Touches You

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

A few comic strip characters and stories in movies age well, or don't age at all over time. Some have been made into animated films, others into real life films, and others a mix or combination. Charles Schulz created the "Peanuts" comic strip in 1950, and Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the gang are still endearing to adults and kids of all ages well into the next century. Old and newer films alike still appeal to people and are likely to well into the future. Other comic strips may last a long time in print, but seem to have a narrower window for film. "Garfield," the movie, is in that group. The comic strip remains popular nearly 20 years into the 21st century, and the 2004 movie was a box office hit. It combined real life and animation. The movie deviated in places from the characters in the comic strip. While okay and enjoyable close to the turn of the century, the film has lost its gloss for subsequent audiences. The plot and dialog are dated, and the characters and humor just don't ring in modern times. Most adults today will find the humor blasé. The movie gets five stars because it still may entertain the very young generation. Even if the kids don't get the dialog or humor of the script, they will enjoy the antics of the world's fattest, laziest cat.Here are a couple of funny lines that still bring chuckles. Garfield, watching Odie chase his tale, says to himself, "Yeah, I think I just may have a mental advantage on this guy."Garfield, later going to rescue Odie, says to himself, "Hey, nobody gets to treat my dog like that except me."

Garfield (Bill Murray) is the big-boned, lasagna loving, demanding cat belonging to Jon Arbuckle (Breckin Meyer). He hates to leave his cul-de-sac but Jon keeps bringing him to the vet Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt). Jon has a crush on her since high school. She asks him to adopt Odie. Garfield doesn't like to share Jon's affections. Odie catches the attention of local TV morning personality Happy Chapman (Stephen Tobolowsky). Garfield gets pushed out of the house. Odie goes to accompany him but he locks Odie out. Odie wanders off and gets dognapped by Chapman who wants the dog to be a performance on his show. Bill Murray is the perfect Garfield. He's sarcastic and lovable. That goes for both Murray and Garfield. The story is light kids comedy. It's not terribly deep. It has the essence of the comic strip. This is for Garfield fans.

Bill Murray, what are you doing in this movie? You played one of the Ghostbusters, man! You should have known better! I loved Garfield and the comic strips, but why would you make a live action film featuring a CGI cat and a CGI dog! I got plenty of things that are wrong with this movie.First of all, Odie is a yellow beagle! That dog who's suppose to look like Odie doesn't actually look like him at all! Second, it's trying to rip-off the first Garfield TV Special: Here comes Garfield. The plot nearly resembles the 1980 TV special and tries to rip it off. Third, the actors. Why couldn't you get Frank Welker to voice Garfield or Greg Berger to voice Odie?! What the heck is wrong with you?! Finally, the entire movie should have been in animation! Whoever said that live-action with crappy CGI characters is a great idea was high on dope! This movie is an utter disgrace to the Garfield franchise and it should have never been made in the first place! Where is Jim Davis when you needed him?!!

This is a good example of a movie that should have never been made. I don't understand why Hollywood chooses to make movies that are just plain not funny. I guess they are able to make a quick buck off of something that takes little to no thought, however, if they would just put forth a little more effort they might have been able to come up with something really good that makes them even more money in the long run. "Garfield" has almost no story. You will sit through this film completely bored for almost all of it. But that is not even the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that it just does not work. The animated Garfield character does not flow with the rest of the live action. The characters don't work at all. John is terrible. Whoever Jennifer Love Hewitt is supposed to be is very lame. The mouse doesn't fit as he should and it is hard to find words to describe how bad Odie comes off. I mean, I am all for taking something classic, such as Garfield, and tweaking it to portray it in a different light, however this goes far beyond that.Another big flaw with this film is how unfunny it is. How many variations of the joke, "I have tags, but I left them in my other fur" have you heard in your lifetime? It really makes you cringe. And this film is peppered with that sort of thing.The transition from the comic strip to the 1990's cartoon was done so well. Why was this such a disaster? And why would Bill Murray choose to lend his voice to this atrocity? At least he recognizes the mistake he made in the film "Zombieland".Don't see this movie. Let your kids watch the old cartoon instead of this movie. If will ultimately save some of their brain cells.