Garfield: The Movie DVD: Review By jamesdickens

Based on the classic comic cat of the same name, Garfield has been lifted off the comic book page and made into a CGI feature film. Life is great for the famous fat cat. Garfield (Voiced by Bill Murray) gets to eat, sleep and be as lazy as he wants. Garfield's life is going to take an unexpected turn when the owner decides to bring home a new pet from the vet.

A dog named Odie comes home and to say that Garfield is unhappy is an understatement. Garfield is disgusted at the mere sight of Odie and competes with him for his owners affections. What began as hate for Odie changes once he gets kidnapped by a dog trainer. Garfield feels responsible and sets out to rescue poor Odie.

The best thing about "Garfield" is the voice of Bill Murray. Murray is perfectly cast and well suited to provide the sarcastic wit that this cat is well known for. This film works best when Garfield and Odie share scenes together. Other than that the movie is barely mediocre. The problem is that the material presented in the classic comics does not translate well into a feature film. The CGI effects for Garfield are ok, but imagine if the cat in the movie was real, then the movie would look less like a cartoon at times. As a film "Garfield" barely scrapes by on the comic genius of Bill Murray. He is the only reason that this film is even watchable. As a DVD "Garfield" is pretty good. No the film is still corny, but the staggering amount of extras on this DVD is ridiculous almost too much if you ask me. This 2-disk collector's edition has arrived just in time for the release of the sequel "Garfield: A Tail of Two Cities" so this is the DVD to get if you're a fan.

The amount of extras on this dvd are staggering. There is enough material to keep fans going for a long time. First up to bat is feature length commentary by Director Pete Hewitt and producer John Davis. The commentary is the best feature on this desk, it is amusing and provides some good tidbits about the films production. With "Awesome New Garfield Comic Creator" you can create your own comic strip if you desire. You can play a bunch of Garfield themed games including 10 jigsaw puzzles. This DVD must break the record for the amount of deleted scenes a total of 17. "Pick of the litter: The History of Garfield" gives the viewer a history of bringing Garfield to the big screen from the comic strip. "Garfield Bringing the Cat to Life", "Garfield Presentation Reel", and "Garfield and Friends" are doc*mentaries that deal with the technical aspects of getting Garfield, Odie and the rest of the cast on screen. There's also a film to storyboard comparison and a illustrated technical commentary. If that's not enough you can check out a music video and an humerous animated short. I told you the amount of extras was rediculous.

"Garfield" is presented in both widescreen and fullscreen verions with the aspect ratios being 1.85:1 and 1.33:1 respctively. The picture is good, even though I still think the CGI sceens look cartoonish.

This film is presented in English dolby digital 5.1 surround sound with the Spanish and French versions presented in 2.0 stereo sound. The sound is good for the most part but I wish the subwoofer had more fun.

The 2 dual layer DVD's are contained in a standard DVD case. Disc one is the feature film and disc 2 is for the crazy amount of DVD extras. A picture of Garfield is on the front of the dvd case, and a picture of Garfield and Odie are on the back. The box art won't grab you but it's serviceable

Fans of the movie should run out and pick up this DVD. The extras alone are justification enough to pick up this disc. If you're not a fan then stay away.