Dear readers, we’ve been waiting for this day for quite some time. After voicing a lead in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Chris Pratt’s next CGI animation extravaganza has given us our first listen to what his dulcet tones can do. Thanks to the first trailer to The Garfield Movie, we finally know what Pratt will sound like in his role as Jim Davis’ creation, just in time to start anticipating the 2024 movie schedule.
After hearing it for myself, I can almost guarantee that more Mario-esque criticism will be hitting the internet; and not just because that Italian plumber and this Italian food fan both share a similar visual gag. First, let’s get down to what we’ve seen here, thanks to Columbia Pictures’ generous reel of footage.
We actually get to see Garfield’s origin story, as he meets a lonely Jon Arbuckle at a local Italian restaurant. Things go from cute to chaotic in the blink of an eye, as Jon shares some of his pizza toppings with the adorable stray, which ramps up to a full on pizzapocalypse. Billy Joel couldn’t have imagined a cuter scene in such a location, especially since The Garfield Movie cast has Chris Pratt and Harvey Guillén respectively playing Garfield and Jon.
Which leads to the potential for Super Mario Bros. Movie style critiques, as this cuteness gives way to Pratt and his zany antics as Garfield. From what we’ve heard here, it’s something that’ll probably distract people from things like Samuel L. Jackson as Garfield’s father, or the sneaky Olive Garden product placement in the last frame of what we’ve seen.
At first there seems to be a big distinction between The Garfield Movie’s version of the iconic character and his predecessors. You can definitely tell, without question, that this is Chris Pratt playing Garfield; which is where most of those comments about his interpretation are going to come from. However, upon closer listening, I’d invite you to consider the moment that occurs at roughly 01:52 in the video at the head of this rundown.
Pratt’s delivery of the line “I’ve never jumped” gets pretty close to the sort of Garfield delivered by the late Lorenzo Music, as well as Bill Murray. I might even go as far as to say that Chris actually lands closer to Music’s OG tabby cat than Murray did in his time in the role. So maybe the light trolling over Pratt’s voice casting in both Super Mario Bros. Movie and as Garfield carries a little more weight.
You can see where The Garfield Movie critiques can get a big particular right about now, and this is just over a trailer where Chris Pratt only speaks through the back half. It’s a little early in the lasagna pan to really question the performance, but so far I have to say it looks like Pratt’s Garfield research seems to have paid off.
At the same time, I reserve the right to start scrutinizing things a bit more closely in the next trailer. Especially because we didn’t even get an “I Hate Mondays” reference, which is a missed opportunity as that’s the day of the week The Garfield Movie launched this reel. So while I’d say we should hold the parmesan until we get a little further down the line, I’ve got a watchful eye on where things are going.
Oh, and if you want to know why Garfield hates Mondays, the lore’s out there for you true believers to uncover. In the meantime, set your cinematic table for The Garfield Movie’s debut, as this big fat hairy deal is ready to move into theaters in Summer 2024. May 24th is the current date that’s floating around, but with the reel above not including that information there’s always a chance something may change.
