America’s favorite rotund, lasagna-loving cat who hates Mondays is back. The iconic cartoon character Garfield is back, starring in a brand-new CG-animated motion picture from Sony Pictures. The new film, titled The Garfield Movie, stars the one and only Chris Pratt as Garfield in a new adventure where he meets his long-lost father, who is voiced by another fellow MCU star, Samuel L. Jackson.
RELATED: The Super Mario Bros. Movie ‘Power Up’ Edition to Release June 13 on Digital and Home Media
Sony Pictures dropped the official trailer for The Garfield Movie today, and the film community is already buzzing at hearing Pratt’s first take on Garfield. Not to mention, the internet is already in a tizzy over all the iconic characters Pratt is now voicing in animated movies. First Mario in this year’s global box office smash-hit, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and now Garfield in The Garfield Movie. You can check out that newly released trailer to see it for yourself below:
THE GARFIELD MOVIE WILL FEATURE THE ORIGIN OF GARFIELD
The trailer begins with a cute little angle showcasing the origin of Garfield meeting his human subject, Jon Arbuckle. Now, the trailer doesn’t reveal who is voicing Jon Arbuckle for the film. However, Sony’s official cast list does name Nicholas Hoult, Harvey Guillén, Brett Goldstein, and Bowen Yang. Now, there aren’t a ton of Jon’s voice clips in this, so it’s hard to pin down who in this cast is voicing him.
I can’t recall too many instances of showing how Jon came to be Garfield’s owner, or rather how Jon came to be Garfield’s human servant. So this is at least something a little bit different. So the trailer shows a cute, lonely tabby kitten, baby Garfield, alone in the rain. He then finds a dejected and lonely Jon Arbuckle eating some pizza at an Italian restaurant. Jon of course is lonely because he’s eating by himself.
Jon then notices the poor little kitten outside and instantly befriends him, letting him in and offering him some pepperoni slices. Of course, the scene then switches to showcasing Garfield gaining his voracious appetite, as he devours the pizza and then goes after the food at the other tables. The scene then switches to the Arbuckle home as we get our first line from Pratt’s Garfield, “And that’s how I adopted Jon.”
Well, they are going with the angle of Garfield moving his mouth and talking normally here. In the classic Garfield and Friends cartoon and Garfield comic strip, created by Jim Davis, the idea is that the audience is “hearing” Garfield’s thoughts and that Garfield and the other dogs and cats aren’t communicating verbally. As a result, Garfield’s lips wouldn’t move when he talked. It looks like the animated movie is sticking with the format of the greatly maligned live-action Garfield movies, starring Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield.
The trailer also shows a little bit of Odie. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like Odie isn’t speaking, but he’s talking through various noises, moans, and grunts. The trailer also doesn’t reveal who is voicing Odie. There are also some typical Garfield hallmarks, such as the lasagna, shenanigans with Odie after Garfield gets a bath, and Garfield breaking the fourth wall and talking to the audience.
New to the Garfield mythology so to speak is Vic, who is introduced in the trailer as Garfield’s long-lost father, voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. As far as I can recall, Garfield’s never really had a definitive showcase of his father in previous media, while his mother has appeared in animation and comic strips. So, it appears that this story is about Garfield reuniting with his long-lost father, and high jinks will ensue.
According to Sony’s official synopsis, “Garfield and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered life into joining Vic in a hilarious, high-stakes heist.” So it looks like that will be the film’s central conflict. What the heist Vic has planned remains to be seen, as the trailer offers no insight into what he’s after.
If I were to guess, I imagine the story will likely revolve around Garfield being abandoned as a kitten and becoming a domesticated cat, while his father remained a stray drifter. Maybe he will rectify his relationship with his dad, or Garfield will recognize that he’s better off without him.
The animation looks decent. The animators and director Mark Dindal didn’t stray too heavily from their classic designs and silhouettes. While they have minor updates, Jon looks like Jon, Garfield looks like Garfield, and Odie looks like Odie. They even kept those same wide, bulbous eyes from Davis’ comics.
It’s not yet clear who the rest of the cast is playing. While Sony revealed a cast list, they aren’t saying who is voicing who, other than Pratt as Garfield and Samuel L. Jackson as Vic.
IS CHRIS PRATT VOICING TOO MANY ICONIC CHARACTERS IN ANIMATION?
Now, the reaction to Pratt voicing Garfield in The Garfield Movie seems to be that Pratt is taking on too many voice roles for well-known, established cartoon characters. First, it was Mario in the Super Mario Bros. game franchise for its theatrical animated feature, and now it’s Garfield in The Garfield Movie. Pratt is no stranger to voice-over and animation, having voiced Emmet Brickowski in The LEGO Movie and its sequel. He also voiced Barley Lightfoot in Pixar’s Onward in 2020.
Now, for one thing, why is it a bad thing that an actor such as Chris Pratt works on so many animated voice-over roles? He’s a father with kids. He probably wants to work on these movies for that alone. Also, he’s an actor who grew up in the 80s and 90s. That means he probably loves these characters like Garfield and Mario as much as we do.
Secondly, for all the hysteria and controversy surrounding his casting as Mario in The Super Mario Bros. feature, he didn’t do a bad job. I wouldn’t say it was a groundbreaking, tour de force, but he did a decent job as Mario, and considering all the negativity and controversy over his casting, his performance did not warrant such a reaction.
Also, is everyone forgetting how great The LEGO Movie was? Pratt was fantastic as Emmet in that film. He was literally the lead character. And while you can hear Pratt in Emmet, he gets his voice to a surprisingly high pitch, and he makes Emmet very fun and bubbly. It’s another good voice-over performance for the actor.
Onward was also a great film, and Pratt did a great job as the voice of Barley in that film. He and Tom Holland made their characters and their sibling relationship and dynamic come to life in that film. Just because there’s a perception that Pratt is starring in too many animated movies doesn’t mean he shouldn’t do them. Not to mention, most of the animated features he’s starred in have been very good films and got good reviews, save for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which was still a massive hit.
If anything, this shows that Pratt enjoys doing this type of work and enjoys playing animated characters. There’s nothing wrong with that. Rather than receiving derision for this habit, Pratt should be receiving praise and encouragement. The fact of the matter is this. Pratt is an experienced actor and talent, and he’s done pretty well in his voice-over roles so far.
Now as far as his voice of Garfield, it doesn’t seem like a big stretch for Pratt. The footage in this trailer makes it very clear that it’s Pratt voicing Garfield. Now, personally, the voice I most identify for Garfield is the late, great Lorenzo Music, who famously voiced Garfield throughout the 80s and 90s in animation and the long-running hit animated series, Garfield and Friends. In my humble opinion, Music perfectly captured the attitude and personality of Garfield.
Other actors have voiced Garfield, such as the legendary Frank Welker and Bill Murray. The live-action Murray films are ones everyone would rather forget, including Murray himself. I don’t think anyone ever captured the style, personality, and attitude of Garfield better than Music did during his run. That’s not to say that Pratt can’t do a good job, but we shall see.
This is only a short trailer for The Garfield Movie, and it doesn’t offer the whole breadth and width of Pratt’s performance. Pratt’s Garfield seems a little more active and dialed in here. What Music captured is Garfield’s lazy, passive attitude with his voice, which I’m not noticing as much here. That said, I’m willing to give Pratt’s performance a chance due to his track record. I’d say the verdict is still out if this is a case of celebrity stunt casting or miscasting.
Ultimately, we’ll get to see for ourselves how the movie and Pratt’s performance pan out next year. I’m not sure if this will be as good or entertaining as The LEGO Movie, Onward, or The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but I’m willing to give it a shot. Hopefully, it’s at least better than the two live-action features, which won’t be hard.
The Garfield Movie is due out in theaters just in time for Memorial Day 2024. It hits on May 24, 2024. Mark Dindal’s film is written by Paul A. Kaplan, Mark Torgove, and David Reynolds. The Garfield Movie is based on the characters created by Jim Davis.
But what did you think of the new trailer? Do you like Chris Pratt as the voice of Garfield? Will you be seeing The Garfield Movie in theaters? Do you think Pratt is taking on too many iconic voice-over roles for his career? Let us know your thoughts about the film and Pratt voicing Garfield on The Illuminerdi’s social media.
SOURCE: Sony Pictures
KEEP READING: The Super Mario Bros. Movie Home Media Review
