Garfield - The Movie (2004)

15% of critics liked it
(134 reviews)
54% of users liked it
(438,896 ratings)

Jim Davis' famous cartoon cat finally makes his way to the big screen in this adaptation of the popular comic strip Garfield, which combines live action with CGI animation. Jon Arbuckle (Breckin Meyer) is a sweet, if somewhat clueless, man who shares his home with his pet cat, Garfield (voice of… More Jim Davis' famous cartoon cat finally makes his way to the big screen in this adaptation of the popular comic strip Garfield, which combines live action with CGI animation. Jon Arbuckle (Breckin Meyer) is a sweet, if somewhat clueless, man who shares his home with his pet cat, Garfield (voice of Bill Murray). Garfield is not your ordinary tabby -- he's fat, he's smart-mouthed, he's arrogant, he won't do anything he doesn't have to, and would rather stuff himself with lasagna than do something Jon asks of him. Despite this, Jon loves his cat, but when he decides to expand his animal family, Garfield is less than enthusiastic about the presence of Odie, a lovably enthusiastic dog whose only flaw is his extreme stupidity. While Jon is crazy for Odie, and especially likes having two pets that necessitate periodic visits to Dr. Liz Wilson (Jennifer Love Hewitt), a veterinarian he has a crush on, Garfield decides to remove Odie from the picture. Garfield arranges for Odie to become the property of Happy Chapman (Stephen Tobolowsky), a television host who acts like an animal lover on the round-cornered screen but doesn't much like pets on his own time. While Garfield at first enjoys ruling the roost again, he soon realizes the error of his ways, and in a rare example of selfless and ambitious behavior, hatches a plan to rescue Odie from Chapman. Garfield also features the voice talents of Debra Messing, Brad Garrett, Jimmy Kimmel, and Alan Cumming. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 20 min.
Directed By: Peter Hewitt
Written By: Joel Cohen, Jim Davis, Alec Sokolow
Genres: Action & Adventure, Kids & Family, Comedy

In Theaters: Jun 11, 2004 Wide
On DVD: Oct 19, 2004
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Critic Reviews

Ben Kenigsberg, Village Voice
No one can accuse Garfield: The Movie of infidelity to its source: It faithfully conveys the banality of Jim Davis's cartoon.
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
... a film without energy and without spirit.
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
Though Garfield runs barely 80 minutes, it seems a good hour of it involves chases, furniture and luggage collapsing, and grown-up actors madly mugging.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
There's nothing to recommend about this film except its sheer innocuousness.
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Bland, workmanlike and instantly forgettable.
Joe Leydon, Variety
Only very small children still easily impressed by interaction of human actors and CGI quadrupeds will be amused by Garfield: The Movie.
Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
Cat-astrophic for adults, but kids will love it.
, Film4
Hewitt's movie isn't without its laughs but it's ultimately a pretty pointless picture.
Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed
An innocent way to kill some time.
Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile
Garfield is a cool cat with attitude, yet his debut on the big screen falls short by more than a whisker largely due to a script that relies on novelty value rather than fresh ideas.
Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review
The comic-strip cat comes to the big screen thanks to some pretty nifty computer animation and -- in a really inspired move -- the voice of Bill Murray
Christopher Smith, Bangor Daily News (Maine)
The story is bland and workmanlike--week-old catnip that's lost its bite. What saves it is the animation, which is set amid a live-action world and which is extremely well done.
Stefan Ulstein, Christianity Today
People who love cats will see their own felines in Garfield. Parents who love neither Garfield nor cats will have a good time nonetheless.
Dave Calhoun, Time Out
Without Murray, the film would have much less appeal.
Pete Vonder Haar, Film Threat
Garfield remains one of the most shamelessly marketed properties of all time, so the inevitable feature film is merely the logical climax to a product blitz that already includes bowling balls, oven mitts, and a line of Richard Petty-related products.
Peter Lowry, Film Threat
It has good laughs, decent writing and is 100% loyal to both the comic and the cartoon, which will leave the diehard fans begging for more.
Uri Lessing, www.kcactive.com
The strongest messages for adults are that we should purchase and consume...Pepperidge Farm Goldfish and dash off to Petco for all of our kitty's litter and chow needs.
Garth Franklin, Dark Horizons
... this is an embarassing family film ...
Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures
it wasn't so bad the second time around
Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
In the immortal words of Bob Barker: Remember to have your pets spayed or neutered.

Read all 21 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Directors C

Tolerable. Bill Murray saves Garfield.
Bethany M

A childhood favourite and a classic!
Alexander D

A hilarious cat movie--and I'm not even a cat person!
Brad W

This movie stunk. Bll Murray may sound like how I would imagine him, but I never imagined such a horrible movie.
Michael E

great movie for kids and fans of the comic strip and it is a very funny and enjoyable film all around to watch mainly because of the fantastic performance given by Bill Murray as Garfield
Richard C

not a good movie. C-
Dead A

Love this fat cat :D
KJ P

Unlike a lot of people, I found this movie entertaining!
danny d

look, i get why people diss this flick but i love good clean family fun if my kids love it and it keeps me interested. hewitt is beautiful and even as a cartoon cat murray is entertaining, so i kind of enjoyed this movie.
Film C

I love garfield! i love this movie i think this movie is laught out loud hilarious and i tihnk every should enjoy this movie as hes such a likeable character i love the story and the actors and i love the character grafield this movie is enjoyable and funny and completely worth a… More
I love garfield! i love this movie i think this movie is laught out loud hilarious and i tihnk every should enjoy this movie as hes such a likeable character i love the story and the actors and i love the character grafield this movie is enjoyable and funny and completely worth a watch!
Anthony L

The voice actors, esp. Bill Murray did a fine job but I couldn't get why Odie and other characters weren't animated too!? Apart from a few funny moments, this film turns away from any interesting storyline to 'Look what we can do with our fancy computers'. It… More
The voice actors, esp. Bill Murray did a fine job but I couldn't get why Odie and other characters weren't animated too!? Apart from a few funny moments, this film turns away from any interesting storyline to 'Look what we can do with our fancy computers'. It should have been a 2D cartoon with the original animation. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should! Even for a kids film (even though it should be for original fans!) this is boring!
Jeremy S

When I was a youngin I would read garfield comics and the thing I loved most about them was Garfield's facial expressions in situations. The film version completely fails to capture the cynical expressions garfield makes, due to the fact that the digital version doesn't… More
When I was a youngin I would read garfield comics and the thing I loved most about them was Garfield's facial expressions in situations. The film version completely fails to capture the cynical expressions garfield makes, due to the fact that the digital version doesn't work. What I expected Bill Murray would add to the comedy he only subtracted. With a story line taken from Toy Story and about as many laughs as redeeming traits in Garfield the film is a bonnafide flop.
Jani H

"I hate Mondays.." I wish they'd never made this movie. Garfield is a comic that in my opinion is impossible to make into a live feature film. The main problem is how to do a convincingly good CGI of the fat, lazy, orange cat with the big eyes? I think that the… More
"I hate Mondays.." I wish they'd never made this movie. Garfield is a comic that in my opinion is impossible to make into a live feature film. The main problem is how to do a convincingly good CGI of the fat, lazy, orange cat with the big eyes? I think that the biggest problem, besides the fact that the movie was very bad, was the CGI Garfield. It looked awful, not at all realistic although in 2004 the special effects crew had the technology to do wonders with computers. But here, like I said, they had an impossible task to do. The only positive thing about this movie was the dog that starred as Odie. I liked every scene he (yes, I prefer to call dogs as him or her) was in. He out acted everyone in the movie. I thought that would also be impossible, that an animal would do that, but here it actually happened. Ok, Bill Murray did a decent job as the voice of Garfield and Jennifer Love Hewitt is always nice to look at... But wasn't Odie a beagle in the comic but here he's a Jack Russell terrier? I've never been a big fan of the comic or the animated series but this movie did so much wrong to Jim Davis legacy. For real fans only.
Candy R

I loved the cartoons. Garfield comes to life in this movie. He doesn't understand Odie but comes to like him.
Tim S

Cute, but leaves much to be desired.
Chris G

Star Wars fans scream about George Lucas raping their childhood with the changes to the original Star Wars and their prequels. If those fans could see how Garfield was raped and mutilated for film consumption they would shed a tear. There are many complaints about Garfield: The Movie.… More
Star Wars fans scream about George Lucas raping their childhood with the changes to the original Star Wars and their prequels. If those fans could see how Garfield was raped and mutilated for film consumption they would shed a tear. There are many complaints about Garfield: The Movie. One is that the CGI cat doesn't really look like Garfield. Another is that Jon was always a pathetic bastard that would never hook up with Jennifer Love Hewitt. Another is that Odie is a drooling, partially retarded dog, not Benji. All that aside, Garfield is a terrible movie. The script is the standard recycled garbage that we've seen hundreds of times. The acting is mediocre at best (even Bill Murray sounds like he doesn't give a damn in his voice overs for the fat cat). What blows me away is that Bill Murray has put off Ghostbusters 3 for decades while doing garbage like this (and its sequel!)
Sanjaya &

Just a standard comedy for the kids... The story just ordinary and the humor just make a little laugh after all... Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt are truly disaster for this movie... Their chemistry was really bad, yet their acting was a disturbing one... Thumbs up should be… More
Just a standard comedy for the kids... The story just ordinary and the humor just make a little laugh after all... Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt are truly disaster for this movie... Their chemistry was really bad, yet their acting was a disturbing one... Thumbs up should be given to Bill Murray whose gave a great voice to Garfield and Odie, a very little cute dog which is Garfield very very hate... Not pretty good movie and I was a little disappointing to watch it because it takes my time...
Jon L

This was a fun movie. Although being a huge fan of the cartoon/comic series I probably would have had to make a few adjustments.
Dean !

An ok live action film of the famous cartoon strip. Manages to keep the same sense of humour as the comics and it's good that Bill Murray did the voice over as he did with the cartoon show. Overall more of a movie for the youngsters, but Garfield fans will be fairly pleased.
Lewis C

Bill Murray was a good choice for Garfield's voice, and Jennifer Love Hewitt was great.