Legendary cat's animated adventure has peril, lots of ads.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 7+?
Any Positive Content?
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that The Garfield Movie is the first fully animated mainstream release based on Jim Davis' popular comic strip about the iconic orange cat who loves lasagna and hates Mondays. It follows Garfield (voiced by Chris Pratt) from his kittenhood meet-cute with owner Jon (Nicholas Hoult) to an unexpected reunion with his long-lost father, Vic (Samuel L. Jackson), that puts Garfield's survival skills (or lack thereof) to the test. Expect lots of cartoon/slapstick violence, including falls and face-smackings, a scene where a cat swallows a bird, another in which a bird is electrocuted, and many chases and confrontations in which main characters are nearly injured or killed (or, in one case, land in a pile of manure). There's also one mildly suggestive scene that's likely to go over kids' heads, plus a few insults like "worthless," "outcast," and "crazy" and a use of the British slang word "bloody." Garfield's laziness, size, and larger-than-life appetite are played for laughs (including a fatphobic joke about him breaking a scale). The movie's frequent, overt product placement starts to make it seem like an ad for not only Garfield, but also the Olive Garden, Sony, PopChips, and more. All of that said, there are clear themes of perseverance, teamwork, and forgiveness, as well as the importance of communication between parents and children.
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Products & Purchases
a lot
Frequent, overt product placement, including Sony electronics, the Olive Garden (which has a special Garfield commercial), Walmart, PopChips (which have a special Garfield tie-in flavor), FedEx, and Godiva chocolate. Mentions of Shark Tank, Tinder, and "dating apps." Netflix is called Catflix and has the same red logo. Many off-screen merchandising tie-ins for Garfield.
Violence & Scariness
some
Kitten Garfield is left alone, sad and scared, in a dark, rainy alley; he believes he's been abandoned by his father. Many scenes of slapstick/comedic violence involving falls, face-smackings, punches, hits, near misses with passing cars, and more. A cat swallows a bird, and another bird is electrocuted on an electrified fence and wobbles around, charred-looking, before toppling over. Garfield, Odie, and others face peril from two henchdogs, pound workers, a security officer with an electric cattle prod, and a cat focused on vengeance (who wields an ax at one point). Several chase scenes: Two involve pursuits in and on top of a moving train; one involves molten cheese and very sharp blades in a dairy facility. A few moments seem life or death, and characters are injured and survive several near misses, but no one besides the charred bird expires. Characters are tied up, restrained, imprisoned. Menacing dogs attack and destroy mannequins. A character falls into a pile of manure. Garfield snuggles under a blanket that turns out to be infested with spiders.
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In one quick scene on Catflix, there's a scene from a (fake) romantic movie that involves a quick kiss. Mention of dating apps. A forcibly separated bull and cow yell "You are my day / You are my night!" to each other. When they're reunited, they kiss, and then another animal closes a shade, obscuring the view while the song "Let's Get It On" plays. The scene could be seen as suggestive.
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Infrequent insults include "outcast," "loser," "thug," "crazy," "worthless." One use of British slang "bloody" and a use of "poop." A vet tech yells "We're going to need the other scale" when Garfield breaks the scale. Potty humor. Garfield is nicknamed "roadkill" and refers to himself as "zaftig."
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Promotes teamwork, perseverance, and forgiveness. Encourages honest communication between parents and children.
Positive Role Models
some
Garfield is clever and loves his family. He's braver than expected and determined to get back home with Odie. Jon is a loving and devoted pet owner, willing to do whatever it takes to get Garfield and Odie back safely. Odie is a loyal best friend and fellow pet to Garfield, and resourceful and helpful. Vic has flaws but redeems himself to be a kind and strong biological father. Otto is protective of his mate and wants to be reunited with his love. Villain Jinx is vindictive, jealous, controlling, and resentful.
Educational Value
very little
Mild lessons about soft skills like teamwork and communication.
Diverse Representations
very little
The characters are mostly animated animals (and a few humans); they're voiced by a multicultural cast, including several Black actors (Samuel L. Jackson, Ving Rhames, Snoop Dogg, etc.) and a couple of actors of Asian descent (Bowen Yang, Dev Joshi). Garfield's laziness, size, and larger-than-life appetite (especially for lasagna) are played for laughs: There are many jokes about his prodigious diet and his difficulty fitting into spaces, plus one sight gag where he breaks a scale. The most prominent female characters—Jinx (Hannah Waddingham) and Marge (Cecily Strong)—are villains.
We love Garfield, so we were excited to see this. We also love Chris Pratt and Samuel L. Jackson. We enjoyed 99% of this movie. We were just disappointed that one bird gets eaten alive and another gets electrocuted/badly burned. Why is this necessary in a kid's movie?
What's the Story?
THE GARFIELD MOVIE begins with the titular cat (voiced by Chris Pratt) explaining how he "adopted" Jon (Nicholas Hoult) on a dark and stormy night when he was a kitten who'd been abandoned by his father. Fast-forward to the present, and Garfield lives happily with Jon and his other bestie, Odie the dog (Harvey Guillén), until Garfield and Odie are kidnapped by the two henchdogs of an evil, vengeful cat named Jinx (Hannah Waddingham). After they're nearly rescued by Vic (Samuel L. Jackson), Garfield's long-lost dad, Jinx sends them on a seemingly impossible mission to repay an old debt. While Garfield, Odie, and Vic are on their life-or-death adventure, Jon tries to find his beloved missing pets.
It has a few funny sequences, and kids are likely to enjoy it, but this animated comedy is also overstuffed with product placements and surprisingly perilous moments. The slapstick violence and scheming in The Garfield Movie are far beyond what you'd expect from the traditionally lazy lasagna lover. The movie's Mission: Impossible sequence (complete with accompanying score) is amusing, particularly because it's concocted by a curmudgeonly bull named Otto, who's voiced by the M:I franchise's own Ving Rhames. But that doesn't quite save the movie from feeling like a cash-grab that was at least partially funded by prominent brand tie-ins. Yes, Garfield loves his Italian food, but the Olive Garden take-out containers are unnecessary and may pull viewers out of the story. And while it's somewhat forgivable to show Jon wearing highly visible Sony headphones, given that Sony Pictures is the film's distributor, the Arbuckle home is overflowing with product placements so overt that even preschoolers are likely to notice.
That said, the familiar voice actors are well cast, and it's always fun to hear Jackson voice pretty much anything, particularly a cool cat like Vic. Waddingham is a believably motivated villain who's so vindictive that she'd rather sacrifice her only companions than let her plot be foiled. And Hoult's Jon has a quotable line about the horrors of automated, never-ending customer-service phone trees when he all but shouts, "I will not hold! The Jon who was on hold is dead!" But even with the one-liners and laughs here and there, The Garfield Movie is middling enough to give any Garfield fan a case of the Mondays.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the amount of peril and danger in The Garfield Movie. Were you expecting that in a movie about the famously lazy cat? How much scary stuff can young kids handle?
Did you notice the product placement in the movie? Does seeing a company or product in a movie make you more likely to want to use or buy it?
How familiar are you with other Garfield movies? What about the Garfield comics? Does this movie inspire you to check those out?
What continues to make Garfield appealing? How do he and the other characters demonstrate character strengths like teamwork and perseverance?
Who do you think the movie is aimed at: young kids, older kids, or adults who grew up fans of Garfield?
MPAA explanation
:
action/peril and mild thematic elements
Last updated
:
October 6, 2024
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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
By Sandie Angulo Chen
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