Garfield: The Movie (2004)

On this episode of Movie Smash!, we discuss 2004's Garfield: The Movie directed by Peter Hewitt and starring Bill Murray, Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Stephen Tobolowsky. The film follow Garfield as he tries to save his pal Odie.

Hosts: Christopher Roberts, Fergel Amayo, Jeremy Parmentier

Edited By: Christopher Roberts

Produced By: Off Panel Creations, LLC

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Episode Transcript

(00:46):
There were five selections on what you said, me, and this was the best of the five. So
don't point fingers at me.
I am looking for the hate we're going to get back.
They could have pulled his skin apart like Evil did.
Come here and hug me, Dad. Can we go get coffee?
John seems like a nice guy, but he does a lot of porn in his house.
Hello and welcome to Movie Smash.

(01:13):
Hello and welcome to Movie Smash, the show where you dive head first into comic book
movies outside of the MCU. If you're new to the show, thanks for joining us. If you've
been here before, you know the drill. Each episode, we're going to smash a movie whose
source materials are a graphic novel or a comic. Is it worth revisiting? Should it be
forgotten? Let's find out. This is Movie Smash. I'm one of your hosts, Chris Roberts. I'm
the founder of all panel creations. With me today, I have a person who's known me for

(01:34):
over 30 years and still talks to me, Jeremy Parmentier.
Yeah, Jeremy Parmentier. Currently, I have very bad taste in friends, but also I'm one
of the hosts of RetroVaniacs, the gaming podcast and the world's number one biggest Nermal
fan.
Also with us today are comic historian and lasagna aficionado, Fergal Amayo.
Well, I don't know if it's lasagna as much as it is my baked ravioli, which will make

(01:54):
you see heaven. But on top of that, I am Fergal Amayo, Gotham Knight Comics, where we nerd
out. However, this is one of those movies where we don't quite nerd out, we nerd in.
Before we jump into the movie, guys, the Fantastic Four trailer dropped recently and I want to
get your guys' thoughts on it.

(02:15):
The whole thing has been about trying to reset a universe, right? Like trying to reset what
they did once that quite frankly is incredibly difficult to do. I was just having a conversation
on this. And so for what I saw, you tack that along with Born Again, the new Daredevil trailer,
and you look at these two things and you're starting to really get your eyes around common

(02:38):
accurate representations of the Fantastic Four, as well as from what I understand, and
this is all conjecture, so please don't take it at anything more than that. They are actually
bringing in all of the different Fantastic Fours as part of the Reed Richards Council,
which is going to be dope.
Yeah, I was actually pretty excited because on the previous Fantastic Four movies, the

(03:01):
thing always looks bad. No matter what you do, thing looks pretty terrible. And I was
a big Fantastic Four guy, so I was always kind of disappointed. I think it looks really
good. I have to say, I mean, I haven't seen the whole movie, obviously, but just the trailers
are good. But also Galactus looks good. He's not a stupid cloud. And Silver Surfer looks
like, could be Silver Surfer, could be fine. So I'm actually pretty excited for that.
Did you see Silver Surfer? Because I didn't see Silver Surfer in the movie.

(03:21):
It's not in the first trailer. There's a trailer number two, the record reel number two, that
has Silver Surfer shot.
Oh, I have not watched it.
Now, to be fair, I'm assuming that's authentic and real. The rest of it was, but at this
point, there's so much stuff on the internet that may not be real. So maybe that's someone's
fan video that I thought was trailer number two. But the rest of it was stuff I saw in
the previous trailer, clips of things, some other angles of shots of Galactus. And then

(03:45):
you do see Silver Surfer kind of come down on the surfboard. So I mean, it looked good.
It looked good. So I'm excited for it.
It's a woman Silver Surfer, just so you know. It's the female version of that. But it's
not so much what it does. The movie is exciting, right? If you think about it in terms of,
and boy, this gets me excited, multiversal, this is going to be uniquely different because

(04:06):
this universe sits as sort of a prime universe that knows of other universe existence. It
sort of blends 1960 with 2051 and puts them all together. So it gives you all the technology,
but still that 1960s aesthetic. Awesome. I'm gonna dig it. And then Reed Richards and Sue
Storm have the baby. It's all about Franklin Richards. This movie is literally besides

(04:28):
everything else, it's about Franklin Richards as well.
Yeah, it's looking pretty good. I mean, I like the aesthetic for it. I like the fact
it looks different than the other Marvel movies that have been out there that sort of same
color, the same style that they've all been having lately. So I'm looking forward to it.
I don't know much about the actual history of the storyline they're stealing from or
borrowing from. I did see the one with the Silver Surfer in there. And I think it is

(04:49):
a female Silver Surfer. It is.
But that is not our movie today. Our movie today is from the director of Bill and Ted's
Bogus Adventure, Peter Hewitt brought us 2004's Garfield the Movie, starring Breckenmire,
Jennifer Love Hewitt and Bill Murray.
It's not something he wanted. It's just something that's always been there. Every second it

(05:13):
grips him from within. It's his destiny, his power, his curse. Who is he?
He's Garfield.
My life has been saved by the miracle of lasagna.

(05:37):
As always, Fergal, can you give us a little background on the comic itself?
Well, I mean, so Jim Davis created Garfield, you know, based on his hometown, Muncie, Indiana,
based on a cat that he sort of kind of, he's kind of adopted a lot of different theories
around this cat. And it's been around since 1978. It's actually been syndicated to nationally
known comic book or comic strip. So if you grew up reading a newspaper of any kind, before

(06:02):
say, you know, the internet took over the world, then you know Garfield, like it's one
of your favorite, you know, Doomsday or Doomsbury and Garfield were two of the best ones in
there and the far side. So these were the three things I would look forward to.
So guys, was this the first time you saw Garfield?
Yes. This is actually the first time I've never get to say that. So yes, this was the

(06:23):
first time I saw this movie.
I could have sworn it was, but as I'm watching it, I was like, I know what's going to happen
next. I must have watched this movie at some point, which is bizarre because this is 2004.
It's a Garfield movie clearly made for children. And yet I knew all the beats before they happened.
And there's nothing crazy here. You're not going to be like, you won't believe what they
did next. It's exactly what you think they're going to do next. But still, like, it was
like, so I don't know what I would have watched this. My kids clearly didn't see this. They're

(06:46):
not old enough to have cared about Garfield. So did I like at some point at 30 decide I
was going to watch the Garfield movie one night? I must have. That's the only explanation
I have. But then I watched it again for this episode today.
It's funny you say that for me. I swear this was my first time watching this movie. You're
right. There are a lot of scenes where I'm like, I remember Jennifer Love Hewitt doing
something with Garfield. I remember Bill Murray's voice as Garfield. And I don't remember seeing

(07:10):
trailers for it. So I probably had it in the background on TBS or something at one point.
Maybe fell asleep to it, the TV running at two o'clock in the morning. But beyond that,
that's really all I know about it. For the character itself, I'm assuming guys, you guys
knew who Garfield was before we saw this movie.
Well, interestingly enough, both of you will refuse to admit that you've seen this movie.
And I actually am looking at a gentleman that says number one Mermal fan. I know he saw

(07:32):
this in theaters. I know you snuck in as a single ticket buyer with a big ass tub of
popcorn. And we're like, no one is going to find me in a matinee watching Garfield. This
is where I need to be at. But your question was again, what did we take from the movie?
Because I completely lost.
No, you were familiar with the character Garfield.
Oh, this world record has this as the most syndicated comic strip ever. So yeah, it's

(07:55):
a new Garfield.
You could have still missed the comic. I mean, for all I know, you never read a sunny morning
comic book.
It was a daily comic. Any newspaper had Garfield every day, but it was the highlight of the
Sunday comics because it was a color insert that your dad took out. He would pretend he
didn't read it, but he did. And then you'd read just the comics and you'd be excited
about Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes and peanuts, even though there's nothing actually funny

(08:16):
about peanuts. But you'd read all those things every week. But Garfield was always a highlight
because for three panels for a regular strip, it's perfectly set up. It's just a situation,
a punchline, or a situation, a buildup and a punchline. Every one of them is very three.
It works very well in a three panel comic. And I still like Garfield in general, like
the comics. I don't rush out to find them. If I ever see a Garfield strip, I'll read

(08:38):
it. But the funniest thing I've seen online in a long time about Garfield is the Garfield
without Garfield strips. Just search Garfield without Garfield. It's a whole bunch of strips
of John just acting insane because they removed Garfield from every strip. So it'll be John
walking by and then nothing. And then it's him running in his hair is crazy. He goes
like, my meatballs. And that's the whole strip because whatever Garfield did, they've removed
from it. It's amazing. But yes, I'm very familiar with Garfield as a kid. Like any book, book

(09:01):
fair you had at the school, you'd get a Garfield book. Like I had all those. So it's very familiar
with Garfield as a written comic. And again, the cartoons, they had cartoons when we were
kids Saturday morning cartoons with that and US acres is a split thing. And that's why
on the cartoon, it was not Bill Murray's voice, but it was a guy trying real hard to sound
like Bill Murray. So when they had Bill Murray cast as the voice of Garfield in this, you're

(09:24):
like, Oh, it makes total sense. It was a guy pretending to be a Murray for years. We got
to put the big money out for a movie. We can get Bill Murray himself.
He's actually the same guy that voiced Bill Murray's character in the real Ghostbusters.
Yes, Dr. Venkman. So for me, I used to draw Garfield a lot back in school. I was one of
my favorite characters drawing out every book fair. You buy one of those books, those compendium

(09:45):
books. Yes. Still never saw that movie. So for our listeners, quick spoiler warning,
if this is your first time joining us, just a heads up, we're going to be discussing
the elements of a Garfield movie that contains some spoilers about Garfield. And to be honest,
it's just a Garfield movie. So there's really not much to it. They're pretty much all the
same thing, but to be fair, just consider yourself warned. So Jeremy, why didn't you

(10:08):
walk us through the plot? This very thick, complicated plot of Garfield.
It's very detailed. This is Garfield's origin story. It starts out with him on a planet.
It's Garfield. So you see John Arbuckle, who's a cartoonist. Everyone else in this movie is
live action completely, except for Garfield himself. All the other animals are actual
animals, although some have weird CG faces, which is less than exciting. But other than

(10:30):
that, it's the story of Garfield and his owner, John. And John is in love with a veterinary.
And so he decides to take Garfield to the vet all the time. And she says, I have something
I really need to ask you. And it's for him to adopt a dog, Odie. So the movie is entirely
about Garfield coming to terms with a new pet in the house, this dog, Odie, because
she just sort of she doesn't like. And Odie manages to somehow at a dog show, start dancing

(10:54):
in front of everybody, causing this TV weatherman, who's very excited about getting more famous
in New York, to see this and decide he's going to find this dog and get rich off of him.
So he doesn't necessarily kidnap him. I think that's a very gray area, but he managed to
acquire Odie and Garfield has to save the day by getting it back. That's it. That's
the whole plot. In fact, that's more detailed than probably any synopsis of this movie has

(11:17):
ever, ever been.
It's almost Odie's origin story.
It really is.
It's actually funny, both of you are actually telling the origin story of Ted. Do you guys
realize that? You're literally word for word, Mr. Normal fan, you just told the origin story
of Ted.
I was going to say that's probably not a by accident, I would believe. But they were
both very funny. Let's do the same thing.

(11:39):
That's a pretty tried and true story.
This movie's got just a few characters in it. And of course, the biggest character being
Garfield played by Bill Murray from Osmosis Jones fame. How was Garfield as a character?
I think it's important to state that Garfield was the only animated cat in the... Jeremy,
I believe you did say that.
I did.
But it's also interesting how far they went in the other direction for Odie. Because doesn't

(12:01):
Odie have a very long head and a big tongue that sticks out with big red floppy ears?
So just the fact that it was an incredibly smart, almost human like dog. He's the only
dog that didn't talk, by the way. The rat talked. But he didn't talk. He just barked.
Well, because Odie doesn't talk in the comics either. All the other characters talk, not
Odie because he's that stupid.
I think only Normal and Garfield talk.

(12:23):
But John talks.
But John's a human. It makes sense that John talks, although it is always confusing of
whether or not John understands what Garfield's saying. It turns out he does not.
Who is Normal? Which one was Normal? Who did...
Normal was the little gray cat. He wasn't in this movie at all. That's the little gray
cat that Garfield hated because he was too cute.
Too cute. I know the comic. He was definitely super cute. He was the...

(12:45):
I weirdly remember this. There was a comic where, in Garfield, where they did have a
talking rat. So I think it's just the animals can talk except Odie because he's stupid.
Now, wasn't he a beagle in the comic strip?
He was a beagle. That's what was making this whole thing a little off the beaten path for
me.
So it wasn't a rat. That was a mouse.
Oh, sorry.
So it was a mouse. I believe that it was... Nick Cannon played the mouse, if I'm not mistaken.

(13:08):
He was the really cool mouse that was like, these my people. Or this is my cat. Leave
him be.
Now, John is played by Breckenmire from Road Trip.
Yes.
You know that movie?
Pretty much it.
Yeah. And Rat Race.
And how'd he do?
Just like he did in Road Trip and Rat Race.
Yeah. He kind of plays the straight man in this. And in those movies, really, he's like
the normal guy you're supposed to kind of like. But, you know, it's really hard to talk

(13:32):
about where these characters go. This is clearly a children's movie. This is not a movie that
looks like a kid's movie, but then there's a bunch of... Like, Garfield's dick isn't
hanging out at any point. Like, this is a children's movie.
So did they act fine in a children's movie? Sure. Sure. He did a great job of being a
guy you'd kind of like. He does nothing where you're like, John seems like a nice guy, but

(13:52):
he has a lot of porn in his house. Like, he just seems like a nice dude. So he does a
great job of being a nice...
He probably has a closet full of porn. I mean, he has a big house for being a cartoonist,
number one. And he is certainly loving... And by the way, I'm just going to say it out
right. Jennifer Love Hewitt, who was the love interest in this movie, is unbelievably hot.
Yeah.
Just going to put that out there. Just going to... And now I don't know if you've seen

(14:14):
her in 9-1-1. Now she looks more like she would cut you if you made her mad. But back
then she looked really hot.
That can be hot too. It can be very hot.
Could be just a lot of day.
I think you're right. Because obviously it's a kids movie. The characters are very flat.
It's just to give you a bunch of laughs, jokes of like Garfield kicking the dog off the couch
over and over again. My kids watched this with me and they laughed at all the Garfield-Odie

(14:37):
interaction.
Correct.
They did not laugh at the jokes. Yeah, they didn't laugh at the jokes of Garfield talking
to the camera, breaking the fourth wall a little bit, or any of the basic interactions
of Garfield. But really the interaction between him and the dog, they thought it was amazing
how real that looked, given that Garfield is a CGI character.
And then until someone actually picks him up, then it's not real. Their hand goes inside

(14:59):
of his fur. And then it's like, where did Garfield go? That was not great.
That's not how it looks when you pick a cat up. I got a dog, so I have no idea.
I don't know if that's the way it's supposed to look.
It depends on the cat, yeah. Sometimes they just bite you when you pick them up. It really
depends on the cat.
Now the villain of our story was Happy Chapman.
Happy Chapman.
He's a character played by Stephen Toboski, the inside person, last name. He's from the

(15:23):
movie Groundhog Day.
Yeah, he's Ned.
He's Ned. Ned Ryerson.
Ned Ryerson.
Ned, is that you? Come here, hug me, Ned. Are you busy? Can we go get coffee?
I imagine Fergal, given your daytime job, that you are that character.
I hope that God not. I'm more like, what do you call it? What's his name? Collin Firth

(15:48):
from The Kingsman. That's how I view my-
Oh, that is quite the dichotomy of character. That's a big gap.
Yeah, it is. Is it because my hair doesn't quite look like him? I'm trying to figure
where you're getting the gap from, but yeah, there's a gap there.
I guess, guys, we should really just go in and talk about the plot of the movie, some
of the scenes, because there's not many characters other than the other animals in this movie.

(16:10):
It was King Rowland. I think he played some interesting. King Rowland was definitely like
the set the world on fire when he released the hounds, literally, because it was King
Rowland that released the hounds. Remember, I did have to actually sustain and watch this
movie. I would have YouTubeed it, but I had to sustain. I did fast forward through some
parts, but I had to sustain and watch the film. So I know Rowland set free all the animals.

(16:32):
I know at this point, we have not released that episode, Spawn, where you talked about
you just watched Spawn via YouTube videos. I am looking for the hate we're going to get
back from saying, I can't believe you didn't actually watch the movie.
I know the movie by heart. I don't have to watch Spawn. I just had to familiarize myself
with tight scenes to get the memory flowing again.
So guys, if you had to pick a favorite scene from this movie, what would it be?

(16:55):
The credits. There's all the interactions with Garfield and Odie in the house. They're
fine, but really the dog shows like the peak of the movie. The dog show. First off, why
would you bring a dog that's not performing at the dog show to a dog show? Now, I don't
want to go to a lot of dog shows. Maybe people do that, but I have two dogs and I don't even
like to take them around one of their dog that's on a walk. I can't imagine taking

(17:17):
them to a dog show, especially unleashed, just like, Hey, we'll hang out you and me
at this dog show. So chaos happens. All these things occur. Garfield isn't supposed to be
there. He sneaks in. So I don't blame John for having Garfield at the dog show, but it
happens. All this chaos occurs and that's where Odie decides he's going to do the dance.
I guess the Garfield and him were doing at the house previously. I think that's the time
it's hard to draw A to B, but it's so direct that I'm like, maybe that's what they're saying.

(17:42):
It's too much like this is the one thing Odie does and he does it here. So it works out,
but that's the only real scene that's notable. There's that and then the end and the end
sequence where they're in the train station. That's it. That's the two scenes of the movie.
No, the rats. When all the rats came up, that was the best scene in the whole thing. That's
in the train station. But that's no, no, no. I'm not talking about when it's the cities

(18:06):
before it's again. Oh, when they're walking. Yes, you're right. I think normal fan may
have YouTube this movie through. No, no, I actually watched it in full. It's on the Disney
plus. You can watch it for free. You have paid for Disney plus. I watched it today.
Now I was working, so I did have pay attention. It is the Garfield movie. My notes are not
very deep. No, I thought the rat scene was the best scene because the little mouse came

(18:28):
out of nowhere. I believe his name is Louis. So Louis came out and was like, uh, because
the rest are going to eat him up. They were like that. He was trying to talk about it.
I was like, I'm too fat. You know, they're like, Oh, we love fat. And then it's just
like, you know, mama baby rats. All of them might as well take them all to Applebee's
at this point. Yeah. And they're the ones who guide him to the TV station. So I did
remember that scene. I just blended it all together into one long thing. I wish I wouldn't

(18:50):
have watched. So I get it. Now there's one scene in the sort of the climax of the movie
where all the animals catch up to happy to take him down. Correct. And that move, the
movie couldn't take a nice horror turn at that moment when all the rats swarm over him.
You're right. It could have gone, they could have pulled his skin apart like evil dead,

(19:10):
but that was not going to happen. I mean, that would have been a crazy turn after watching
70 rough minutes of what's the like nicest movie we've watched with nothing offensive
happening and all of a sudden they watch a man get torn to bits. So that didn't happen.
It's the rated R cut. Let's talk about it later. That's the director's cut you have
on DVD. Oh wow. Yeah. You probably have the steelbook on that one. Yeah. The rats go in

(19:31):
and then what ends up happening is that Garfield takes out an Uzi and is like, you know what?
I'm tired of these bugs. Let me get them. Let me get them and just get some on them
goes and gets lasagna. Now this movie comes in at a tight 80 minutes. Did you want more
Garfield? I thought it was two hours. I felt like it was two hours. It was at least two
hours in my mind. It should be no longer. At first I was a kids movie. You want to stay

(19:51):
around an hour because you get, this is for kids that are like, when I say kids, we want
to make sure I'm very clear. This is for like five year old. This is not a movie for like
my, my kids would not enjoy this movie at all. They'd be like, dad, why are we watching
this? They're 11 and 13. This is not something they're interested in, but it's not, it, there's
also not enough plot going on. It's very basic. It's very simple. Kids movies are, are unfortunately
they're, they go in like three different buckets. There's the rare occasional kids movie that

(20:15):
hits perfectly. That's exactly what you want to do. I think Sonic the Hedgehog is really
good for a kids movie. I enjoy it. It has some stuff for adults, but my kids liked it.
It stays fast enough. They watched the whole time. All three movies. Very good. The Mario
movie, the kids came out, not the old one, the new one. Again, a good kids movie. They
like the material, whatever. Some Disney ones are all very good, right? But so there's some
that hit that mark. There's a bunch that don't, which is kind of what this does where it's,

(20:38):
you know, they're trying to appeal to kids, but they have something like kids. I mean,
1994 is like Garfield's new, even by 1994 he was old news. Like the peanuts movie that
came out. I don't know who that's necessarily targeted for. I, my kids watched it and were
bored by it and they liked the peanuts Christmas specials, but they were just like, this is
long for what this is. And they didn't care. Like I, so that, that's like a missed thing
or, or, you know, something based on a kid's book that maybe the kids aren't familiar with.

(21:01):
But then the third panel is ones. And these are all mainly Pixar where something has to
be incredibly sad. So no matter what happens or something incredibly sad that occurs, and
I ended up crying at a child's movie, this thankfully doesn't do that. So this is a better
than that pool of, uh, we watched the, uh, uh, what's it called? The wild robot, wild
robot actually very much liked it. Did you, did you cry that? I certainly cried at the
end of the wild robot. You, you cried at the end of wild robot? I did. I also cried at

(21:24):
the end of iron giant. So maybe just that's reasonable. Like that's, I mean, who didn't
cry at the end? Chris, tell me you didn't cry at dinner, but he's a Superman. Oh my
God. Don't do it. I mean, I'm done. I'm done. Call it in right now. I'm Superman. It could
have been done. It's, I mean, you could have had that exact scene and it was amazing, but

(21:44):
that that's a, no, it don't. That's, that's exactly the case. And I, did you see the wild
robot? Cause I think that has a similar, it's not quite the same, but it's, it's a similar
with the guy, you know, once you have kids, you're kind of like, oh, I saw scenes. I saw
like a lot of scenes through again, I kept some of these movies if I don't have time
to watch them through scenes, through different YouTube scenes. And I'm like, and I watched

(22:05):
the ending of wild robots. So I do get where you're at. Like I get where you're at in the
beginning and the end. It's a very, but not iron, like iron giant was like Don Bluth's,
like all dogs go to heaven situation. It was very much like, that was so sad. Yeah. Nothing
made me cry at Garfield except that I had wasted so much time. The scene where Odie,

(22:27):
Odie, they informed that Odie has cancer. Yeah. Or it wasn't like, yeah, he didn't get
captured and you watch him like, God, remember the Sesame Street movie where there's the
blue bird of happiness thing where you see big bird dressed all in blue, just sadly singing.
Nothing like that happens here. It's just fine. It's fine. You know what I can't get
out of my head right now after what you just did is I've got Kermit the frog sitting on

(22:49):
a lily pad singing the song, just doing the banjo, singing the song. And it's just, I
don't know the words of it, but I see the sad. It's the rainbow connection and we're
not going to sing it or I'll be out. I will literally just fall apart. But there is a
great YouTube where he's like, give me that bacon. Where Kermit's like, give me that bacon,
give me that bacon. He's just, give me that bacon, give me that bacon. It's a great scene.

(23:12):
Like that changes the whole story. None of this has anything to do with Garfield. So
the question was, does it run long? And the answer is no, it's a good length.
This alone should tell you what we are reviewing, my man. I'm just going to leave it out there.
Okay.
Why don't we switch over to seat? We sort of hinted at, let's talk about the special
effects of this movie. That's really what this movie is about is that they were testing

(23:34):
out certain CGI effects to see if they could pull them off. How did they do with Garfield?
Well, you know, Bill Murray recorded this in his apartment while he was filming the
Life Aquatic with Steve Zizou. So just, there's a fun fact for you. He actually completed
that full in his apartment. So this is Bill Murray just being Bill Murray. Like you could
have slapped his face anywhere in that movie. I'd be like, oh, that's Bill Murray. But instead
we have Garfield and it just, I don't know. In some CGI scenes you're like, okay, when

(23:59):
he's on his own and when he's interacting with other animals, you're like, cool. As
soon as someone attempts to pick this cat up, you're like, where'd the cat go?
Yeah. That's any kind of interaction with people. It wasn't quite where it needs to
be. But I was still pretty impressed for the time that this movie came out, but it's 2004
or whatever. It still looks okay. And he actually looks surprisingly not terrible. I know I mentioned

(24:20):
Sonic the Hedgehog. Remember when the first one came out and beforehand they had the previous
CG Sonic look. Everyone's like, oh my God, Garfield looks okay. He looks all right. I
actually was pretty impressed with how his fur looks in general. When he's actually moving,
they do animate him kind of like how a cat moves. It's not just like a cartoon. He moves
like a cat. When he gets down off a chair, he doesn't think of that.

(24:40):
Did they green suit a cat? Do you think they actually put the little green suit on a cat?
Cause that would have been dope.
No cat would let you do that. They would just sit there angrily.
You don't know that though.
I've had cats my entire life. They would never do that.
It was a guy in a blue suit who was doing all the moves. So like actually it's the scene
where Odie and Garfield are fighting over the chair. It's a guy just knocking the dog
off over and over again. The dog would just jump back up again and he just knocked the

(25:03):
dog back off again, over and over again. And then they would CGI put Garfield into the
movie. So just some guy beating up a dog.
Does that mean for all the scenes where John picked him up, that John picked up like a
small man?
Yes. Guy's only three feet tall lifts him up.
Probably the guy from Willow. Probably the guy. Cause he seems like he'd be a good fit
or the little guy from Mini Me. Cause he would be a really easy fit. He would actually put

(25:24):
him in pocket.
No, what I was going to say was there a movie called Dogs vs Cats? Like dogs are spies,
cats are evil. It's like a live action, really interesting. There's a puppy in it. I don't
know. It's just a great movie. Now they did dress up cats in that movie and they look
so realistic and angry at the same time.
Yeah, cats hate dressing up. They don't like it.
Cats hate people.

(25:45):
I don't know what we're talking about anymore. I've totally lost track of what we're talking
about.
We were talking about CGI and how amazing the CGI for was his time.
Garfield looks good. I think the dogs and animals are doing like, they're just like
Odie. All of Odie was actually just this dog. It wasn't any CGI. It was just the dog and
it's fine. The neighborhood cats though that talked to Garfield had like CGI faces and

(26:06):
eyes and stuff. I didn't, not like that. I didn't like that at all. That was creepy,
but it didn't look as bad as you'd think. It didn't look like when Conan O'Brien used
to interview celebrities and have the bottom of their mouth move. It wasn't quite that
bad. Although that would have been hilarious, but it was, it was okay for what it was. And
I'm glad they didn't go the route of something like Milo and Otis where they would just have
an actual cat and a dog and they'd be like, Oh, that's Garfield cause he's an orange cat.
Cause Garfield does enough things that he's too human to just have a cat play Garfield.

(26:29):
I was watching something about sort of an interview about, they said the amount of CGI
effects on Garfield were double the amount they spent on Gollum for the Lord of the Rings.
Oh, they got to get their money back. That's like flying on Spirit. Just realize you paid
a Delta price and know you got a Spirit experience.
Well they cut costs in a lot of places such as the house where they live. That's the direct,
that's Peter Hewitt's house.

(26:50):
That does explain how the cartoonist can afford it then. Cause it wasn't the cartoonist's
house.
So I want to go over a couple of potential castings that they could have put in this.
I want to know, would it have made it a better film? First one is Jim Carrey as John Arbuckle.
Scheduling conflicts. I don't believe he wanted to do it, but I do think that I think he would

(27:11):
have upstaged Bill Murray because Jim Carrey can't help himself. He's very much, he's just
going to help himself, especially in this, with this type of material.
Even when he's supposed to be a normal actor, he's still over, not in a bad way. Like the
movies where he's supposed to not be Jim Carrey, he does, I think actually a really good job,
but he still outshines almost everybody else in the cast. So yeah, it would be, it would

(27:32):
be too strong of a John Arbuckle.
You all said Ben Stiller as John Arbuckle.
Nope. Also same problem.
I think he could have done it though. I think if it's a kid's movie, he would, it would
be one of those things where like, why would Ben Stiller do this? But it would be fine.
Now our favorite character of Happy Chapman, they're talking about using Michael Ironside.

(27:52):
That would have been dope. Cause then we would have saw the sauce come out at the end and
been like, the amount of enjoyment that would have come out of that collar at the end would
be like, let's try that settings on this thing. It would have been total recall all over again,
right there, but with a cat.
Too menacing. Again, this is a kid's movie and Happy Chapman is just kind of safe enough
that you're like, he doesn't really look dangerous, but he does some stuff. You're like, he's

(28:12):
not a nice guy.
You wouldn't want them around your kids. No offense to all fans of this guy, but at the
end of the day, you're not going to want that guy around your kids. Happy Chapman gives
off that weird, creepy, I belong to extra groups type vibe.
I don't want anyone around my kid, including me. Not for the same reason. Just want to
be very clear. I just don't want them around.
Now for Garfield, they had two other possibilities. John Goodman.

(28:35):
Yeah. I mean, that's that totally, I could see John Goodman.
Makes sense. Makes sense.
And Jack Nicholson.
Really? Nah.
That would have been cool.
It would have been interesting, but it would not have been good. It would have just been,
I mean, again, Bill Murray worked for me because the cartoon version sounded like Bill Murray.
But he didn't sound like Jack Nicholson.
Now imagine Michael Ironside playing alongside Jack Nicholson in this movie. Would that have

(28:57):
become a terrifying movie for children?
No, I'm just thinking of the Simpsons intro where Homer is doing the Miami Vice reboot
with the chair as his partner. Remember that? I mean, everybody's obviously seen The Simpsons.
Did you see the intro?
Never heard of The Simpsons.
Oh, okay. Well that's a damn difficult. How do you know no one but not Homer?

(29:18):
No, I know The Simpsons.
Nobody needs to write this man a letter.
I was joking.
No, but do you guys remember?
The Miami Vice knockoff they did with it was just right on the couch.
I was amazed. That's my favorite one. I want that as my screensaver. But here's the thing.
That's what we would have got, which honestly would have put this movie into a whole stratosphere.
It would have been like Shrek only better.

(29:39):
Now there are a lot of different possibilities for Liz. There's only a couple I want to hit.
Anna Jean and Julie.
I don't know who that is.
What?
Who do you say?
Angelina Jolie?
Angelina, that's not what you said. I know who you're now. Angelina Jolie. I got it now.
I don't know what you said the first time you should have said that. It was not the
name you thought you said.
That's exactly what he said. He literally said Angelina Jolie and you're like, who's

(30:03):
that? This is such a straight line. It went right through. Oh my God.
It was not who I heard.
This is a long night, gentlemen. This is what happens when you put Garfield in the rotation.
This might be our shortest episode ever, but it feels like it's going on for hours.
We just like Garfield. So it's appropriate.
Natalie Portman.
Yeah, that was the same effect. Same effect.
Same effect, I think. Yeah. I disagree.

(30:26):
You disagree to move it along?
Please, anything to stop talking about.
What character are we actually talking about? Just so I know who we're trying to replace
with.
John Arbuckle.
Okay. Then yeah, I would definitely take Natalie Portman. She would make the whole amazing
scene. She would do something awesome with it.
I don't even know where to go with that one.
So for this movie, guys, as always, what do you love about it? What could they have done

(30:48):
better?
Well, they brought Garfield to life. It was the first real live action attempt at bringing
it, probably other than A Tale of Two Kitties, which was the follow-up. I don't know if you
know that, but I believe John Goodman was somewhere in that one. It was a British. He
was replacing a British Garfield. That was why it's A Tale of Two Kitties. Just thought
I'd bring that out there. But what I loved about the film was that it was Garfield come

(31:09):
to life. What I hated about the film was that it was Garfield come to life.
Yeah, Garfield does not work well as a full length movie character. You don't have enough
story there. That's why three panels is great. Eight might be pushing it too far, but I still
laughed at a lot of eight panels. But 80 minutes, that's too much. The cartoon show work, because
it wasn't even a full half an hour of Garfield. It was a five to 10 minute Garfield and a

(31:31):
five to 10 minute US acres, and that was the whole episode.
So this is just a long time for a character that's built for quick setup, punchline, over.
It's a tough movie to film without either just redoing gigs, redoing bits that you would
have seen from the comic or going completely up the deep end. They did do that.
They made lasagna. They actually made lasagna. And then I'm just thinking to myself, what

(31:54):
kind of irresponsible pet owner makes their cat lasagna? He made him a whole baked ass
lasagna. I don't even get that good a meal in my own home.
I think you're right, Jeremy, is that this character is built for three panels. It really
is. And it's hard to build a full length movie around that. And so many characters fall prey
to that. I think the only way you make it work is
if you do something that's like a Wreck-It Ralph, where you pull in all these other comics

(32:15):
and you have this overarching story about comics going out of business or something
where you can fit all of it in. That's how you make Garfield a full length movie. Not
that anyone should do that. Please do not. But that's what would make it work. This is
just like. Wow.
Yeah, that's the only way you make it work. I like your idea. I actually Jeremy, I think
we may have just broken new ground here on movie smash. Ladies and gentlemen, I think

(32:36):
we may have just come up with the next new movie idea. What if we take the 90s newspapers
and get them coming out to save themselves because everybody wants to put them in landfills
and you get Garfield coming out, you get the far side, you got peanuts out there, you got
Calvin the Hobbes coming out there doing their thing. I just think we just broke ground.
Jeremy, amazing. See, if one good thing comes out of that, that's

(32:56):
it. That's what it is. I don't think that's a good thing coming
out of this. I mean, there have been a ton of Garfield movies
at this point, animated, even live action. They brought it back a couple of years ago.
I mean, does this world mean. Yeah, but that one's all CG, right? The 2024
one is entirely CG. I have no idea.
It's actually like a cartoon. I don't even know if it's CG, but it's definitely like

(33:17):
the newer cartoons, how they're all. It's basically like those kind of cartoons, like
Disney Pixar, like Wild Robot. It's not Iron Giant quality, but it's Wild Robot. It does
have the heart of Hogarth, but it definitely does pull in some interesting stuff.
I mean, well, my question is, does the world need more Garfield movies?
No, that's a real quick. It didn't need this one. Like really, Garfield is, you know when

(33:41):
Garfield's Perfect Brothers, Perfect Comics, like we already mentioned, and then on those
seasonal specials they had every year. It's Christmas special, it's Halloween special,
outstanding. Should have stuck with that. That's where you get key Garfield. That's
how you get a plot, a 25 minute plot about going to John's grandmother's house or something.
And that's fine. That was all great. I loved it. That's what you should keep it to. I don't
need this long drawn out realistic Garfield story. That's not fun. So I'm good with that.

(34:07):
Just so we address the cliffhanger for everyone who goes out and watches this movie, how did
Happy end up with a hairpiece and back on the news after he got caught?
No, no, he's got a twin. That's his twin brother. And that's why he was all upset because he
was like, I was the older brother and the more handsome brother. And now he's off doing
the news and I'm doing weather at this podunk station or whatever. I'm not sure he was a
weatherman. I don't know what he did, but I think he was a weatherman.

(34:30):
And yeah, the very end of the movie when he's, his younger brother's watching him from his
New York post, he says, oh, that's my idiot brother and he logs off. Like I'm done.
I was curious because I thought he bailed out of jail. Like that part must admit, and
I may have fast forwarded through where they referenced, but you guys
It happened early on. That's when you first meet Happy Chapman and he's talking about

(34:50):
whatever he's doing on the news.
But you meet him at the dog show. That's when you meet him at the dog show.
And they're watching them on TV early in the movie. That's the connection.
You must be watching this by the YouTube clips. You need to spend more time on these movies.
No, I watch it.
Watch it at least two to three times before coming on the show.
I was literally, I was literally doing the same thing Jeremy did. I was typing emails
and watching this movie, typing, watching, typing, fast forwarding, typing, watching.

(35:12):
And I was looking up at it, but I did, you know, I caught some very critical juxtaposition.
I know what went on in the train station. Like I know, and I, you guys certainly don't
remember the pound scene where he's like got, you know, sir Ronald opened up the thing was
like, go, go.
All those good things in the dogs. And then when someone's like hydrate and they're like,
don't get confused by the hydrate. And everyone kept running.

(35:34):
Yeah, actually the train station, my son was screaming at the TV. That's not how train
stations work.
And also why do you have one button that opens all the cages?
Oh yeah. Also that whole train scene, Garfield, it basically almost causes a national incident
and everyone's like, there's a button that just stopped all the trains. Like, well, first
off that doesn't exist. There's no button that just stops everything that fast. That

(35:55):
can't work. But yeah. And then, and then when, when they're like, oh yeah, well it looks
like this train's coming back. How did you not see the rest of everything? Like, oh yeah,
everyone almost died, but also this train is coming back.
It was like a 10 train head on collision.
Well he did, in all fairness, he did press the button again to keep them moving. Like
he did stop the, he stopped everything and then he just moved that one back and then
he left. Oh, but he still stopped everyone from dying. So that's good. It wasn't like

(36:18):
he, he crashed nine trains and stayed with Odie's train.
Yet again, this movie would take a different twist if one, Happy gets eaten by rats and
two, 10 train pile up, no train crash pile up.
Then you have Cemetery Man, but with Garfield.
So I guess the real question guys is, should others go find and enjoy this classical piece

(36:38):
along with us?
If you literally just want to feel good and bad about yourself at the same time, only
if you follow up with Iron Giant.
Yeah, it's, it is a passable kids movie. There are many worse kids movies, but again, what
kid today in 2025 is excited about a Garfield? But if they were, this is harmless and totally

(36:59):
fine. You could put it on and not pay attention to it, do something else and not come back
and they're like, dad, what's the Holocaust? You're like, Jesus Christ, what did I put
on while you're out in the room? So this is good. It's all very, very friendly for kids.
Did you get that from experience? Cause I feel like that just came, you had to add to
that question before.
So YouTube is a dangerous place to let your kids just on YouTube. And it wasn't the Holocaust,
but it was like, they were watching something that was like, and this is when they were

(37:21):
real young and it was coloring videos. It was something they were watching and literally
I was like, they're fine. And then I came back in the room and they're watching child,
like children work in factories. I'm like, what about what happened? I don't know what
it's like realistic videos and probably actual videos of children working in factories, like
accidents occurring. Like this is terrible. Yeah, I do have experience with that. Yeah.
That's exactly what it is. And it was, it's all, but I know it now. And I knew it then.

(37:44):
I just thought there was no way for these drawing videos are going to go to that, but
I was wrong. I was very wrong. So yeah, this is a harmless kids movie. Um, if you're a
massive Garfield fan, like if you bought Jim Davis's house fully furnished, this is a good
reason to watch Garfield. Uh, that's it though. That's the two reasons to watch this movie.
But he does just so the crowd knows he does have number one normal fan on his intro. So

(38:07):
there's clearly a pure love. Like I'm honestly thinking somewhere in your house, you either
have a plushie, a softie, a book or a poster of normal. Uh, I wish, I wish I did. In fact,
I wish I had all those Garfield comics. Cause I think they're pretty funny. The basic three
strip Garfield. Well, I think Jeremy, that's a great job in answering that question. I
would just say I concur. I, you know, do I, do I, do I think it will come on accidentally?

(38:30):
Uh, perhaps, you know, if TBS has a Garfield moment, I do think people want to see a tale
of two kitties. I think this is a reasonable start though. You know, I think that's interesting.
There's a lot of Garfield stuff out there. Uh, this may have been a bit much. I think
Bill Murray probably put it a little too much, Ammi, while the rest of it just sort of went

(38:51):
in a completely nonsensical direction. But that's a kid's movie. I guess that's what
they do except iron giant. Now, have you guys seen the movie zombie land? Yes. And Bill
Murray's in that movie and he says the only two things he regrets in life is this movie
and the sequel.
But guys, how would you review, how would you rate this movie? I don't think it does.

(39:14):
I think I'm not even going to give it a thumb. I'm going to give it a big lasagna. I'm just
going to give it a big lasagna. It's not even a paw up though. It's like a paw sideways
covered in lasagna. It's not, I don't recommend this movie. I mean, like I said, if you're
looking for a kid's movie, it's harmless. If you're the biggest Garfield fan on the
planet, um, then yeah, go for it. I guess it's fine. If you're a purist though, you're
probably very upset because this is not Odie's origin story at all. In fact, because Odie

(39:37):
was not just adopted by John. Odie was left by John's previous roommate Lyman who vanished
without a trace. And now they've retro retroactive written it. So that John's just been Garfield's
owner or Odie's owner this whole time. That's a, that's an excuse story.
Actually there's your Garfield movie. What happened to Lyman? Now I'm in, I'm back in.

(39:57):
We do know the Garfield movie. That's the third movie. The truth about Lyman, a tale
of two kiddies and desperately seeking Lyman. I'm in. Now that would be a trilogy that you
could make work if you overarched and remastered, then you have a whole trilogy that works.
So I would go with a slice of lasagna where the person forgot to use no bake lasagna noodles

(40:19):
and use real normal noodles. So it's a little crunchy when you're biting into it. A little
bit of a taste. So guys, before we head on out though, I do have a mail back for us.
I've been saving this one because you know. I'm waiting for an episode that only had 10
minutes of content. So I have some mail for it.
Yeah. We're actually so far ahead of our, I'm looking at the time. Gentlemen, good job.

(40:40):
Yeah, we managed to pull this off. This was actually reasonable. You got this. And it's
only because you picked Garfield. I didn't pick Garfield.
So Jeremy is the hero of today's episode. I selected Garfield from a list of five films.
You know what? That doesn't mind. Yes. I take the blame for picking Garfield. I was tired
of superhero movies and wanted to do something different.

(41:01):
This comment that was sent to us is kind of fitting a little bit. Love the show. What
movie irrevocably fucked you all up? No additional explanations, no descriptions. Just tell me
the movie you saw as a kid that that haunted you. It was Superman 3 for me.
Exorcist. That's a good one. The original Evil Dead is the one that screwed me up. I'd
love to get into it, but he said not to. And we talked about Iron Giant, but I wasn't a

(41:21):
kid when I saw I was a full grown man crying at the Iron Giant.
I would say me, it was, this might seem strange. It was Gremlins because I saw, I snuck into
the theater to go see it. And I was not.
Gremlins is way scarier than you. Not even scarier. Gremlins has a few peak scenes that
I was watching against my kids wanted to watch it. And I got to this certain point, I was
like, nope, guess what guys? We're going to watch Gremlins 2. And that's totally not a

(41:44):
surprise that Gremlins 1 is the same definite, same answer.
Now that makes me think of the movie Demon Knight. That movie I stuck in the theaters
to see, that was crazy as crap. But no, honestly, the only movie that really freaked me out
is The Exodus. That's the only one to this day that I can't watch the unrated version.
Didn't they make a remake of that movie?
They made a lot of those movies. Yeah. That movie's gone a lot of different directions,

(42:05):
which are not as bad, honestly, but it was just how they presented that movie at the
time the way it did.
It's perfect. It's perfect as it is. Just like Psycho, the original Psycho is perfect
as it is. You don't need to remake these things. They're good in the original format. Whether
or not it's because the limitations didn't matter, very creepy.
Actually, one movie kind of messed with my head a little bit was The Blair Witch when
it came out. And the only reason was a buddy of mine got an advance copy on a VHS tape

(42:28):
that was handwritten, Blair Witch. And Jeremy, we were from Maryland and that movie takes
place in Maryland. And all the marketing was around that. This is based upon a true story
with found footage. So before the...
Did you go there? Have you been to that Blair Witch site in Maryland? I lived there. I didn't
go there because obviously black folks don't need to go to hotter places. We don't go

(42:49):
down on Star Trek vessels. We didn't go camping. We don't go to hotter places. Those are the
three things that are in the code book.
No, I did not. They changed the name of that town. But nonetheless, so we saw it in a college
room, lights out, putting a VHS tape in with the handwritten Blair Witch on there. So watching
like, is this real? Like, how is it possible?
There are some great... I enjoy found footage movies. Even the bad ones I enjoy, but good

(43:10):
ones that really hit it right where you're not quite sure. Even though you know it's
not real, you're still like, ooh, I need to know what happens. This is cool. How'd they
do this or whatever? I enjoy those.
It made me stay up late. It made me stay up and have some coffee. After I walked out of
the theater, I was like, is that real? That's probably the only movie that left me with
the like, did that just actually happen? And so that the ending scene, the whole build
up to the ending scene, that sort of left me. But honestly, if we're on that Blair Witch

(43:32):
moment, I think we can't not talk about Book of Shadows. They did make it completely different,
but I just thought it was a better overall representation of Blair Witch.
So we can actually not have to talk about that by saying, Jeremy, we're going to be
able to find you.
People can find me at Retrovania.net every, every, like, twice a month. We do video game
episodes. Of course, I'm here every two weeks and I've been on the 20 double X podcast,

(43:55):
part of the One Rad podcast feed talking about handheld Mega Man games. We most recently talked
about Mega Man 3 in Roman numerals 3, which is how you know it's the Game Boy and not
the Nintendo.
And Fergal, besides watching Blair Witch movies, where can people find you?
Oh, I mean, you know, we're definitely getting our nerd on it on Facebook. We're quietly
learning to get ourselves back out there. We're working on our collections and building

(44:15):
them out. I'm still working on a comic book right now. So I've got that to come in together.
I've been developing and redeveloping an idea for a great story. It's going to kind of combine
a whole lot of different things into it. Very similar to kind of think of Kingsman versus
Beekeeper versus different things along that line. It's going to be very cool.
Starring Garfield.

(44:36):
Starring Garfield, voiced by Bill Murray.
I would love it if like they all have a badge with Garfield's face on it. That's how they
all identify each other.
Thank you, Jonathan.
And for me, you can always find me at off panel creations. We're always over there building
some piece of nerdy furniture. I want to thank you, our listeners, for spending some time
with us. And you want to let us know and send us a comment that somehow this is the best
animated cat movie out there. Send us a note over at movie-smash.com and we'll see you

(45:01):
in a couple of weeks.
Thank you again for listening and I hope you enjoy the show. This has been Movie Smash
with Chris Roberts, Jeremy Parmentier, and Fergal Amayo, produced by me, Chris Roberts,
executive produced by off panel creations, LLC. Movie clips provided by their respective
studios. You can rate and review the show at Apple podcasts and Spotify. You might even

(45:22):
find your review right on a future episode. Got a question for us? Visit us at movie-smash.com
and send us a note. It too can be read on a future episode. If you haven't already,
please subscribe to Movie Smash wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Oh my God, don't do it. I'll be done. I'm done. This episode's over. Close it off.