Garfield movies so far haven't lived up to the comic-strips and cartoons in the eyes of critics and audiences, but some are certainly better than others. Created by Jim Davis, Garfield is a lazy and cynical tabby cat that serves as the protagonist in the comic strip of the same name. Garfield often passes sarcastic remarks at his owner Jon Arbuckle and his dog Odie while hating on Mondays and exercise. Another popular character trait is his immense love for lasagna. These traits have led Garfield to be quite a popular comic character, even getting several of his own movies.
With syndications in over 2,000 newspapers worldwide, Garfield also holds the Guinness World Record for being the most widely syndicated comic strip. However, his cinematic endeavors haven’t been as successful having only spawned two features and three direct-to-DVD films. Chris Pratt will voice Garfield in an upcoming Garfield movie, signaling the iconic orange cat’s first return to the big screen since 2006. It remains to be seen if that turns things around for Garfield movies. In the meantime, fans can look back at the few Garfield movies already established and see which ones gave the famous feline his best cinematic moments.
5 Garfield's Pet Force (2009) — Available on Tubi
Garfield's Pet Force completed a trilogy of 3D-animated Garfield films that were mostly released straight to video (with a limited theatrical run in Poland and Spain). The film's plot is directly inspired by the Pet Force novels, a spin-off series that featured Garfield and his friends as superheroes on a planet called Polyester. The film involves Garfield enjoying a cook-out only to have it interrupted by an extraterrestrial interference, forcing him, Odie and Nermal to save the day.
Even Garfield felt the need to compete with the superhero movie genre and this movie just proves that not all animated characters should go down this route. There was some fun that can be had with seeing such a lazy character becoming a reluctant hero, but the movie puts too much effort into making a superhero movie rather than a Garfield movie. Its character design matched the comic book designs pretty accurately, but even creator Jon Davis's screenplay couldn't help this dull and pointless reinvention of the character.
4 Garfield's Fun Fest (2008) — Available on Tubi
This CGI sequel to Garfield Gets Real finds the cat competing at a talent contest called the Fun Fest. A yearly winner with his seemingly "funny" dance routine, he faces little to no competition until a cat called Ramone enters the game. This leads Garfield to go on a quest to uncover the secret of comedy which ends up being a dangerous adventure. Though his traits are well known, a movie can't consist simply on Garfield's love of lasagna which makes for these forced storylines.
If it sounds like two very different movies crammed together, that highlights the main problem with the movie. It starts off with one story only to go in a very new direction. While the idea of Garfield and Odie going off on an adventure together is always a good place to start for any Garfield story, the other half of the movie feels totally unnecessary.
3 Garfield: A Tale Of Two Kitties (2006) — Available on HBO Max
Bill Murray went on to reprise his role for Garfield: A Tale Of Two Kitties. This sequel finds Jon and his cat embarking on a trip to the United Kingdom. Here, Garfield finds an identical feline named Prince, who plans to rule a castle after the death of his owner. As Prince faces the threat of the castle being destroyed by a real estate company, Garfield decides to help him out. The film additionally features several other talking animal characters.
Following the poor reaction to the first movie, the filmmakers seems to look to fix the franchise in all the wrong ways. Instead of working on a better script that made the most of this iconic character, they threw him into another forced adventure. With this being said, A Tale Of Two Kitties still has its share of goofy humor and bad puns—the title itself being one of the more egregious—and would make for a good viewing experience mainly for young children. Unlike the first film, this one failed to earn much at the box office and ended up getting Razzie nominations for 'Worst Sequel' and 'Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment.'
2 Garfield (2004) — Available on HBO Max
Bringing Garfield from the pages of the comics to the big screen was more difficult than it would seem as was discovered with the first live-action Garfield movie. The movie is something of an origin story as it finds Garfield living his perfectly content with his lazy life when his owner John brings home a new pet, the affectionate and energetic Odie the dog.
Not even Billy Murray and his charming wit could save Garfield's big-screen debut. Murray was chosen for the titular role after John Goodman and Jack Nicholson rejected it. The actor potentially has regrets about taking on this film in the first place, as one can see from his cameo in Zombieland. While the movie is certainly a letdown with its unimaginative humor that forces too many pop culture jokes, the idea of focusing on Garfield and Odie's relationship was a good direction to go in.
1 Garfield Gets Real (2007) — Available on Prime Video
Garfield attempts to go the self-referential route of Who Framed Roger Rabbit with mixed results. Garfield Gets Real was also known as Garfield 3D in some markets, as it was the first fully 3D Garfield film. Written by Jim Davis the movie is a meta approach to Garfield as it follows his life in Cartoon World where the star cat begins to grow bored of his life as a comic strip character.
This is perhaps the best approach to a Garfield movie out of all others as it touches on Garfield as a well-known character and sees how his laidback persona would deal with that life as an icon. Comic-book aficionados can spot several Easter Eggs in Garfield Gets Real with a subtle mention of Snoopy from Peanuts and cameos featuring Dagwood Bumstead and Blondie from Blondie and Grimm from Mother Goose and Grimm. Yet it still feels like a wasted premise with the humor and commentary on the legacy of Garfield feeling far less effective than something like Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers.