History WesternAnimation / TheGarfieldMovie

* FailedASpotCheck: Apparently, Garfield is unaware that he's wearing a collar complete with license tag, which even his father noticed. [[spoiler: He also failed to spot the food worker across the alley where he was "abandoned" that his father was hiding out of sight from. To be fair, it was dark and somewhat foggy, but he still should've noticed the porch light and the worker's phone conversation.]]

* AbusiveParents: PlayedForLaughs in the first trailer. While boarding a train with Garfield and Odie, Vic suddenly shoves the former out of it, sending poor Garfield flying through the air and slamming into several objects along the way, and to top it all off, he jokes about his son's predicament to Odie as he himself jumps out of the train as well.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Garfield while still being a food obsessed jerk who treats Jon as if he was the pet and Garfield the owner and gets annoyed with Odie at times; has a relationship with the dog that is more like a friendship and partnership than other versions. Garfield also doesn't abuse Odie for fun as he normally would.

* AmbiguouslyAbsentParent: To say that Garfield's parents SwappedRoles as the absent parent in this adaptation would be an understatement, as his mother isn't seen nor mentioned during the flashbacks. Although FridgeSadness implies that she experienced DeathByChildbirth in the movie.

* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Despite a reformed Roland's attempts to slow down Garfield, Vic, and Nolan's fall by using his own body as a parachute, this fails as they're close to hitting the ground below, until Otto comes in to save the four, with a rope, in which Otto comments as "versatile and reliable".]]

* FailedASpotCheck: Apparently, Garfield is unaware that he's wearing a collar complete with license tag, which even his father can see.

* RebuiltPedestal: [[spoiler: DoubleSubverted. When Garfield learns the truth about his abandonment, he begins to forgive his father. But then Vic seemingly betrays him during the heist, causing him to lose all remaining faith in him. When he gets sent home instead following the arrest, he figures out why he did so and discovers that Vic had been watching over him for years from afar, deciding to save his father and finally reconcile with him.]]

* StrugglingSingleFather: [[spoiler:Vic admits to leaving Garfield with Jon because he couldn't find a way to feed his son without being chased off by humans since they're both strays]].

* AdaptationalIntelligence: Odie is shown to be much smarter here than in the comic strip, being quite intuitive and able to think fast on his feet. He is also more judgmental of Garfield's arrogance and laziness. At one point he is able to create a durable lasso out of cheese within only a few seconds.

** Lyman is omitted from Odie's backstory, with Garfield stating he "allowed" Jon to buy in Odie.
** Arlene and Nermal do not appear in any of the trailers despite them being important characters in the Garfield franchise. Subverted in Nermal's case given he can only be seen a cameo near the end of the trailer.

* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: [[spoiler: After the heist goes wrong, Vic regretfully ends up leaving Garfield and Odie to be captured while he gets away with the milk truck, resulting in his son getting sent to the pound. However, it turns out that he only did it so Jon can bail them out using [[ChekhovsGun Garfield's license tag]] in order to save them from Jinx's wrath and let them continue living their lives in peace.]]

* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Despite Roland's attempts to slow down Garfield, Vic and Roland's fall by using his own body as a paracuhute, this fails as they're close to hitting the ground below, until Otto comes in to save the four, with a rope, in which Otto comments as "versatile and reliable".]]

* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: [[spoiler: After the heist goes wrong, Vic regretfully ends up leaving Garfield and Odie to be captured while he gets away with the milk truck, resulting in his son getting sent to the pound. However, it turns out that he only did it so Jon can bail them out using [[ChekhovsGun Garfield's license tag]] in order to save them from Jinx's wrath and allow them to continue living their lives in peace.]]

** After Nolan and Roland prevent Garfield from leaving Vic, he thinks it "feels an awful lot like a Monday", but Vic says it's a Thursday. Garfield angrily says "NOT TO ME, IT'S NOT!"
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[Spoiler:Vic reveals to Garfield that the day he "abandoned" he did actually returned contrary to what Garfield thought, having left to find food for Garfield, but by the time he had returned Garfield had already meet with Jon, Vic seeing how much Jon cared for Garfield, he realizes Garfield would have a better life with Jon than he would with him on the streets and decides to let Jon take Garfield away.]]

* {{Jerkass}}: This movie reveals that while Garfield may be a jerk, compared to his father, he's downright ''pleasant''. One of the {{Establishing Character Moment}}s in the first trailer is ''kicking his own son out of a moving train'' and proceeding to ''joke with Odie about it''.

* OnceMoreWithClarity: [[spoiler: Halfway through the movie, Vic solemnly reveals that he didn't intentionally abandon Garfield that stormy night. He was actually hiding out of sight from the food worker across the alley until he could DumpsterDive to feed the poor kitten. By the time he returned, he found him with Jon and decided to let him take his son, knowing that Jon could provide a better life for Garfield than he ever could.]]

* RebuiltPedestal: [[spoiler: DoubleSubverted. When Garfield learns the truth about his abandonment, he begins to forgive his father. But then Vic seemingly betrays him during the heist, causing him to lose all remaining faith in him. When he gets sent home instead following the arrest, he figures out why he did so and discovers that Vic had been watching over him from afar, deciding to save his father and finally reconcile with him.]]

The film follows the beloved lasagna-loving, Monday-despising, dog-kicking orange cat as his perfect world is turned upside down by a chance encounter with his long-lost father, Vic. The film will release May 24, 2024. Not to be confused with [[Film/{{Garfield}} the live action/animation hybrid version]] released twenty years earlier, which was marketed as ''Garfield: The Movie''.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: Garfield addresses the audience twice in the first trailer; once after the story of how he and Jon met ("...and that's how I adopted Jon."), and again as he apologizes before eating lasagna, as quoted above.

* ThisIsMyHuman: In the trailer, Garfield proudly describes to the audience how he "adopted Jon."

* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: [[spoiler: After the heist goes wrong, Vic regretfully ends up leaving Garfield and Odie to be captured while he gets away with the milk truck, resulting in his son getting sent to the pound. However, it turns out that he only did it so Jon can bail them out using [[ChekhovsGun Garfield's license tag]] in order to save them from Jinx's wrath.]]

* SinsOfOurFathers: Garfield and Odie are forced by Jinx to partake in recouping Vic's milk debt that the former two did not accrue just because Jinx takes [[EvilIsPetty sadistic pleasure]] in seeing Garfield suffer as much as Vic.

* StrugglingSingleFather: [[spoiler:Vic admits to leaving Garfield to Jon because he couldn't find a way to feed his son without being chased off by humans since they're both strays]].

* BookEnds: The movie opens with [[spoiler:Garfield's flashback to being abandoned by Vic, and him saying he'll "be right back" only for him not to.]] In the final minutes of the film, [[spoiler:as Vic heads out briefly, Garfield says he "should be right back". As Jon tries to stop him, Garfield asks if he's "using trigger words that he's not aware of".]]
* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: [[spoiler: After the heist goes wrong, Vic regretfully ends up leaving Garfield and Odie to be caught while he gets away with the milk truck, resulting in his son getting sent to the pound. However, it turns out that he only did it so Jon can bail them out using [[ChekhovsGun Garfield's license tag]] in order to save them from Jinx's wrath.]]

* CatsAreMean: Most of the cats in the film avert this trope, being either friendly or indifferent to everyone around them. Garfield and Vic are amongst straighter examples, though despite their unsavory aspects they uphold themselves to clear standards and generally have everyone's best interests in the end. ''Jinx'', however, plays this trope to the extreme, being the most morally despicable character in the entire film.

* DrillSergeantNasty: Otto the ox becomes one to Garfield and Vic in training them to break into the milk factory and steal the milk plus free Ethel.

* {{Jerkass}}: This movie reveals that while Garfield may be a jerk, compared to his father he's downright ''pleasant''. One of the {{Establishing Character Moment}}s in the first trailer is ''kicking his own son out of a moving train'' and proceeding to ''joke with Odie about it''.

* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim:
** [[spoiler: Vic admits to abandoning Garfield to Jon because he couldn't find a way to feed Garfield without being chased off by the humans, and he knew that Jon could provide a better life for Garfield than he ever could.]]
** [[spoiler: After the heist goes wrong, Vic regretfully ends up leaving Garfield and Odie to be caught while he gets away with the milk truck, resulting in his son getting sent to the pound. However, it turns out that he only did it so Jon can bail them out using [[ChekhovsGun Garfield's license tag]] in order to save them from Jinx's wrath.]]

* FatBastard: Jinx is certainly very chubby for a Persian cat, and as a criminal mastermind, she certainly holds no goodwill towards anyone.

* AMinorKidroduction: The first trailer first shows Garfield as a kitten.

%%* OnceMoreWithClarity

* RaceLift: In concept art, Liz in AmbiguouslyBrown. In the film proper, she is played by Indian actress Devika Joshi.

* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: What finally let Garfield figure out that the hooded figure was Vic is that he called him "Jr." Nobody else ever used that alias with him.

* FatBastard: Jinx is certainly very chubby for a Persian cat, and as a criminal mastermind, she certainly holds no good will towards anyone.

* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: [[spoiler: After the heist goes wrong, Vic regretfully ends up leaving Garfield and Odie to be caught while he gets away with the milk truck, resulting in his son getting sent to the pound. However, it turns out that he only did it so Jon can bail them out using [[ChekhovsGun Garfield's license tag]] in order to save them from Jinx's wrath.]]

The film follows the beloved lasagna-loving, Monday-despising, dog-kicking orange cat as his perfect world is turned upside down by a chance encounter with his long-lost father, Vic. The film will release May 24, 2024. Not to be confused with [[Film/{{Garfield}} the live-action/animation hybrid version]] released twenty years earlier, which was marketed as ''Garfield: The Movie''.

* FromStrayToPet: In the origins scene, Garfield was shown to be a stray kitten (after Vic abandoned him) on the streets before Jon adopted him.

* JawDrop: A variant in the first trailer. After Garfield is subjected to bath time by Jon, gaining an overly fluffy appearance as a result, Odie can only react slack-jawed as the tennis ball he's holding onto drops on the ground akin to this trope.

*** Likewise the follow-up comic has Jon dry up Garfield, which results in Garfield being all fluffed up, much like in the movie.

* OriginsEpisode: The prologue shows how Jon and Garfield first met, with Garfield being a stray kitten and Jon immediately becoming taken by him (as well as being introduced to his [[BigEater incredible appetite]]).

* YouDontLookLikeYou: Garfield's father actually ''isn't'' an original character, but was rather exclusive to merchandise before the film shot him to prominence. However, there are ''very'' big differences between the merch version and Vic from the films; the merch version has grey fur, a body type shared with his son's 1980 design, and given how a picture of him was held by Garfield is generally well-regarded by his son. Vic, by contrast, uses a faded version of Garfield's color scheme, and not only is he twice the size of his son, but he has a top-heavy build, his head is basically neckless and his arms are ''far'' burlier than Garfield's own. Garfield's introduction of him also makes it clear that, unlike the merch version, Vic is ''not'' seen in a positive light.