I will say one thing for the film; it is certainly impressively cast. Not only does Bill Murray return as the voice of the selfishly overweight sarcastically cynical title character, joining him this time around are Billy Connolly, Tim Curry, Bob Hoskins, Jane Horrocks, Vinnie Jones, Rhys Ifans, Richard E. Grant, Jane Leeves, Ian Abercrombie and Roger Rees. Some just voice the eclectic menagerie of animals, others make brief comical appearances in the flesh, yet all give this overwrought second helping far more dignity and class than it probably deserves.
The story this time around is The Prince & the Pauper meets the Sunday Morning funnies with Garfield and Odie heading to London with their owner Jon (Breckin Meyer) as he looks to meet up with sexy veterinarian Liz (Jennifer Love Hewitt) in hopes of asking her to marry him. Along the way the fat cat with a fondness for lasagna switches places with his pampered doppelganger Prince (Curry) inside his majestic castle, a nefarious cad named Lord Dargis (Connolly) looking to do him in so he can inherit the estate and turn it into condominiums.
And that's basically it. There's a barnyard of beasts trying to hide Garfield's identity from the humans on the property in order to keep their sanctuary intact, while Prince learns the true meaning of love and honor by residing with the caring Jon. In the end, the two cats join forces to undue the Lord's dastardly designs thus saving the day and creating an animal kingdom for every kind of creature residing on British feline's property.
Kids will love it. And why not shouldn't they. The film is far more warm-hearted and sentimental than the grossly tasteless original, a sweet innocence running throughout that's a bona fide intoxicatingly wondrous surprise. But unless you're not out of grade school this second helping of frantic feline hysteria is hardly catnip. Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen's script as familiar and cliché as a second helping of your mother's meatloaf. While the film is impossible to hate, it's just as impossible to enjoy, the only responsible thing for a person of intelligence to really do t take a catnap while the toddlers enjoy themselves immensely.
Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties comes to DVD sporting both a Full Screen version of the theatrical edition of the film as well as a Widescreen (1.85:1) presentation of the director's extended edition containing about seven minutes of additional scenes. The rest of the special features are aimed squarely at the kids. There are three short featurettes with Garfield creator Jim Davis on how to draw three of his timeless characters, an exclusive comic strip written expressively for this DVD, an incredibly lame music video of the song "Come and Get It" and two games, "Odie's Photo Album" and "Garfield's Maze Game."
Listen, if you've got small children you could certainly do worse than this one. That said, you could also do a heck of a lot better. While there is nothing here to get angry about, there's nothing to make buying the DVD remotely worthwhile, either. Sorry to say, but Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties is far from the cat's meow.