YMMV / Garfield Animated Movie Trilogy

• Adaptation Displacement: Few people know that Pet Force was (loosely) based on a series of Garfield chapter books.
• Designated Hero: Emperor Jon in Pet Force. His main concern is finding a girlfriend, and it turns into his one defining trait over the course of the film, with him completely missing the signs that Vetvix doesn't return his feelings in the slightest, even after she's taken over his kingdom and tied him up^note Granted, this part is meant to mirror normal Jon being unable to notice that Liz isn't interested in him, but it definitely doesn't help Emperor Jon's characterization.. And in the end, he takes advantage of Vetvix getting hit with some Heel–Face Brainwashing in order to get married to her, which is questionable behavior at best.
• The Problem with Licensed Games: The licensed game for Gets Real has levels that switch between too easy and too hard in a heartbeat. The first two levels involve Garfield simply catching things that are thrown at him, while the third level is a side-scrolling platformer where Garfield moves extremely slowly, which makes completing the level a Luck-Based Mission. The fourth and fifth levels are similar to the first two, while the sixth is an overly long Simon Says Minigame that lasts for over ten parts. And the last level? Another extremely difficult side scrolling platformer that’s even worse than the previous one.
• So Okay, It's Average: This sums up the general consensus. The films lack the charm of the original 1980s animated specials and the different, more abstract setting is a bit too bizarre for many fans of the comics, but they are still considered to be harmless kids films in their own right and a marked improvement over the live action films.
• Special Effect Failure: In Pet Force, it's fairly obvious in crowd shots with Vetvix's zombies that most of them are just background characters sporting nightmare faces instead of actual mixed-up creations.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • The idea of Garfield, Nermal and Arlene being able to speak to the humans and having their mouths visibly move (the latter of which would continue into The Garfield Show) has been met with this by many fans, arguing that having them actually speak misses the point of them entirely (since none of them can actually speak in the comics or in previous animated works, rather they speaks via their thoughts). The explanation that they're animated actors does not soften things.
  • The shift away from the original grounded real world setting that had been standard for the franchise to a distinctly more abstract, Denser and Wackier Alternate Tooniverse has also been met with outrage by fans.

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