The Garfield Movie is a 2024 animated adventure comedy film based on the comic strip Garfield created by Jim Davis. Directed by Mark Dindal from a screenplay by Paul A. Kaplan, Mark Torgove, and David Reynolds, the film stars Chris Pratt as the voice of the titular character, alongside the voices of Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham, Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Cecily Strong, Harvey Guillén, Brett Goldstein, Bowen Yang, and Snoop Dogg. In the film, Garfield is reunited with his long-lost father, a street cat named Vic, being forced into joining him on a high-stakes adventure.
Development on the first animated Garfield film for theatrical release started at Alcon Entertainment in May 2016. Dindal was announced as the film's director in November 2018, and pre-production began the following month. By 2021, Sony Pictures had already purchased the film rights for global distribution and Pratt was cast as Garfield, with the rest of the cast joining the following year. The film was animated by DNEG Animation, while John Debney, a frequent collaborator of Dindal, composed the score.
The Garfield Movie premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on May 19, 2024, and was released in the United States by Columbia Pictures through Sony Pictures Releasing on May 24, 2024. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, but was a commercial success, grossing $245 million on a $60 million budget.[6]
Plot
Garfield is an obese, sedentary, orange tabby cat who lives an average pampered lifestyle with his beagle dog best friend, Odie, and their owner, Jon Arbuckle. One night, while getting a midnight snack, Garfield and Odie are abducted by a Shar Pei and a whippet named Roland and Nolan, who take them to an abandoned mall as prisoners. Garfield and Odie are soon rescued by Garfield's estranged father, Vic, whom Garfield hates for abandoning him in an alley when he was a kitten. The dogs' boss, Jinx, a deranged Persian cat, arrives to exact revenge on Vic for leaving her behind during a milk heist at Lactose Farms before she was caught and imprisoned. She agrees to forgive Vic if he, Garfield, and Odie break into Lactose Farms to steal a large quantity of milk as extortion for her imprisonment, which they reluctantly agree, while Roland and Nolan closely observe them.
The following morning, Jon notices Garfield and Odie’s disappearance, but has trouble finding people to help search for them. Freighthopping a train to Lactose Farms, Vic attempts to bond with Garfield, to no avail as the latter refuses to engage with him. The three reach the farm, which is heavily guarded by an advanced security system. They meet Otto, a bull and the farm's former mascot, who was kicked out after someone took over the farm, separating him from his cow girlfriend, Ethel. They agree to help get Ethel out of the farm if he helps them break in.
While preparing for the heist, Garfield and Vic frequently clash with each other, forcing Odie and Otto to tie up the two to a tree. During a heated argument, Vic forlornly reveals that on the night he abandoned him, he was actually getting food for Garfield across the alley but took too long returning to him. When he finally did, he saw him being taken care of by Jon in the Italian restaurant he wandered off to. Reluctantly accepting that Jon would be a better provider than he ever could, Vic decided to let him adopt Garfield, and kept his distance from his son. Finally understanding the circumstances, Garfield forgives his dad. Meanwhile, Jinx, who reveals to have lied about letting go of her grudge against Vic, secretly calls the relentless farm's animal control officer, Marge Malone, to inform her of the upcoming heist.
The trio successfully infiltrate the farm and circumvent the factory's dangerous equipment, but Marge intercepts them at the end and captures Garfield and Odie. Vic reluctantly leaves them behind despite his son's pleas, stealing the milk truck and successfully delivering it to Jinx, only to be betrayed and captured by her as she reveals that she wanted Vic to be sent to the pound in the same way she was. A heartbroken and confused Garfield and Odie are taken to the pound, where they meet Vic's old crew. However, they have long distanced themselves from him as he was constantly leaving their capers to check up on Garfield, watching from afar whenever he visits him, but Garfield refuses to believe them. Jon soon arrives to bail Garfield and Odie out and takes them home. Returning to his normal life, Garfield finds Vic's tally-marks on a tree across the house that the cat crew told him about, realizing that Vic does love him and only left him behind at the dairy to keep him safe.
After having flashbacks of his old life and with his faith in his father restored, Garfield decides to go back and save him, learning that Jinx intends to throw Vic off the canyon and high bridge from a train. With Otto's help, Garfield and Odie arrive to rescue him, only to eventually fail. However, seeing Vic's genuine love for his son, Roland and Nolan turn on Jinx. Enraged, Jinx pushes the quartet off the train, before she herself gets knocked off by an overpass that derails the entire train. Otto swings a rope to catch them all and safely lands them on a net set up by Odie. They later return to the farm by the milk truck and bring in Jinx to Marge in exchange for Ethel's release, finally reuniting her with Otto. The reformed Roland and Nolan begin working as guard dogs for Marge, while Jinx ends up working community service.
Returning to Jon's house, Garfield finally reconciles with Vic, who moves in with the trio, officially becoming part of his son's life.