The Garfield Movie starring Chris Pratt PANNED by critics in scathing reviews: Animated film described as ‘distinctly lackluster’ and littered with ‘shameless’ product placement

Reviews for the upcoming animated film The Garfield Movie, featuring the voices of Chris Pratt and Samuel L. Jackson, have not been the cat’s meow.

According to a synopsis from producers, the film “describes Garfield’s (Pratt) unexpected reunion with his long-lost father, ragged alley cat Vic (Jackson),” after which “he and his canine friend Odie (Harvey Guillén) are forced out of their perfectly pampered life to commit a risky heist with Vic.’

Directed by Mark Dindal, the animated film also features the voices of Hannah Waddingham, Nicholas Hoult, Cecily Strong, Brett Goldstein, Bowen Yang and Snoop Dogg.

A number of professional film critics are included in a compendium of 31 reviews published on the outlet Rotten tomatoes Monday gave a less-than-favorable impression of the film, an adaptation of the popular comic strip that debuted in the late 1970s.

After premiering Sunday at the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, the film will hit theaters nationwide on Friday.

The film is an adaptation of the popular comic strip that debuted in the late 1970s

IGN Movies critic A. A. Dowd said that while the film “promisingly reflects the simple artwork of its comic inspiration … what is really taken from Jim Davis’ material is a shameless cynicism, evident in the company’s product placement and indulgent references to pop culture. .’

Dowd said that Pratt’s “phoned-in performance as phone-addicted Garfield doesn’t help,” and that “kids may be a little entertained, but that doesn’t make this any less of a hairball.”

The movie Cricket Sean P. Means said, “I can’t think of the last time I saw a movie as bland and generic as The Garfield Movie, which mashes Jim Davis’ misanthropic cartoon cat into another piece of predigested intellectual property.”

Means said both Pratt and Jackson failed to add any spice to the proceedings.

“The first sign of this movie’s lack of imagination is the casting of Chris Pratt as the orange cat with the lasagna fixation,” Means said. ‘Once upon a time there was a naive charm to the voice work of The Lego Movie.

‘But as became clear from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Pratt has become a name that producers write down to pronounce the main character until they can think of someone better — and then forget to think of someone better.”

Means said that while Jackson is “a gifted actor with a storied career,” he felt like his performance in Garfield was invited.

from IndieWire Kate Erbland said the animated film couldn’t “escape the gloss of corporate synergy,” noting that the film is peppered “with product placement for everything from Olive Garden to Walmart.”

In the Sony Pictures animated film, Pratt provides the voice of Garfield (L), while Samuel L. Jackson voices Vic

Pratt’s “phoned-in performance as phone-addict Garfield doesn’t help,” one critic said of the actor

Erbland asked, “Is this a children’s movie or a commercial? And if it is the latter, for what exactly?

“Call it a Monday thing, but this kitten has to go all the way back to the drawing board.”

Rant’s screen Rachel LaBonte said the film fell short artistically: “Compared to other recent animated films, The Garfield Movie feels distinctly bland and offers nothing original or creatively stimulating.”

LaBonte had a more positive view of the vocal performances, saying that Jackson proved to be “reliable” and that Pratt “isn’t bad as Garfield” as “he manages to find the humor in certain lines and occasionally injects some vulnerability . heavier emotional beat.’

The Hollywood Reporter’s Frank Scheck said that a number of meta-references written into the film do not reach “the very young target group” or “their adult supervisors.”

“It’s indicative of the laziness and cynicism that pervades this enterprise, sacrificing the character’s subversive humor in favor of routine animated gags.”

Scheck said, “The rudimentary animation doesn’t do the film any favors, and neither does Pratt’s lead vocals,” whose work he described as colorless.

“The strange result is a Garfield with no attitude,” Scheck said.