Friday, June 16, 2006

Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (**1/2)


Garfield gets to live the life of a look-alike British feline who’s also just inherited a castle. Okay, but Garfield: The Movie had a better story.

I expected to hate Garfield: The Movie but found it unexpectedly amusing, thanks in part to Bill Murray’s surly rendering of the title character’s voice. (The cat and some other animals are computer-animated; the dog Odie, other animals, and the humans are real.) Breckin Meyer, who is plaid personified, returns as Garfield’s mild-mannered owner, Jon. Perky Jennifer Love Hewitt returns as his perky girlfriend Liz. Notwithstanding the Dickensian title, Mark Twain, specifically The Prince and the Pauper, is the inspiration for the sequel. Even if you don’t know Twain from Grisham, you’ve seen this mistaken-identity plot before. True, the British prince that Garfield switches places with is a cat. But, although I liked Billy Connolly as a villainous usurper, I was less engaged than in the first film, which presented better opportunities for Murray to do his curmudgeon act. And the scene where Garfield teaches the other animals to make lasagna is tedious and, well, cheesy.

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