Garfield: The Movie

The Garfield comic strip hasn't been funny in at least 15 years, but Bill Murray rescues this movie adaptation from the same fate by capturing--in his purring, petulant voice performance--that indolent, impudent charm the fat tabby had in his heyday. The CGI-rendered feline with his band-shell ears and wily, persnickety smile is well-integrated into this comedy's real world setting, where his unlucky-in-love owner Jon Arbuckle (Breckin Meyer) has just been persuaded by a pretty veterinarian named Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt) to adopt stray puppy Odie (who for some reason isn't CGI, but a nondescript real dog). Despite the cat's familiar animosity, after Odie is kidnapped by a tacky TV pet-trick showman (Stephen Tobolowsky), Garfield reluctantly mounts a rescue mission that bears more than a passing resemblance to the plot of Toy Story 2. Little more than an innocuous, minimal-effort, one-dimensional kiddie-flick, Garfield: The Movie is given enough punch by Murray's creative caterwauling that the end product, despite some sad efforts to make it seem modern and hip, really does recall the comic strip's early spirit. A strong optional purchase. [Note: DVD extras include both widescreen and full screen versions. Bottom line: always nice to have both versions of the film on one disc, but "meeowww!"--where's the catnip?] (R. Blackwelder)[DVD Review—Nov. 29, 2005—Fox, 2 discs, 80 min., PG, $26.98—Making its second appearance on DVD, 2004's Garfield: The Movie (The Purrrfect Collector's Edition) sports both widescreen and full screen transfers and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. DVD extras on this double-disc set include audio commentary by director Peter Hewitt and producer John Davis, the four-part documentary “The Pick of the Litter: The History of Garfield” (49 min.), a “Composite Workshop” with five multi-angle segments and an illustrated technical commentary (13 min.), 17 deleted scenes with a clip montage (10 min.), four storyboard-to-film comparisons (9 min.), a “Garfield: Bringing the Cat to Life” featurette (7 min.), the “Gone Nutty” animated short featuring Scrat from Ice Age (5 min.), the “Garfield Presentation Reel” production featurette (4 min.), the music video “Holla!” performed by the Baha Men, DVD games including “Find Odie” and “Mixing Moments with Garfield,” DVD-ROM features, and trailers. Bottom line: although the movie itself is hardly “purrrfect,” this extras-loaded edition will be catnip to fans.]