Top 10 Pros/Cons I Noticed with this Upcoming Garfield Movie

Okay, so I was the movies yesterday to go see “Jersey Girl,” but I could not truly enjoy the movie, because I was grabbed too much by an ad out in the lobby. A clearly CGI cat, with sunglasses, advertising the film, “Garfield: the Movie.” Instantly I thought, “Oh no! They’ll ruin it so very quickly!” My next thought was, “or will they...?” I’ve more or less settled on the fact that, yes it will. It’ll be terrible, hence the top 10 cons. However, I just now saw the preview and it does seem to have some stuff going for it. Either way - I present them to you now, in convenient list format! Enjoy!

10. (Con) It has LOTS of CGI animals: Yes, they’ve added like 5 new characters (all of which are talking animals) to this movie, and I can’t for the life of me understand why. They just made them up, because apparently there weren’t enough odd characters in it originally. Damn random animals...

9. (Pro) It has Nermal: Yes, the worlds cutest kitten is also in this movie! Yeah, he’s also CGI (or so I can only assume) but still - it’s Nermal! Anything that has Nermal in it, instantly garners points from me. I hope something heavy falls on him/he gets mailed off to Abu Dabi. That’d be sweet...

8. (Con) Garfield himself is CGI: Yeah, Garfield is CGI, and thus sadly does not really fit in with all the live-action stuff that happens around him. It’s somewhat irritating, but I suppose no more than all CGI (with the exception of Gollum) looks pretty shotty next to live- action. Oh well.

7. (Pro) He doesn’t look TOO bad, for the character: I thought initially, that the picture didn’t look a damn thing like Garfield, however upon watching the preview, I must admit, for a CGI version of a normally (and well suited to be) 2D character, this thing ain’t too bad.

6. (Neutral) Jon: The thing discussed mostly after seeing the posters for this movie was “who could possibly play Jon Arbuckle?!” Truly, Jon is a great character. He’s completely normal in appearance, except that he’s fairly tall, he’s a total loser, but he thinks he’s great (ie: he’s “smarmy”). So who? Thus far, the only thing that comes close is Ross, from friends. But, instead they have the guy from “Road Trip” (the main character guy) playing him. He’s only in the preview for about 5 seconds, so I got to know little about his version of Jon. He better not screw it up, or casting-director’s heads will roll.

5. (Con) Garfield’s Voice: Sadly, the guy who did the voice of Garfield on the show/all the specials/commercials is not (by some bizarre twist of fate) NOT the voice of Garfield in the movie. So pissed off about that... I mean, that guy probably can’t even call people without whoever is on the other end screaming to their friends, “Oh my god! Garfield is on the friggin’ phone!” Why not get him back?!

4. (Pro) Garfield’s Voice: Interestingly the person who IS the voice of Garfield in this movie is none other than Mr. Bill Murray. Bet ya didn;t see that one coming, did ya? Bill Murray is always awesome, so I dunno... and upon watching the preview, he did a pretty good job with it. Also, there’s a weird twist that I don’t think anyone else noticed but me. I’ll let you in on it though:
- Bill Murray played Peter Venkman in the movies “Ghostbusters” and “Ghostbusters 2"
- Ghostbusters later had a cartoon made about it. - Peter Venkman on the cartoon had THE SAME VOICE AS GARFIELD!!!!!
- Isn’t that friggin’ crazy?!

3. (Con) Odie: Oddly, Odie, the necessary sidekick to Garfield, is played by a real dog. True, Odie never actually talked or anything, but still! He DID do stuff (ie: danced, fell off things, slobbered ludicrous amounts, etc.) Things a real dog just can’t do. And what’s more - it looks NOTHING like Odie! Kind the way that Brain from the “Inspector Gadget” movie looking NOTHING like the real Brain. So don’t expect too much from Odie. I hate movie dogs. So frigging much.

2. (Pro) The Plot: Most movies that come from established sources like old shows/comics tend to add really weird plots that completely change the entire idea of the original. Like the “Addams Family” movies. They are just odd compared to the actual show. Lots of liberty taken there. From what I could see from the preview/synopsis of this Garfield movie, it has absolutely no plot. No burglars; Garfield is not kidnapped by terrorists with hilarious results; it’s just a bunch of stuff happening to this guy’s fat cat. I know that sounds like a bad thing, but it’s the way it should be.

1. (Con... Mega-Con! This equals like at least 3 cons!) The worst travesty in all of Garfield history! Yes, they did it. I prayed they wouldn’t, but they went and did it. They removed the single most clever thing of Garfield’s character, when they easily could have avoided it. I think you know what I’m talking about. It’s possibly the only thing that will keep me from seeing this movie to see if it truly is a “pro” or “con”... Yes... Garfield’s mouth moves. He’s not just thinking sarcastic thoughts - he’s saying them. And what’s worse - Jon understands him! The one thing that makes Garfield Garfield and they go and do it. That’s like... I dunno. All I can think of is WW2 here. Truly, it’s depressing. It also makes me think of the depression actually.

So there you have it. 10 reasons to see/not see the damn Garfield movie. The only way they can make me go it (on account of that last point) is if the movie is entirely a re-make of “Garfield’s Halloween.” The one where they dress up like pirates, and get kidnapped by ghost-pirates. That was awesome. And if it was done by the original guy. Let Bill play Jon. Maybe that’d work...