Garfield: The Movie

***Garfield: The Movie*** (titled simply ***Garfield*** onscreen) is a 2004 American live action/computer-animated comedy film directed by Peter Hewitt inspired by Jim Davis' comic strip of the same name. It stars Breckin Meyer as Jon Arbuckle, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Dr. Liz Wilson and features Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield, who was created with computer animation, though all other animals were real. The film was produced by Davis Entertainment Company and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was released in the United States on June 11, 2004. While the film received negative reviews from critics, it was a box office success, grossing over $200 million on a $50 million budget. A sequel, *Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties*, was released in June 2006.

## Plot

Garfield is an overweight, lazy and free-spirited orange cat who lives with his owner Jon Arbuckle. Garfield passes his time by antagonizing Jon and teasing his aggressive neighbor, Luca, a Doberman. Aside from Jon, Garfield maintains an unlikely friendship with a helpful mouse, Louis. Garfield also socializes with his fellow neighborhood cats, including Garfield's stooge Nermal and Arlene.

Meanwhile, a local television host, Happy Chapman, known for his cat "Persnikitty", is introduced as supposedly a happy man. In reality he is allergic to cats, jealous of his news reporter brother Walter J. Chapman, and wants to be more successful by performing on TV show Good Day New York. Jon has made a habit of bringing Garfield to the veterinarian, in order to see vet Dr. Liz Wilson (whom he is in love with). Jon tries to ask Liz out, but due to a misunderstanding, Jon is given custody of a dog named Odie, who is lovable, playful and friendly. Regardless, Jon and Liz begin dating. Garfield however, begins to dislikes Odie and tries to get rid of him by getting revenge. Odie is brought to a canine talent show, where Liz is a judge. Garfield gets involved in an altercation there with other dogs, which moves Odie to the center of the ring, where he begins dancing to "Hey Mama" by the Black Eyed Peas.

Odie's improvised performance is a hit. Happy Chapman, who also is a judge of the dog show, is impressed with Odie, and offers Jon a television deal for Odie, but Jon declines, making Happy more determined than ever to upstage his brother. When Garfield comes back, he hits a ball in frustration, causing a chain reaction that trashes Jon's house. When Jon finds his house in ruins later, he forces Garfield to sleep outside for the night. Heartbroken, Garfield sadly sings ("New Dog State of Mind"). When Odie comes out to comfort Garfield, he gets inside and locks Odie out on purpose. Nermal and Arlene witness this as Odie runs away where he is then picked up by an elderly woman named Mrs. Baker. Jon searches with Liz for Odie while the neighborhood animals accuse Garfield for locking Odie out and making him run away the night before while Garfield states that he only was protecting his turf and never wanted Odie to run off. Meanwhile, Chapman and his assistant Wendell find a notice Mrs. Baker created of Odie and, recognizing the lucrative possibilities, claim Odie as Happy's own, instantly kidnaps Odie, and gives Mrs. Baker an autograph.

When Garfield sees Odie on television and hears Chapman announce he and Odie are going to New York City, Garfield sets out to rescue Odie. Jon discovers Garfield is also missing so he tells Liz to start searching for him and Odie. Garfield gets into the broadcast tower via the air vents but he is blown around violently. Garfield finds Odie locked in a kennel, but Chapman enters and secures a shock collar to Odie, which, when activated, releases an electric discharge that forces Odie to perform tricks.

Chapman heads for the train station with Garfield in close pursuit. However, an animal control officer catches Garfield, mistaking him as a stray. Meanwhile, Mrs. Baker tells Jon that Chapman took Odie, making him believe Garfield was taken by Chapman too, Jon and Liz race to Telegraph Tower and then to the train station, after learning Chapman has left. At the same time, Garfield is released from the pound by Chapman's abandoned feline star Persnikitty, who is really named Sir Roland, along with the other animals. Chapman boards a New York-bound train, with Odie in the luggage car. Garfield arrives only to see the train depart. Garfield sneaks into the train system control room and frantically switches the tracks, leading to an impending train wreck. Garfield hits an emergency control and causes the train to return to the station. Garfield frees Odie and they exit the train. However, Chapman chases them and eventually corners the two in a suitcase area. Chapman threatens Odie with the shock collar, but is stopped by Garfield's friends and animals from the pound, led by Sir Roland. They swarm and attack Chapman, allowing Odie and Garfield to escape.

The shock collar is now on Chapman, who gets shocked. Jon and Liz arrive to reclaim the animals and find Chapman disoriented. Jon punches Chapman for stealing "both" his pets in the first place, and leaves with Liz and the two animals. Chapman is arrested for his supposed involvement with the trains, as well as for abducting Odie. Garfield regains the respect of his animal friends as a hero. Back at home, Liz and Jon form a relationship, and Garfield learns a lesson about friendship.

## Cast

### Live action actors

* Breckin Meyer as Jon Arbuckle, Garfield's and Odie's owner.
* Jennifer Love Hewitt as Dr. Liz Wilson, Garfield's vet, and Jon's love interest.
* Stephen Tobolowsky as Happy Chapman, a local television host, and his brother Walter J. Chapman.
* Evan Arnold as Wendell, Happy's butler
* Mark Christopher Lawrence as Christopher Mello
* Eve Brent as Mrs. Baker
* Juliette Goglia as Little Girl
* Evan Helmuth as Steward
* Joe Bays as Raccoon Lodge Member
* Leyna Nguyen as News Reporter
* Joe Ochman as Engineer
* Rufus Gifford as Dog Owner #1

Garfield creator Jim Davis appeared as an uncredited drunken convention attendee, but his role was cut from the final version of the film.

### Voice actors

* Bill Murray as Garfield, Jon's overweight, lethargic, arrogant and free-spirited orange cat.
* Alan Cumming as Persnikitty (he renames himself "Sir Roland"), an irascible cat.
* Nick Cannon as Louis, a friendly mouse.
* David Eigenberg as Nermal, Garfield's dim-witted friend.
* Brad Garrett as Luca, a temperamental Doberman Pinscher who guards the house next door to Garfield.
* Jimmy Kimmel as Spanky (unnamed in the film)
* Debra Messing as Arlene, Garfield's girlfriend.
* Richard Kind as Dad Rat
* Debra Jo Rupp as Mom Rat
* Wyatt Smith, Jordan Kaiser and Alyson Stoner as unnamed kid rats – Kid Rat No. 1, Kid Rat No. 2 and Kid Rat No. 3 respectively.

## Production

The film was directed by Peter Hewitt, produced by Davis Entertainment for 20th Century Fox, and stars Breckin Meyer as Jon Arbuckle, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Dr. Liz Wilson, and features Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield.

Murray has said he only took the role as Garfield because he mistook the screenplay writer's name, Joel Cohen, for Joel Coen of the Coen brothers. He accepted the role, briefly skimming through the script. Co-writer Alec Sokolow disputed Murray's claim in 2014: "He knew it was not Joel Coen well before he met Joel Cohen. It's a funny take. And it kind of defends him against the criticism of making such an overtly commercial film. But, it's complete horse shit."

Filming was at several locations including Los Angeles Union Station with Amtrak locomotives and rolling stock being featured in numerous scenes. Chuck E. Cheese's is mentioned in the film when Garfield leaves to go to the vet while Wendy's was mentioned and shown numerous times throughout the film.

Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, and Adam Sandler were considered for the role of Jon but all three of them were considered too expensive. Jennifer Garner was considered for the role of Liz, and Brad Dourif, Thomas Lennon and Michael Ironside were considered to play Happy Chapman. Ironside was cast, but he dropped out after one day for unknown reasons, & Lennon was busy on Reno 911.

Jack Nicholson & John Goodman was offered the role of Garfield.

According to Jim Davis, Murray recorded his dialogue in his apartment in New York City and on the set of *The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou* in Greece.

## Release

The film was released in theaters on June 11, 2004 by 20th Century Fox, which was 8 days before Garfield's 26th anniversary. In theaters, it included an *Ice Age* short film, *Gone Nutty*.

### Home media

Garfield: The Movie was released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on VHS and DVD on October 19, 2004. The special features includes a behind-the-scenes footage, deleted scenes, and the Baha Men music video "Holla!". The film was released on a 3-disc Blu-ray on October 11, 2011. The 3D version was released on April 16, 2013.

## Music

Baha Men performed the song "Holla!" for the film and its soundtrack. The music video premiered in early summer 2004 and featured clips from the film and gags showing obvious references to the *Garfield* franchise (such as lasagna jokes).

## Reception

### Critical response

*Garfield: The Movie* received generally negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 15% based on 137 reviews with an average rating of 3.52/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "When the novelty of the CGI Garfield wears off, what's left is a simplistic kiddie movie." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 27 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, rating it a three out of four stars saying the movie was "charming".

Joe Leydon of *Variety* magazine wrote: "Only very small children still easily impressed by interaction of human actors and CGI quadrupeds will be amused by Garfield." A. O. Scott of *The New York Times* wrote: "That Garfield speaks in the supercilious, world-weary drawl of Bill Murray is some small consolation, as are a few of the animal tricks."

### Murray's reponse

Murray said in an interview with *GQ* that he was confused when he agreed to play the voice of Garfield for the film.

> I thought it would be kind of fun, because doing a voice is challenging, and I'd never done that. Plus, I looked at the script, and it said, "So-and-so and Joel Coen." And I thought: Christ, well, I love those Coens! They're funny. So I sorta read a few pages of it and thought, Yeah, I'd like to do that.
>
> Bill Murray

Murray continued:

> So they went off and shot the movie, and I forgot all about it. Finally, I went out to L.A. to record my lines. And usually when you're looping a movie, if it takes two days, that's a lot. I don't know if I should even tell this story, because it's kind of mean. [beat] What the hell? It's interesting. So I worked all day and kept going, "That's the line? Well, I can't say that." And you sit there and go, What can I say that will make this funny? And make it make sense? And I worked. I was exhausted, soaked with sweat, and the lines got worse and worse. And I said, "Okay, you better show me the whole rest of the movie, so we can see what we're dealing with." So I sat down and watched the whole thing, and I kept saying, "Who the hell cut this thing? Who did this? What the \*bleep\* was Coen thinking?" And then they explained it to me: It wasn't written by that Joel Coen.
>
> Bill Murray

Murray reprised his role two years later in the Cohen co-penned *Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties*.

In *Zombieland*, when Bill Murray (playing himself) is shot he is asked if he had any regrets before dying. He responds by saying "Garfield, maybe."

### Box office

Despite the negative reviews, *Garfield: The Movie* was considered a financial success.

 US & Canada
 Rest of world
 Worldwide

## Sequel

A sequel, titled *Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties*, was released on June 16, 2006 in North America.