
Garfield Gets Real

Garfield Gets Real (also known as Garfield 3D in some regions) is a 2007 American CGI movie starring Garfield. It was produced by Paws, Inc. in cooperation with Davis Entertainment, and The Animation Picture Company and distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. It was written by Garfield's creator Jim Davis, who started working on the script in the autumn of 1996. This was the first fully animated Garfield production since the last "Garfield and Friends" TV episode aired in 1994, and the first to be written by Davis since the 1991 television special "Garfield Gets a Life". The DVD was shipped to stores on June 19, 2007. Gregg Berger, an actor from the original series, reprises his role of Odie, but Garfield was voiced by veteran voice actor Frank Welker, since the original actor Lorenzo Music died in 2001 and Jon is voiced by Wally Wingert, as Thom Huge retired that same year. 
Although the film received unfavorable reviews, it performed moderately well at the box office, spawning two sequels: "Garfield's Fun Fest" (2008) and "Garfield's Pet Force" (2009).
Plot.
Garfield lives with canine Odie and Jon in what appears to be a suburban town inhabited by cartoon characters. Garfield and the gang work at Comic studios with other comic characters. The comic strip is made in Comic Strip World and sent to "The Real World" where it is made in newspaper.
Garfield is tired of the old jokes his friends crack and is bored with life in Comic Strip World and longs to go to The Real World. The Comic Strip requires a bone for Odie, but he does not want to give back the bone and looks for a place to hide it. But he accidentally makes the bone go through the screen in the studio and it is sucked into the Real World.
Eli explains to the comic characters that the screen separates Comic Strip World and The Real World with no way back. Garfield sees his chance and goes through the screen without anyone noticing. Later on, the comic characters realize Garfield is in the real world and Eli blocks the patch in the screen that separates the real world by taping special tape on it, so no one can gain access to the real world. However, Odie jumps onto the screen trying to get his bone which is on the screen but actually is in the real world and gets sucked into the real world as well.
Garfield tries to throw Odie back to Comic Strip World, but fails to do so. Odie gets his bone back and he and Garfield go find some dinner. Garfield meets Shecky and as they chat, Odie is chased by a gang of Chihuahuas who want his bone. To save Odie, Garfield grabs the bone and runs through a hole in a tree which is small for the Chihuahua's fat owner to get through.
Shecky gets dinner by annoying the people who live in a building and the people start throwing food at Shecky. After dinner, Shecky brings Garfield and Odie to their new home, an abandoned hotel called Hotel Muncie. The next day, Garfield realizes that his comic will be canceled unless he returns to the comic. Garfield finds an article in the newspaper asking people to try out and replace Garfield. Garfield and Odie head for the place where they are doing try-outs and try to impress the judges, but fail and the judges are more impressed in Hale and Hardy, a muscular cat and equally muscular dog. The judges give Garfield one more chance: If Garfield does not make it back to the paper in 24 hours, Hale and Hardy will replace them. Garfield has an idea of building a big tunnel that can go through the screen and shares the idea with his friends back in Comic Strip World. Later that night, Hale and Hardy tie Garfield, Odie and Shecky up and set the hotel on fire. Billy Bear, Wally and Jon go save the three friends, but the entire hotel is on fire and all the exits are blocked. Luckily, Shecky finds a fire-proof trash cart and Jon, Wally, Odie, Garfield and Shecky jump in and Billy Bear is about to push the cart when Odie realizes his bone is missing and finds it lying on a chandelier. Odie jumps onto the chandelier. Garfield grabs Odie's paw on the second floor and tries to pull him onto the cart, but Odie pulls Garfield onto the chandelier instead. Just then, the chandelier is going to collapse. Garfield grabs Jon's hand and the entire cart is flung into the air, and the chandelier collapses, causing the cart to fall to the ground with the chandelier on it. The cart crashes out of the hotel and the 6 are flung into the big tunnel and the door of the tunnel closes and the tunnel disappears and is transported back to Comic Strip World. The comic characters celebrate the return of Garfield at the end of the film.
Cast.
Cameos.
Similar to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and future films like "Wreck-It Ralph", "The Lego Movie", and "Ready Player One," "Garfield Gets Real" has cameo appearances by other comic strip characters:
Snoopy of "Peanuts" fame is mentioned.
Reception.
Box office.
The film was only released theatrically in Turkey. The film started at second in its opening weekend, grossing $592,974 from 130 theaters, with an average of $4,561 per theater. The film stayed second in its sophomore weekend, falling 34.1% to $390,688, before dropping down to third in its third weekend, decreasing 30.9% to $269,798. The film fell down to fifth in its fourth weekend, decreasing 40.8% to $159,768.
Critical reception.
The film received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics. Brian Costello awarded the film 2 out of 5 stars, criticizing the juvenile humor, but writing, "this movie is best for younger children and fans of the Garfield comic strip".
Video game.
A video game based on the film, "Garfield Gets Real", was released in the United States in July 2009 and received negative reviews.
Sequels.
The success of the film spawned a franchise consisting of two sequels, "Garfield's Fun Fest" and "Garfield's Pet Force".