Review of Garfield and Friends

I liked (not loved) this cartoon when I saw this on Children's ITV back in the early 90's. I adore the comic strip thought, the wit and purity of the comic strip still appeals to everyone to this day and even going into 2009, Garfield still proves he is going to be very popular (just check out Borders for calenders!). The animation of the strip has also improved. Garfield looks cleaner and a lot more believable and Odie is now playing more of a part in the comic strip than he used to (but the days when Jon is not going around searching for a date anymore since Liz actually love him now but at least he's finally happy!). Mealtime jokes for now on! Anyways, about this cartoon, is was good for watching something to come home from school for, but there was something about that never gelled! There was a lot of comic strips turn T.V. cartoon back in the day like Snoopy, Hagar and Heathcliff, so I guess this was only really being a money-spinner. First off, why is the animation in the Garfield sketches cruder than the Orson's Farm ones? It's weird! Where they trying to develop styles or something? Because I find this really strange. I really didn't like the Orson's Farm segments. They were boring and not funny. The appealed to a CbeeBies audience than anyone else. And another that bothers me is Garfield's dry wit. He is just a one joke character who does nothing more than fools his foolish owner Jon, eat the house out and humiliate the dog while making sarcastic side remarks! The animation was not up to standards either and the voices grated quickly. And where was Odie for most of the episodes? Mind you, the Garfield stories were good fun, if they were original enough. I did like this when it first came out but I lost interest as this went on, especially when it change the theme tune and became more like trying to compete with Tiny Toons or Animanics!

My final words: If you are looking for a good cartoon on a Friday afternoon and there is nothing on the other side, than this will do. But if you want to capture the pure wit and charm of Garfield in all his flavour, you're better off reading the newspaper each day!