*SPOILERS FOR THE GARFIELD MOVIE AHEAD*

When you hear the name “Garfield,” what image pops into your head? For a lot of people, it will likely be an orange, black striped, clever, lasagna-loving feline. His image and personality is not something difficult to comprehend, and a movie would likely be able to capture that, correct?

I was intrigued and went to see The Garfield Movie at the beginning of summer, having been a long time fan of the franchise. My hopes were high, as it can’t be difficult to mess up a movie that has decades worth of character material, including countless comic editions, multiple TV shows, and even other movie adaptations. I assumed this newest film would be similar to those movies-exciting and true to form. I was wrong. 

The titular character, aside from design, is not anything like his source material. In the movie, Garfield is stupid and forgetful, while Odie is some sort of silent super genius. This is not how Jim Davis wrote the characters, seeing as Garfield plays numerous tricks on the clueless pup during the series. Trying to switch their traits only confuses the audiences that are familiar with each of the characters’ established personalities.

Additionally, the movie barely features the pets’ owner, Jon Arbuckle, despite the fact he is a main character in the series. Garfield and Jon’s banter is one of the best things about the comics, because it showcases the relationship owners have with their pets. What’s even worse is this movie tricks you into thinking it will focus on Jon and Garfield. The movie begins with Garfield as a kitten being abandoned in an alley by his father. He is all alone until he spots Jon in an Italian restaurant. Jon, eating alone, lets Garfield into the restaurant and shares his pizza with him. Jon ends up taking Garfield home at the end of the scene. This was by far the best scene in the movie because it sets up this great relationship between owner and pet, which honestly brought a tear to my eye. 

This sweetness is interrupted as the story cuts back to present day, where Garfield and Odie are kidnapped and taken to an abandoned mall by the henchman of a Persian cat named Jinx. Garfield’s estranged father, Vic, suddenly appears to try and rescue them. He is then captured too because Jinx revealed that kidnapping Garfield and Odie was only part of a plot to lure Vic so she could exact her revenge on him. This is all because Vic abandoned her during a ‘milk heist’ several years before and Jinx was caught and locked up in a pound.

 While this revenge isn’t even targeted at Garfield or Odie, Jinx forces them to help Vic steal a large amount of milk from the same farm she was captured at years ago and bring the milk back to her as some form of repayment. She knew Vic would come if Garfield was there, because it’s revealed later that 1. Vic didn’t abandon Garfield in the alley, he was just going to get food for him, and came back to see Garfield eating happily with Jon, so he just let Jon adopt Garfield and 2. Vic has secretly been watching Garfield every day from a tree across from Jon’s house. If Jinx knew this, why didn’t she just steal Vic from the tree? It doesn’t make sense to involve Garfield and Odie in this scheme when they had no idea that Vic was around or who Jinx was. Also, the only justification we get for Jinx’s heinous actions against Garfield and Odie is that she’s crazy. This writing choice is so lazy and doesn’t give any depth to her character. The main conflict is just so pointless, because there’s nothing for the antagonist to lose or gain, which means there isn’t much for the protagonists either. This is a setup for plot failure.

Then, when Jon wakes up to find his pets missing, all he does is make a bunch of calls around to try and find them. This does not align with what Jon has done in the comics. Garfield and Odie have gone missing numerous times throughout the series, and each time Jon has gone past the bounds of phone calls and lost posters. He will go out searching for them, regardless of rain, wind, or snow. Jon’s insanity over losing his pets is also much more apparent in the comics. He is actively descending into madness until he finds his pets. It didn’t feel as intense in the movie, which made the reunification of Jon, Garfield, and Odie kind of boring.

My biggest gripe is that every conflict in this movie could be avoided if Vic wasn’t such a flake. He easily could’ve waited one second for Jinx when he first abandoned her at the dairy farm. He also could’ve just gone with Garfield to live with Jon. Jon is already taking in a kitten he found outside of a restaurant unprompted. He’d be just as eager to take in a full grown cat, let alone one that is related to the kitten. That’s how the movie ends, so the writers took the long way to get to a very simple resolution. Vic also leaves behind Garfield a second time and lets him and Odie get caught by the pound. At this point, he’s more of an antagonist than Jinx, because he’s not smart enough to recognize and fix this pattern of abandonment. Get it together, papa. 

There’s just so many better plots that could’ve been written for this movie. I wanted to see bigger rolls for Liz the Vet, Arlene, and Nermal. They could’ve included the Arbuckle extended family, brought Garfield’s mom in the picture, or solved the mystery of whatever happened to Lyman, Jon’s old roommate. It’s pointless to create new characters if you aren’t going to give them depth or backstory, especially when there are existing characters that already have that foundation. These aren’t even half the problems I have with this movie. I didn’t talk about the cow love story at the milk farm or the high-speed train scene at the end. For now, I’ll end by saying you shouldn’t watch this movie. Instead, go watch the 1988 Garfield and Friends. It’s a much better adaptation of the comics and you don’t need to listen to Chris Pratt do a mediocre Garfield impression for an hour and a half. Treat yourself to that and live, laugh, lasagna.