Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties - Austin American-Statesman movie review

'Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties' has cute animals, not much else

By SARAH LINDNER
Austin American-Statesman

I have soft spots for kitties, frolicking animals in general, British accents and Lucy Davis from the original version of "The Office." That "Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties" features all those things and barely ekes out a two-star rating tells you something about the quality of everything else that goes on in this unambitious kid flick.

20th Century Fox

'Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties'

2 out of 5 stars

The verdict: 'Garfield' takes a nap on the big screen. And you might, too.

Director: Tim Hill
Starring: Bill Murray, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Breckin Meyer, Lucy Davis, Billy Connolly, Ian Abercrombie, Tim Curry, Roger Rees
Run time: 90 minutes
Release date: June 16, 2006
Rating: PG for some off-color elements.
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On the web
Official movie site
View the trailer
Trailers require Quicktime

Not that any of this matters, of course. You will see or shun "Garfield" based not on reviews but on whether your kids want to go. And they probably will. The first "Garfield" movie brought in $75 million from U.S. box offices in 2004.

This time out, the famously lazy cat (voiced by an uninspired Bill Murray) stows away with owner Jon (Breckin Meyer) to London, where he ends up swapping places with a lookalike kitty named Prince. Prince is the heir to a vast estate and the benevolent ruler of the other animals who live there. The evil Lord Dargis (Billy Connolly) wants Prince out of the way so he can build condos on the estate.

You get the feeling that maybe 80 percent of the movie's budget went toward Murray's salary and CGI animation, and everyone else just did the best they could with what was left.

Garfield himself isn't very appealing, but his actual animal co-stars are cute, and the British actors who voice them are more engaging than the humans who get stuck appearing in the film (maybe because you can't see the boredom in their eyes). Especially nice is Bob Hoskins as a bulldog named Winston. And at least it all wraps up in a trim 80 minutes.

Your kids probably won't mind the movie's flaws, but they deserve better. They deserve wonder, heart, humor, imagination. Instead, they get a CGI cat dancing to the Black Eyed Peas.