Garfield

This big-screen treatment of the infamous comic strip cat isn’t all that bad. It just doesn’t amount to much of anything in the end. Bill Murray provides the voice to the fat orange feline, a CGI creation among live-action actors and animals. Actually, Garfield looks great, seamlessly blending into his surroundings. Unfortunately, the plot goes nowhere, and some of his human counterparts (Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt) are dullards. Making matters a little more tolerable is Odie, played by a real dog with tremendous dancing talents and a cute bark. The stuff involving Garfield’s mission to rescue a dognapped Odie from an evil television personality is tedious, and every moment Meyer spends on screen is irritating. Still, the Garfield creation in itself is fun to look at, and it’s too bad that the film’s creators couldn’t come up with something better to go along with it. The film is directed by Peter Hewitt, who did Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. (CPL, CR, CS, ER, NM)