Movie

Garfield: The Movie

Name: Garfield: The Movie
Released: 2004

2004 • Adventure, Comedy, Family

Woke Score

1.4

out of 10

Plot

Garfield (Bill Murray), the fat, lazy, lasagna lover, has everything a cat could want. But when Jon Arbuckle (Breckin Meyer), in an effort to impress veterinarian and old high-school crush Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt), adopts a dog named Odie and brings him home, Garfield gets the one thing he doesn't want. Competition. One night, Odie runs away and gets dog-napped after Garfield locks him outside. Garfield, in an out of character move, goes to search for and rescue Odie with the help of a variety of animal friends along the way.

Overall Series Review

Garfield: The Movie (2004) centers on the domestic drama of a lazy cat's life being disrupted by a new dog, forcing the feline to confront his selfishness and learn the value of loyalty and friendship. The narrative is a straightforward, traditional family film that culminates in the titular character’s redemption and the formation of a stable, loving family unit for the human characters. Character arcs rely on universal concepts of good and bad behavior rather than modern social doctrines. The main conflict is an internal moral struggle against envy and sloth, resolved through an act of courage and selflessness to rescue a loved one. The human relationships affirm a normative male-female coupling, and the villain is a universally corrupt and greedy opportunist whose actions are judged by an objective standard of morality.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

The main human characters, Jon Arbuckle and Liz Wilson, are judged only on their personalities and actions. The central conflict involves a cat overcoming his own moral flaws (laziness and selfishness) to save a friend, relying entirely on universal virtues. No racial or intersectional hierarchy drives the plot or defines the characters' worth.

Oikophobia2/10

The film’s central emotional payoff is the creation of a stable, 'big happy family' inside the traditional suburban home and the strengthening of a conventional romantic bond between Jon and Liz. This positively affirms home, family structure, and community as a source of protection and happiness, not a corrupt system.

Feminism2/10

Veterinarian Liz Wilson is a competent, working professional, but her character is made sweeter and more receptive to Jon's romantic pursuit than in the source material. Jon is a lovable but clumsy goofball, yet he is the male lead who successfully initiates the romantic relationship and defends his pets physically against the villain, leading to a conventional male-female pairing being celebrated at the conclusion.

LGBTQ+1/10

The narrative's focus on the domestic bliss and emotional stability provided by a traditional male-female pairing (Jon and Liz) and the nuclear-style family unit (owner and pets) is the ultimate positive resolution. Alternative sexualities or gender theory are entirely absent from the plot and character dynamics.

Anti-Theism1/10

The core theme of the film is a self-centered character's moral failure (locking Odie out) and his subsequent moral redemption through guilt, loyalty, and selfless heroism. The movie strongly acknowledges objective virtues and vices, using a transcendent moral framework of right versus wrong behavior without any anti-religious commentary.