YMMV / The Garfield Movie

• Awesome Art: While not without its critics, many fans praised the animation revealed in the film's trailer, commending its faithfulness to Jim Davis' style without being so exact that it's held back by its limitations. Positive comparisons were made to previous attempts to adapt the style into 3D, which were either such a direct lift from the comics that it looked stiff and unappealing, or barely tried to emulate the style at all.
• All Animation Is Disney: Just like fellow Sony film The Angry Birds Movie, the film is usually mistaken as a Sony Pictures Animation work, as the animation and character personalities are similar to that of SPA's most recent films.
• Drinking Game: Take a sip every time Vic calls Garfield “Junior”.
• Friendly Fandoms: With Ted Lasso. Some fans of the latter exhibited interest in the film with the announcement that Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein will be voicing characters in it.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "And now, we wait for someone to remove Garfield." ^ExplanationAn immediate joke in response to the trailer is everyone remarking the inevitability that someone will make a version of the movie that removes Garfield entirely, considering they have done it with the comics and even previous movies.
  • "Chris Pratt has been cast as [X]."^ExplanationA common joke following Chris Pratt's casting as Garfield was to announce that he would play another iconic character. It helped that Pratt had already been announced to voice Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie not long before that.
  • "I apologize in advance: the eating you will see will not be pretty. And if you have young children, this would be a good time for them to leave the room."^ExplanationA quote from the first trailer with Garfield preparing to eat lasagna. Because of how crazy he hypes it up to be, many people have turned the scene into a meme, particularly involving getting hyped up
  • "Bury me in bees!"^ExplanationGarfield's lasagna Imagine Spot from the trailer where he tells Jon to, "bury [him] in cheese," has been subject to many Mondegreen Gags from fans, with the most popular edit having Garfield say "bees" instead of "cheese", before a swarm of bees coat him.
    • "Bury me in [X]!"^ExplanationIn a similar vein, replacing "cheese" with something else and then editing it onto Garfield has become very popular.
  • The Movie Garfield in 2044.^ExplanationThe 2004 film was titled Garfield: The Movie, this movie released 20 years later is titled The Garfield Movie. In 20 years there will be another movie titled The Movie Garfield.
• Moe: While reactions to the trailer vary, one thing everyone seems to have agreed upon is kitten Garfield actually manages to be adorable. The same applies to Odie as a puppy.
• Older Than They Think: This isn't the first time Garfield has reunited with one of his parents. The comic strips had a storyline (which was adapted into the special Garfield on the Town) which had him encounter his long lost mother. Unfortunately, as the trailer makes clear, his opinion of his father is a lot more... strained to put it gently.
• Popular with Furries: Vic's introduction in the trailer has induced a reaction in furries, by being a large, burly, and very furry alley cat, who's the father to the famous lazy orange cat. It helps he's also voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. Or doesn't, depending on your point of view.
• Retroactive Recognition: This film is Mark Dindal's first directorial role in 19 years, with some being familiar with his previous works such as Cats Don't Dance, The Emperor's New Groove, and Chicken Little.
• Tainted by the Preview: The trailer showing that Garfield's mouth moves when he talks similar to the live-action movies, the direct-to-video CGI movies, and The Garfield Show was met with divisive reception, due to it making Garfield seem more human than necessary.
• Tear Jerker: Garfield's backstory is undeniably sad. His father Vic left him in a crate and wandered off, promising to be right back, but ultimately didn't return. While Garfield manages to find a happy life with Jon shortly after, it's clear by the present day that he still harbors resentment towards his father.
  • Unlike the original series, Jon wasn't going to adopt Garfield at first, due to his old apartment's rules about owning pets. While the audience probably figured out that Jon would soon change his mind, it's still hard to watch him saying goodbye to Garfield.
  • Said scene is even worse when you see things from kitten Garfield's perspective. After his scary experience waiting for Vic at a dark alleyway under the cold and rainy weather, things started to look up upon befriending Jon. Then history seemingly repeats itself, which Garfield knew would mean being all alone again. No wonder why he burst into tears.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Instead of being faithful to the current designs from the comics (like the Garfield Animated Movie Trilogy and The Garfield Show), the movie versions of Garfield and Odie are a hybrid of sorts between their current designs (being anthropomorphic like in the current strips) and their earlier designs from the early '80s strips (shorter proportions and smaller, more circular eyes). Many fans found the designs, especially Odie, to look very off as a result, since, while they are close to their modern anthropomorphic designs, they're just different enough to look off-putting.

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