‘The Garfield Movie’ Review: Beloved Feline Loses His Sarcastic Growl in Product Placement-Heavy Origin Story

variety.com:

Carlos Aguilar The lasagna-obsessed feline with a near-pathological aversion to Mondays, who first came into popular consciousness in the late ‘70s as a comic strip, is a diluted version of himself in “The Garfield Movie.” Not only is his suave apathy mostly replaced by an excessive excitedness with only sporadic glimpses of his endearingly negative qualities, but this Garfield jumps off trains, stages a heist, and is subjected to trite physical comedy by way of numerous predictable action sequences.

The ordeal mimics a rehashed plot from the dull “The Secret Life of Pets” franchise with Garfield forcefully plugged in. All of these choices amount to a production that fundamentally misunderstands Garfield’s appeal as a lovingly indifferent, self-centered glutton whose greatest aspiration is to do nothing and have all his needs catered to him.

It’s a Garfield movie for audiences who have never heard of Garfield, which reads as an attempt at erasing history and reintroducing him in this high-octane, overly stimulated form for a generation with reduced attention spans.

Set in the present, Garfield now orders food on delivery apps — and in a climatic sequence it’s drones, not drivers, who help him save the day — which sets the stage for several instances of shamelessly conspicuous product placement from Walmart to Olive Garden.