New CGI Garfield films supposedly in the works

[Drtooth]

Details

First off, in case anyone doesn't already know, those screen shots are pretty weaselly taken from The Garfield show. Second of all, I never understood why they never made the Garfield films completely CGI, even though they had a side series of DTV film length projects.

Now I'm not going to assume automatically this is coming off the heals of the Peanuts movie being a modest success. It would have been announced a little sooner than this if it was the case. Peanuts, however, is an evergreen franchise. Garfield is a little more...let's say it's lost quite a lot of its fans in time. Somehow I think it would do gangbusters in Latin America and China, but Garfield's basically tired as a parody at this point. And I'm a huge fan to say that. I found his last cartoon show decent, but mixed and depending on the writer and how much freedom Mark Evanier had with a French produced series. The strip basically just exists at this point to say comic strips still exist somehow. Though as a CGI completely movie, it can't possibly be as lame as the miscast live action films.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

I wish studios would just leave some things alone. Garfield hasn't done anything good since the 90s. Nobody reads comic strips anymore. Garfield was never even as popular as the Peanuts, so I don't really know how much money this thing can make or even if they can do something with an original story.

 

[mr3urious]

It's great that this will be all-animated, so we don't have the awkwardness of wooden humans interacting with pixels and polygons that aren't really there. And if Mark Evanier is able to write the screenplay, that would be even better.

 

[Drtooth]

Garfield was never even as popular as the Peanuts, so I don't really know how much money this thing can make or even if they can do something with an original story.

Errrrr... that actually depends on the country. Some place Garfield is actually more beloved than Snoopy. Fresh off the Boat wasn't making just a random joke about how the Grandmother loves Garfield. A Tale of Two Kitties was a hit in China. Probably also Hong Kong, but I can't remember the exact details. Though Japan loves Snoopy so much that his rarely seen relatives actually have small boutiques of their own.

Plus, the way Boomerang airs The Garfield Show several times a day, someone has to still like him.

It's great that this will be all-animated, so we don't have the awkwardness of wooden humans interacting with pixels and polygons that aren't really there. And if Mark Evanier is able to write the screenplay, that would be even better.

I caught a Tale of Two Kitties on television in parts. Frankly, the only thing they got right was Garfield and Bill Murray actually did a decent job. It was everything around him that sucked (could say the same about Yogi's even duller film). Of course, when you consider who directed it preferred boring Muppets painting houses take screentime over funny stuff, it's no wonder.

Now, I agree. Mark wrote Garfield better than Jim ever did. That's not to say Jim was always a hack. I can't think of any of the original TV specials that wasn't fun to watch, and the Christmas special was beautiful for not being preachy or commercial. But Mark has always done a great job with the characters, even though he did kinda reuse a couple plot threads in the newer shows and comics. Though that can be perfectly forgiven for the kids that didn't already watch the 20 something year old Garfield series. I think if he's at least in on the collaboration the film will at least be decent enough. It would be great if they actually dug out the old "Judgement Day" film treatment and played around with it so it's not so supposedly dark and disturbing.

Seriously. How that never got made and half the crap that did in the 80's is beyond me. I saw that strange Pinocchio Filmation project.

Other than that, there's not really much life that can be breathed on the character unless there's a fire under this production's belly. No fat cat pun intended. Stakes need to be raised (and there were episodes of Garfield and Friends with some level of peril in them), things need to be pushed. Just as long as Jon is interesting in being dull like he was in the cartoons and comics. That's a deal breaker for me and why the live action movies sucked.

 

[C to the J]

They'd better keep the mouths closed when Garfield and some other animals "speak." Those thought balloons have been used for the past 37 years and 11 months and they're there for a reason. I know the Garfield specials and Garfield and Friends remained faithful to that particular style, unlike the films (both live-action and direct to video) and The Garfield Show.

 

[Drtooth]

Funny thing about The Garfield Show. I swear there was an early episode where Garfield actually said his mouth didn't move when he spoke. Obviously written before the animators were told to. I can't say I mind too much that his mouth moves, but I'd rather they didn't. Still, with the film series I was much more annoyed by the fact all the other animals were real animals, Jon wasn't funny or weird, and Liz wasn't sarcastic. Thankfully they basically kept the moving lips and not too much else for TGS. Other than the fact I give Wally Wingert all the credit in the world, he's no Thom Huge. But even in the original cartoons, Jim had to twist Thom's arm to even play the character in the first place.

If there's one thing that will forever stick with me, it's this... I remember watching Ebert and Roper salvage the Thomas and the Magic Railroad. While they rightfully salvaged the film, they made a cheap point about how the trains' mouths never moved. And that smacks to me of "didn't do the research." I swear that's why Garfield and the other animals' mouths moved in their film. Because they'd be too afraid someone who has somehow never seen a Garfield cartoon in their lives would somehow be in the audience of the film, and that person is somehow a film critic and gives the film a terrible review based on the fact that Garfield didn't move his mouth when he talked.

Then again, let's look at Snoopy. While he was pretty vocal...errr...mental in the comic strip, it was decided he would never communicate to the audience, not even internalizing. Of course, with the exception of the two animated versions of the musicals.