In 2007, a CGI-animated film based on the Garfield comic strip titled Garfield Gets Real was released, which had the premise of the cast of Garfield living in a world of comic strip characters, with Garfield and Odie finding their way into the real world.
2008 saw a sequel titled Garfield's Fun Fest, which had Garfield losing his ability to be funny and having to regain it in time for a talent contest. This movie's tie-in game has its own page here.
A third and final film, titled Garfield's Pet Force, came out in 2009, where Garfield and friends had to help their superhero counterparts the Pet Force stop the evil Vetvix. It is loosely based on the book series of the same name.
In spite of also being in CGI and sharing the same voice actors for the central characters, it is not in the same continuity as The Garfield Show.
Tropes:
- Adapted Out: The Pet Force film omits Pooky and Binky the Clown's counterparts Compooky and Sorcerer Binky, the latter being replaced by Professor Wally.
- Alternate Tooniverse: The world that Garfield lives in is a world where all comic strip characters live and make their strips, which are then read by people in the "real" world. It runs on Toon Physics and is filled with all manner of fictional characters.
- Alternate Universe: In Pet Force, it's established that the universe Garzooka hails from is one to the main comic strip universe, with counterparts for several characters.
- Animated Actors: The trilogy takes place in a world where comic strip characters are actually actors, making comic strips for people in the real world to enjoy.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Bonita spends most of Garfield Gets Real berating her husband Wally, but is shown to admire his newfound confidence when he starts using his invention to retrieve Garfield and Odie from the real world and even refers to him as her hero after he returns to the comic strip world with Jon, Odie, Garfield, Billy and Shecky.
- Big Bad:
- Hale and Hardy in Gets Real.
- Ramone, who's actually Nermal in disguise, in Fun Fest.
- Vetvix in Pet Force.
- Big Damn Heroes: In Gets Real, Jon, Wally, and Billy Bear use the Bonitanator to enter the real world and rescue Garfield, Odie, and Shecky from the burning hotel.
- Big Fun: Billy Bear and Eli both. Billy's a jokester and a showman, and Eli has a gregarious, but casual manner.
- Black Dude Dies First: Inverted in Pet Force; Eli is the only black character in the studio, and one of the only ones who manages to escape zombification.
- The Cameo: Grimm from Mother Goose and Grimm and Dagwood and Blondie from Blondie make background appearances in Garfield Gets Real.
- Canon Foreigner: Pretty much every character outside of Garfield's regular cast was created for the movie.
- Dance of Romance: At the end of Pet Force, Garfield and Arlene have one of these among the stars.
- Dance Party Ending: Both Garfield Gets Real and Pet Force end with one.
- Demoted to Extra: Shecky (a cat from the "real" world who was brought into the cartoon world at the end of Garfield Gets Real) only cameos in Fun Fest afterward.
- Easily Forgiven: Emperor Jon forgives Vetvix for everything she did at the end of Pet Force, largely because her Heel–Face Brainwashing led to her reciprocating his feelings.
- Excessive Evil Eyeshadow: Vetvix sports some purple eyeshadow, and is the Big Bad of Pet Force. She loses it after turning good.
- Failure Montage: Garfield and Odie have one of some of their attempts to return to the comic world in Get Real, culminating in a near-miss with a steamroller.
- Foil: Get Real's Hale and Hardy are a dog-and-cat cartoon pair voiced by Gregg Berger and Frank Welker, and that's where their similarities to Odie and Garfield end. Hale and Hardy are effectively The Dividual, while Garfield and Odie are distinct in body type and personality from each other. Garfield and Odie don't always get along but collaborate when things get serious, and Hale and Hardy are stern and collaborative but are quick to blame each other when things go south for them.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: One scene in Garfield Gets Real sees Garfield and Odie hiding behind a display featuring one of their comics. Pausing the scene and taking a closer look at it reveals that the comic in question is actually an infamous fan comic
◊ where Jon threatens to sodomize Garfield, completely uncensored. - Goldfish Poop Gang: The ten identical Chihuahuas in Gets Real. They always end up being outsmarted and repelled until the ending.
- Heel–Face Brainwashing: Vetvix's ultimate fate; Garfield uses the Mo-Scram gun to fuse her with Betty's happy corner, turning her into a complete sweetheart.
- Heroic BSoD: In Fun Fest, Garfield has a brief one when he finds out his container of funny water broke thanks to his crash landing.
- Interspecies Romance: In Pet Force, the human Betty falls head-over-heels for the cat humanoid Garzooka.
- It Was with You All Along: During the climax of Fun Fest, Freddy explains to Garfield that the funny water is just regular water. Garfield was always funny; he was just so focused on winning the Fun Fest that he forgot to make the audience laugh.
- Mirror Self: Garzooka seems to be this to Garfield, to some extent. The latter is short, chubby, lazy, and a Lovable Coward; the former is tall, ripped, espouses the virtues of exercise, and more conventionally heroic.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The Mo-Scram gun from Pet Force mixes and matches different people and items. The resulting creations are completely under the control of the one who scrambled them, which is why Vetvix wants it.
- Nice Mean And In Between: The trio of real world animals from Gets Real. Waldo is a Kindhearted Simpleton, Sheila is vain and harsh, and Shecky's a comedian.
- Original Generation: Of a sort. The behind-the-scenes staff of the comics and the stars of Billy Bear Woods and Life Stinks aren't characters from existing comics, while the stars of Garfield and the cameos from Blondie and Mother Goose and Grimm are.
- Refugee from TV Land: Garfield and Odie, residents of Comic Strip World, are sucked out into the real world through a hole in the comic screen in Garfield Gets Real. Garfield and Odie must return in a few days or else their comic strip will be cancelled. In an unusual example of the trope, the "Real World" is also animated.
- Robotic Reveal: Ramone is revealed to be a robot piloted by Nermal at the end of Fun Fest.
- Shout-Out:
- Of all things to reference, a book called Depth Note can be seen on Garfield's bookshelf in Garfield Gets Real.
- In Pet Force, Nermal namedrops The Flash, Kid Flash, Quicksilver, and the Whizzer while trying to figure out a hero name for himself
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the Pet Force books, the original Pet Force was depowered and imprisoned in a "ghastly dimension" by Vetvix, which prompted Garfield and his friends to take their place. In the movie, Garzooka keeps his powers and his teammates became temporarily under Vetvix's control thanks to the Mo-Scram gun, prompting Garzooka to seek Arlene, Nermal, and Odie's help by giving them serums that turn them into their Pet Force counterparts.
- Spin-Off: Pet Force, a loose adaptation of the comics of the same name.
- The Stinger: Pet Force has one: after the wedding of Emperor Jon and Vetvix, it's revealed that Betty followed Garzooka back to Dorkon, meaning the Director needs a new assistant. Nermal quickly volunteers.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: In Gets Real, in a bid to get their comic reinstated, Garfield and Odie attempt the classic table kick gag. But Toon Physics aren't in effect in the real world, and Odie ends up injured on the floor and the board of executives Garfield was playing to aren't happy with him.
- Thing-O-Matic: Wally's new invention in Gets Real, the Bonitanator, named for his wife. The name isn't related to its function, but it's design - the scythe-like blade and pair of floodlights mounted on the front resemble Bonita's head.
- Toon Physics: The Comic Strip World is shown to run on this, with several characters being shown to survive the occassional Amusing Injury.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Surprisingly, not Lasagna. Instead, the most common food Garfield eats is hot dogs.
- Trapped in Another World: A pivotal plot element in Gets Real. Whenever something or someone from the comic world starts getting pulled into the real world, it has to be pulled back out before it goes all the way through - the passage back to the comic world can't be opened from the real world. The plot to rescue Garfield and Odie ultimately relies on being able to force open the passage.
- Trapped in TV Land: Shecky in the end of Garfield Gets Real. He follows Garfield and Odie into the comic strip world and ends up staying with them, supposedly becoming the newest cast member in the strip.
