Garfield is dismayed to learn that his owner Jon is going to London to propose to his girlfriend Liz. After stowing away in some luggage, the fat cat manages to get to England, only to be mistakenly switched with a royal house cat.

Let’s get this out of the way: GARFIELD: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES has talking animals doing silly things. Your children are going to eat it up, which is the main reason (I hope) any adults are renting/buying this. So the kids will love it, you get a couple hours off from attentive parenting, everybody’s marginally happy. The rest of this review looks at it from an adult perspective; is this a movie you can sit down with the little tykes and enjoy too?

Nope.

The good thing is that GARFIELD: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES is extremely faithful to its newspaper counterpart. Unfortunately, Garfield the comic strip hasn’t been funny in over 15 years. Like the comic, the movie is pretty much the same recycled jokes on repeat (Garfield is a fat slob who likes lasagna), stuck in a “Prince and the Pauper” plot that’s just as outdated. Additionally, there are enough lame, obvious jokes and holes in common sense to give anybody over the age of ten an acute migraine. How come every animal can talk except Odie? Doesn’t anybody notice that Garfiled looks a lot less real than the rest of them? Why does Jennifer Love Hewitt insist on remaining clothed?

Bill Murray as the titular feline was a wise choice; even confined within the horrible script it’s still mildly funny just to hear his sardonic voice in that character. There's also a nice supporting cast fleshed out (or voiced) by some talented British actors, including Billy Connolly, Tim Curry, Rhys Ifans and SHAUN OF THE DEAD's Lucy Davis. Even though they're mostly relegated to minor, worthless roles, their casting shows that the filmmakers were at least trying. They just weren’t trying hard enough.

Video: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen or Fullscreen. Aside from Garfield himself, who looks like a character you’d find in a poorly made Saturday morning cartoon, everything looks fine.

Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1. A nice surround sound mix, but nothing to write home about.

Aside from a couple lame extras, the DVD contains a Widescreen Extended Version. I was not about to watch this movie twice, so I’m afraid I can’t tell you what exciting new footage is included. Even with the extra eight minutes, the extended version still runs a scant 86 minutes.

Drawing with Jim Davis: Creator Davis hosts three short segments explaining step by step how to sketch Garfield, Odie and Pooky the teddy bear. It's actually pretty easy; I was able to draw Garfield without him looking like a retarded zoo gorilla. Now I too can make a one-joke comic strip and milk it for 20+ years and millions of dollars!

Exclusive Comic Strip: The word “comic” here is apparently not an adjective for funny.

Odie’s Photo Album Game: If your child was born with eyes they will be able to dominate this game.

Garfield’s Maze Game: The animation to navigate the maze is way too slow. I doubt anyone, let alone a child, will actually have the patience to finish it.

GARFIELD: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES is undeniably bad, but it’s a movie younger kids will enjoy. And I suppose there’s nothing wrong with a film geared directly toward their demographic. You just might want to leave the room when they watch it so you don’t claw your eyes out. Or worse, fall asleep and leave the little monsters angels unsupervised.

Extra Tidbit: The late Lorenzo Music was famous for being the cartoon voice of Garfield since the early 1980s, as well as doing a great Bill Murray impersonation as Peter Venkman in The Real Ghostbusters animated show. After Music died in 2001, Bill Murray fittingly took over the vocal reigns of Garfield. It’s the circle of life, kids.