Garfield's Fun Fest
Garfield's Fun Fest is a 2008 direct-to-video CGI film starring Garfield. It was produced by Paws, Inc. in cooperation with The Animation Picture Company and distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. It was written by Garfield's creator Jim Davis as a sequel to "Garfield Gets Real". The film was released on August 5, 2008. It was followed by a third film, "Garfield's Pet Force," in 2009. Plot. Garfield is reading a book of the origins of Freddy Frog and his pond to Odie when Jon tells them breakfast is ready . The duo rush downstairs and as they sit down and await for their meal, they are greeted by Jon serving them their food while doing his disco that he's been doing since the start of their comic. As Garfield and Odie tease him, Jon reminds Garfield that Arlene wants to do a dance with him this year for the Annual Fun Fest, but Garfield is not interested in changing his 29 year comedy routine, nor is he worried about losing, and believes he will win again, because he won the Fun Fest 29 times, and the 30th Annual Fun  Fest is to come tomorrow night. After breakfast, they drive off and pick Nermal and Arlene up. After being annoyed by Nermal's guitar solo, Arlene is tired of the same old routine she is always on with Garfield, and this time, she does wants to try dancing, but Garfield objects, as he says, "Don't fix what isn't broken." After arriving at the studio, Garfield and Arlene rehearse for tomorrow's Fun Fest, when Arlene again wants to try dancing. When being asked by Garfield on what dance to do, she replies that she wants to do the  Tango and gives him an outfit to wear for it. Still not wanting to ruin his 29 year winning streak and not wanting to look ridiculous, Garfield again turns her down and says if she wants to dance so bad, then she could find a different partner. Just then, a cheesy-accent Mexican cat named Ramone arrives & becomes Arlene's dance partner making a heartbroken Garfield leave Arlene with Ramone. Garfield attempts to perform a new act that is done by himself, but he bombs and his ego is left damaged by Ramone, who then gives insults that Nermal gave  Garfield. During Ramone and Arlene's tango, he goes up to employee Eli's office & realizes that he's lost all his hope, thinking he has no humor left. As everyone begins to leave after the last segment, Garfield sees Ramone flirting with Arlene, which she enjoys, leaving him even more sad, even more hurt and even worser than before. The next day, Garfield still left in a tough place after yesterday, is woken up by a mime dressed Odie acting as an alarm clock. When he leaves his room, Odie notices an envelope inside Freddy's Book and takes  it. On the way to work, Garfield watches Alrene get in Ramone's car and drive ahead to the studio, again reminding Garfield of his fear of losing her. At the studio's cafeteria, Odie tries giving Garfield the letter, after multiple attempts from earlier, but to no avail thanks to his bad mood. Odie, having enough, shoves it into his hands, telling him it's from the storybook. When the duo open it, they see that it's a map that leads to Freddie Frog's pond; He plans to travel to the pond and drink the water in  order to be funny and win the show, but after hearing how ridiculous that sounded aloud, he gives up the thought, until seeing Arlene star in Ramone's romantic strip for the Fun Fest, quickly changes his mind and runs out with Odie in tow. Arlene watches him leave and realizes the misunderstanding, much to Ramone's pleasure. She then runs outside of the studio, but Garfield and Odie are already gone following the map, leaving her sad on what Garfield thinks now. The duo follow the map and eventually, seemingly, make it to the pond after many obstacles and  encountering the funny animals who have drunk from the pond. There, a over sized frog tells them that is not the pond they are looking for, but a pond where sewage gets dumped, after the duo swam in and drank it. Disgusted and infuriated, they scatter out of the pit & ask who he was and he tells them he's Freddy. The duo are excited to meet him and ask if they could have drink the funny water. Freddy agrees and leads them onto many trials that involve learning how to be funny and what it was about. When Garfield  fails to understand what the trials were about, Freddy pins him inside a plank bridge and dunks him into the water unless he admits he is fat in the way of a joke. After a few dunks and a couple of jokes, Freddy releases him and they continue to the pond, with Garfield learning about self deprecating humor, and continue to the Funny Pond. Meanwhile, director Charles begins to grow worried as Garfield was there main focus for Fun Fest and was nowhere to be seen when it was hours from starting. Ramone then steps in and takes his place . The shows begins to start and Arlene is disappointed that Garfield was gone and was worried that he thinks what he saw of her and Ramone. Meanwhile, the latter has quickly won over the audience with his quips and accent. Back in the forest, the duo make it to pond & are welcomed by Freddy, making it before them thanks to an elevator. Garfield drinks it and begins to feel funny, dancing around and moving playfully until remembering Fun Fest. After scooping up it up with a water bottle Freddy gave him, Garfield thank him as the duo prepare to leave  but Freddy stops them and says he has a giant hang glider that will get them to the studio in time. While not knowing how to fly it, the duo plunge from the plateau, despite Freddy denying them being ready, and soar over the forest, thanking the animals that helped them along the way. They crash through the window of the studio back home, right in time for Garfield's act. After making their way through the vents, they arrive at Eli's office, who's happy to see them both and informs Charles of this. Garfield prepares to drink  the Funny Water he stored, only for the bottle to be destroyed from the crash landing and all the water now gone. Feeling like he has lost his funny forever and it's too late, Garfield gives up and leaves. Happy by this, Ramone announces his Tango Dance with Arlene to the audience and performs it. Garfield watches from behind the curtain and is amazed at Arlene's dance moves, but is disappointed by feeling like he has lost her. The two then spot him as he leaves, and as Arlene tries to get to him, she is pulled back  by Ramone and back into dancing. Joined and comforted by Odie in the alleyway & tells him what a great friend he has been by sticking beside him all these years and how he is upset about losing Arlene. Freddy shows up and tells him that not only is funny water just plain water, but also that it was never the funny water that makes him funny, but rather himself that was funny and it was because of what he has done over his adventure and that this should not even be about being funny and then encourages Garfield to follow  his heart by telling him this will be the only chance to prove himself. Knowing that Freddy's right, Garfield regains his hope and goes back to the stage. Ramone and Arlene continue their dancing, but are caught by Garfield wearing the clothes she brought for him. Arlene and everyone else is happy of his arrival, except Ramone. The audience encourages them as they begin to dance together, until Ramone snatches her. The two cats fight over the female during the entire segment. In the process, Garfield rips off Ramone's clothing, exposing his body to be mechanical and wired . As Garfield fights him, he also rips off his arms, revealing Ramone to be a robot. Garfield uses the arms to again combat him. As they progress, Garfield ambushes Ramone and rip off his legs, however, Ramone still continues to move and force Arlene to dance against her will. Having enough, Garfield grabs him by the face and surprisingly rips it off, revealing him to be Nermal in disguise. Much to Garfield and Arlene's anger and to the shock of the crowd and judges. As the crowd cheers for Garfield's performance, they boo Nermal and force him to  shamefully get off the stage, disqualifying him. Garfield and Arlene share an encore and Garfield apologizes for not even trying to dance with Arlene, as this was more important than winning. However, the two win cheers from everyone and win the contest. Garfield hands her the rose as they are crowned winners of Fun Fest while Nermal starts thinking of other ideas for next year's Fun Fest much to Odie's disbelief. Release. "Garfield's Fun Fest" was released on DVD on August 5, 2008, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Reception. Box office. The film opened in nine  countries. Its most profitable market was Brazil, where the film generated $729,560 in revenue and opened at sixth place with $219,801. The film had a 2013 re-release in Portugal, and opened to $9,048, finishing eighth at the box office. The film dropped to 14th and 19th in its second and third weekends and finished with $21,705. Critical response. Paul Mavis of "DVD Talk" said in his review: "Maybe the problem is that Garfield creator Jim Davis, who wrote this movie, can't translate his humor into an 80 minute film. What's funny in a  three-panel strip becomes drawn out and forced in a feature-length film. The obvious video-game structuring of the scenes is to be expected, I guess, in these days of rampant, voracious synergy, but that doesn't make the film any more palatable. Maybe somebody else should be brought in to write these straight-to-DVD toons? It doesn't help, either, that the voice work here is somewhat muted. Legendary Frank Welker as Garfield doesn't seem all that inspired this time around (true, he's working with a character who's supposed to be ticked off and  monotone, but Welker doesn't seem to find any fun here). And unfortunately, Tim Conway basically phones in his turn as Freddy Frog (even that character's name shows Davis' tired approach to the material - Freddy? Really? That's the funniest or most memorable name you could come up with?). I'm a fan of Conway's, but there's very little here to recommend in his rote performance." Video game. A Nintendo DS game that is based on the film was released on July 29, 2008. It was developed by Black Lantern Studios and published by DSI Games in  North America and Zoo Digital Publishing in Europe. Sequel. Following the success of "Fun Fest", a sequel to the film, titled "Garfield's Pet Force", was released on June 16, 2009. It is the final instalment in a trilogy of computer animation Garfield films, including "Fun Fest" and "Garfield Gets Real".