THE SYNOPSIS Garfield The Cat (Murray) is living the life when things are about to be disrupted. His owner, Jon (Meyer) is about to propose to his lovely girlfriend/veterinarian Liz (Hewitt) when she happily informs him of a symposium that she’ll be attending in London, England. What to do, Jon? Why not fly to London and surprise her there with a proposal of marriage! And what of Garfield and his canine sidekick Odie? To the pound, dammit! Except Garfield and Odie manage to stowaway in Jon’s luggage and all head for merry old England. Meanwhile, in the land of Queens and crumpets, old man Lord Dargis has just checked out and left his entire estate to his favorite orange furball cat, Prince (voiced by the wonderful Tim Curry)--much to the chagrin of the Lord’s dastardly nephew Dargis (Connolly)...a real-life version of Dick Dastardly himself (sans Muttley, unfortunately). Jon surprises Liz at her hotel and his pets surprise them both. While the lovebirds tour the sites, Garfield and Odie manage to escape their confines. Miles away, Dargis has managed to throw Prince into the river and the cat ends up in London. The Dargis Estate’s loyal butler, Smithee (Ambercrombie) comes upon Garfield wandering the cobblestone streets of London and assumes that it is Prince. So, it’s back to Dargis Estate--much to the chagrin of that dastardly Dargis, who wants to turn the estate into a condo-amusement-business complex. Naturally, Prince ends up in the hands of Jon and Liz, who think that he’s Garfield. The real McCoy is busily enjoying himself in the lap of luxury and avoiding that mean-old Dargis. He teaches the other Estate animals how to make his favorite dish--lasagna. So begins a case of mistaken identity, until Jon and Prince end up at the Estate, where Liz is touring with her symposium and Dargis is hitting on her! Garfield and Prince finally meet up and with the help of the other animals, plan to defeat Dargis. THE CRITIQUE Well, at least Bill Murray is back as my favorite animated fat cat. Is that a compliment for this movie? Probably. I love Bill Murray and I do love Garfield The Cat. He must love doing the voice ‘cause heeeeee’s baaaack!!!! (and I’m sure the paycheck was quite nice too). Point is, GARFIELD: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES is a serviceable sequel to 2004’s cheesy Garfield: The Movie. After the worldwide success of G1 (to the tune of almost $200 million), you knew the Orange Furball was coming back! I must admit that the filmmakers at least had the decency to move the setting to a different locale (London, England) and plagiarize the plotline of Mark Twain’s classic The Prince & The Pauper. G2 is decently-made and imbues a lovely British flavor in its celluloid guts. Besides enjoying Bill Murray’s sardonic rendition of Garfield The Cat, I also enjoyed that of his doppelgänger, played by the priceless Tim Curry. The other voices (Hoskins, Osbourne, Jones, etc.) are a welcome and familiar treat. Sadly, the human leads Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt basically sleepwalk through the movie (but hey, Jennifer Love Hewitt can sleepwalk into my home anytime!). Which is too bad, since they are rather likable actors. Better in front of the cameras are Scottish comedian Billy Connolly (who I swore was John Cleese in the role) as the villain and veteran British character actor Ian Ambercrombie as the put-upon butler. Cheers mates! Helmed by family movie veteran director Tim Hill (Muppets In Space/Max Keeble’s Big Move), the movie’s best asset is the rendering of its main character--courtesy of VFX house Rhythm & Hues Studios. Credit the lovely lensing of the British setting to veteran cinematographer Peter Lyons Collister (2005’s The Amityville Horror/Mr. Deeds/Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo/The Replacement Killers). Other tech credits like editing, production design, costumes and music are just fine. THE BOTTOM LINE All in all, a cute family film at most and a silly excuse for a sequel at best. Well, at least the cast is game and the VFX are near-flawless. And I don’t care what the credits say, that’s really John Cleese acting like Billy Connolly! While a definite improvement over the original, this one is no cat’s meow. CAST: Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Billy Connolly, Ian Abercrombie, Roger Rees & the voices of Bill Murray, Tim Curry, Bob Hoskins, Sharon Osbourne, Richard E. Grant and a bunch of other British voice actors CREDITS: Director: Tim Hill; Producer: John Davis; Screenwriters: Joel Cohen & Alec Sokolow; Based on the comic strip "Garfield" by: Jim Davis; Director of photography: Peter Lyons Collister; Production Designer: Tony Burrough; Editor: Peter S. Elliot; Costume Designer: Francine Jamison-Tanchuck; Music: Christophe Beck AC/MV 2006 110m ENGLISH