David Reynolds— grounds the movie firmly in today, with Garfield using food delivery phone apps and Bluetooth, watching Catflix and characters declaring that they are “self-actualized.” There's also some pretty awkward product placement, like for Olive Garden, that may not send the message they wanted.

This is the part when we talk about food abuse. Garfield has a bit of a problem on this front, and the filmmakers more than lean into it. Thousands of pounds of junk food get inhaled by the tabby, but not salad. Heaven is described as an “all-you-can-eat buffet in the sky” and cheese is Garfield's “love language.” It's the laziest kind of writing.

There's a mini “Ted Lasso” reunion when Hannah Waddingham (playing a psychotic gang leader) and Brett Goldstein (as her henchman) appear, while Snoop Dogg has a cameo as the voice of a one-eyed cat and offers a song that runs over the credits.

The animation is pretty great — the backgrounds, at least. Ladders show rust and forests are lush, but then the main characters are a step or two less realized, more cartoonish. Jim Davis, who created Garfield, is an executive producer so he must be OK with all of this, a forgettable, unfunny animated slog. At one point, Garfield says “Bury me in cheese” and that seems a fitting final resting place for this cat's film career.



Movie Review: ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Might Have Just Redeemed the Live-Action Adaptation

 Mason Thames arrives at the premiere of "How to Train Your Dragon" on Saturday, June 7, 2025, at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Andrew Park/Invision/AP)
Mason Thames arrives at the premiere of "How to Train Your Dragon" on Saturday, June 7, 2025, at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Andrew Park/Invision/AP)
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Movie Review: ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Might Have Just Redeemed the Live-Action Adaptation

 Mason Thames arrives at the premiere of "How to Train Your Dragon" on Saturday, June 7, 2025, at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Andrew Park/Invision/AP)
Mason Thames arrives at the premiere of "How to Train Your Dragon" on Saturday, June 7, 2025, at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Andrew Park/Invision/AP)

Ever wanted to soar through the skies on the back of a friendly dragon? The new “How to Train Your Dragon” may be the ticket, from a decidedly safer, though possibly still vertigo-inducing, distance.

This live-action adaption of the underdog adventure story sends the audience cascading through the clouds with the teenage Viking boy Hiccup and his dragon friend Toothless. It’s the kind of immersive sensation and giddy wish fulfillment that might just have you forgetting momentarily to breathe and, maybe more importantly, that you’re still in a movie theater. Credit to veteran cinematographer Bill Pope, no stranger to fantasy worlds, whether it’s “The Matrix” or “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.”

“How to Train Your Dragon” doesn’t stray far from the original, from shots to story beats. Gerard Butler once again plays Berk’s Chief Stoick the Vast. The new Hiccup, actor Mason Thames, even sounds a bit like Jay Baruchel. But unlike so many live-action remakes of animated films, it also doesn’t feel superfluous, or, worse, like a poor imitation of its predecessor that trades the magic of animation for photorealism.

Perhaps that’s because filmmaker Dean DeBlois, who made the three animated films, stayed in the director’s chair. Who better to kill their darlings than the one who brought them to the screen in the first place? And, crucially, to know where live-action might actually enhance the fabric of the world created by author Cressida Cowell.

It helps that dragon technology has come a long way since, say, “DragonHeart.” These fire-breathing CG creatures feel disarmingly real. And though it might look like “Lord of the Rings” or “Game of Thrones,” the tone stays light enough for younger filmgoers. There are a few intense sequences, but none that takes it any further than the animated film did 15 years ago.

“How to Train Your Dragon” does start a little slow, however, which is odd because it also begins with a fiery battle between the Vikings and the dragons on the Isle of Berk. There’s a lot of exposition and introduction that needs to happen before you can just give yourself over to the story. In this more multicultural version, the warriors on Berk have been recruited from tribes around the globe to try to defeat the dragons.

Hiccup is a Viking nepo baby. As the chief's son, he sits in a place of privilege, but he’s also a general outcast in this world of ruthless warriors — skinny and weak, he just longs to be part of the action, not sharpening the weapons. Killing dragons is currency in this society, and his crush Astrid (Nico Parker) happens to be one of the most promising up-and-comers. His sole champion is Gobber (a delightful Nick Frost), the blacksmith and dragon slayer teacher, who convinces the chief to give the clever Hiccup a shot.

The film finds its internal engine when Hiccup finds Toothless, the wide-eyed “Night Fury” dragon whom he can’t bring himself to kill. Instead, he decides to study this discovery, who he finds is not nearly as fearsome as everyone assumes. “How to Train Your Dragon” teaches empathy and ingenuity without a sermon.

Thames, a teenager himself, is the perfect embodiment of adolescent awkwardness and boldness. You can have all the cute dragons you want, but the audience would be lost if the human conduit to the relationship isn’t up to the task. Butler seems to be having a good time, resplendent in fur and chest-thumping ideas about ancient duties. And Parker gives Astrid a relatable depth — the best in the bunch who is outshone in an unequal fight.

Kids deserve movies that are made on the biggest possible canvas. “How to Train Your Dragon” is one that's worth the trip to the theater. It might just spark some young imaginations, whether it’s to go back and read the books or dream up their own worlds. And, chances are, no one is going to be yelling “chicken jockey.”