Smoke Signals

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The Garfield Movie is directed by Mark Tindal and written by Paul A. Kaplan and Mark Torgove. Released on May 24, 2024, it is an enjoyable film suitable for younger audiences. The movie has some depth and dozens of lively animal characters. It features a new adventure for Garfield and the other animals.

The movie begins with Garfield, Odie, and their owner Jon living in a suburban neighborhood. Garfield recalls a memory when he was a kitten and his father, Vic, abandoned him in an alleyway. He sees Jon eating alone in Mama’s Leonia’s, an Italian restaurant. Garfield is starving, so Jon lets Garfield sneak in through the window and eat with him. Jon takes Garfield to his apartment.

Later, Jon moves out of his apartment and into his house. One day, while Jon is fast asleep, Garfield and Odie go downstairs for their midnight snack. Two dogs, a Shar Pei and a whippet named Roland and Nolan, kidnap them.

Garfield and Odie are carried in sacks to an abandoned mall. A cloaked figure saves them from their doom. The figure is revealed to be Vic. Roland and Nolan’s boss is a Persian cat named Jinx. She recalls a memory where Vic abandoned her after she was caught in a milk heist. She was taken to the pound for four years. Jinx says Vic, Garfield, and Odie have 72 hours to get 1,675 quarts of milk from Lactose Farms each day she is in the pound. 

The three animals hop onto a train to get to Lactose Farms. They meet a solitary and stoic cow named Otto. Otto and his girlfriend, Ethel, are the face of Lactose Farms, but Otto is taken to the pasture and Ethel is taken to the farm’s petting zoo. Otto agrees to show them how to break into the farm and steal a milk truck if they bring Ethel to him. 

Jinx calls Lactose Farms’s animal control officer, Marge Malone, and tells her animals will steal the milk truck tomorrow. Otto tells the trio they have to avoid the cheese and butter room because the cheese and butter room has many dangerous falls, shredders, and knives used to slice cheese. They don’t retrieve Ethel, but Vic returns the milk truck to Jinx on his own. Jinx betrays Vic and says she wants to take him to the pound. 

Garfield and Odie are sent to the pound and Jon picks them up. It is revealed that Vic was retrieving food for Garfield around the alleyway, but he returned too late. He decides that Jon is a better caregiver than he was, so he leaves Garfield to grow up with Jon. From an oak tree, Vic watches Garfield grow up and enjoy meals every day. 

Garfield regains trust in his father. Garfield and Odie head off to rescue Vic from Jinx. Jinx wants to take Vic onto a train and drop him into sharp rock formations under Mile High Bridge. Jinx pushes Garfield, Odie, Roland, and Nolan into the rocks. She gets knocked off an overpass and also falls. Otto swings a rope and catches all five of them. 

“Oh, cheddar; probably one of my top 26 favorite cheeses.”

Garfield

Vic, Garfield, and Odie hide under a trench coat and use a translator to make a deal with Marge Malone. They give Marge Jinx in exchange for Ethel. Marge finds out that Jinx planned the milk truck heist. Roland and Nolan work as guard dogs for Marge, and Vic is accepted into Jon’s home.