Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

This movie, for me, is a mixed bag. I think it's a charming movie that has a ton of enjoyable moments and good entertainment, but it's also extremely anchored down by the fact that this film does an awful job staying true to the comics it's based off of. The only thing it did well with staying true to the comics is Garfield himself, as he looks great in this movie, and I think Bill Murray did a great job in his role. But, everything else just doesn't feel right. Nermal, instead of being the cutest cat in the world, is just an ordinary cat. Same thing goes for Arlene, as nothing about her is reminiscent to her comic counterpart. Jon is also completely different than what he should be. Jon's supposed to be a middle aged-ish, sometimes clueless and grumpy, yet good hearted pet owner, but in this film, he's a late 20s-early 30s shy guy that's more worried about getting a date than taking care of his pets. I mean, come on. Were the writers of this film even trying? Also, Garfield is the only one who's actually animated and looks most like his comic counterpart, while literally everyone else is just normal animals. I don't get it, because all the other animals were cartoon like too, but Garfield's the only one to get the treatment? I get that he's the main star of the film, but it's jarring to see everyone else as a normal animal while he just sticks out like a sore thumb. But despite all these major flaws, I will admit that I did find the film entertaining, as it does have a good enough flow to be watchable and enough funny and heartwarming moments to be thoroughly enjoyable. It's a movie that's definitely easy to sit through and can be enjoyable with the right mindset for it. I think kids who've never read the Garfield comics will probably get a kick out of this film. However, despite this movie being watchable, that still doesn't change the fact that this film left out somewhere around 80% of what made the comics good to begin with, and I can't recommend this film to anyone who are fans of the comics, as all it'll do is just disappoint everyone who's expecting to see there favorite comic remade for the big screen, as this film does a pretty terrible job at it. But, like I said, this movie is still pretty fun to watch, so I say to those who are not big fans of the comics to check this movie out, as it's definitely enjoyable for the most part, at least in my opinion. Overall, this is a fun movie that fails miserably to replicate the comics. With that said, just remember to proceed with caution.

I have stacks and stacks of the Garfield comic books.Is the movie 100% authentic to the comics and cartoon series? Of course not. Jon isn't quite the bumbling bachelor nerd he was in the comics. But at the end of the day if you like dogs and cats and appreciate the Garfield character I think you'll enjoy the film.

You have all been kids once!only because its for kids, that don't mean its a piece of trash!This movie is great... I love the comic- but OK! The movie might not be as grand as the comic, but I mean, it was still a great film. The plot might not be as great as the comic.So, basically, Jon adopts this little mutt,Jon calls him Odie, he has more talent than Garfield, this Happy Chapman guy kidnaps him, everyone is looking everywhere, Garfield goes to find him, falls into a truck full of lasagna, finally rescues Odie and everyone lives happily ever after.This is NOT a piece of sh*t.

This comic strip effort is nothing like the comic strip. The Jon Arbuckle in the movie is different from the Jon Arbuckle in the strip. The cartoon Jon was clueless and was either very angry or upset with Garfield when he got into trouble or was terrorizing Odie. The Jon depicted here seems more like his friend than his owner, and is a little too carefree. And as for the movie version of Odie, well let's just say he comes off more like Benji. Even Garfield himself is not the same as the cartoon. He doesn't seem to be as lazy, hungry, or troublesome. And I'm also not convinced that Bill Murray is the ideal voice for Garfield. It's much too gentle. Nevertheless, it's an entertaining movie. It's just that you'd never guess this was based on a comic strip (that's if you've never read the strip before). When Odie gets lost, and Garfield, Jon and Liz go look for him, the movie really takes off. Perhaps if this were animated instead of live-action, it would seem more like the strip and less like an effort.*** out of ****