As the famous cat makes his comeback, The Garfield Movie sometimes seems as lazy as he is.

Given the number of franchises that have been revived in recent times, it’s quite astonishing that it’s taken almost 20 years for a new proper Garfield movie to hit the screens. After a first film in 2004, Garfield: The Movie, spawned two sequels in 2006 and 2007. The character of the lazy, gluttonous cat found his audience on TV with The Garfield Show, with 5 seasons between 2008 and 2015. With this new adaptation, Sony Pictures brings the character back into an animated universe, with an aesthetic similar to rival studios like Universal’s Illumination. But in the process of showing himself at his finest animation, Garfield (Chris Pratt) loses everything that makes him special.

This new film is an opportunity to go back to the basics of the character and develop an unexplored pant, his family, and here more particularly his father, Vic (Samuel L. Jackson). The film’s introduction shows the essence of Garfield’s character once he’s adopted by Jon Arbuckle. Lazy, overweight and unsympathetic. But once the character’s introductory montage (more like a compilation of trailer gags than anything else) is over, the character gradually smoothes out to become a character like any other.

Once Garfield sets off on his adventure with his father and Odie (Harvey Guillén), under pressure from Jinx (Hannah Waddingham), he turns into a smooth version of himself. He retains his usual scowl, but loses his nonchalance and egotism along the way. Meanwhile, Odie, though an improved version of the character, doesn’t provide much more. Forsaken by the rest of the adventure, Jon spends most of his time at home worrying about his animals, without ever being of any use. Sony’s choices of characters and storylines for The Garfield Movie quickly result in a rather bland, uninspired film, which loses itself in a multiplication of superfluous exposition for each character and dramatic issue.

The studio isn’t particularly creative when it comes to the visual aspect. Detailed for its characters, the environments around them seem lacking in texture and detail. If this could be incorporated into the cartoon style of the TV series, it creates a strange combination with the detailed aesthetics of the characters.

Although a few gags manage to get us, The Garfield Movie struggles to find situations that aren’t already seen, both in its dialogue and its visuals. While the father/son dynamic gives rise to sometimes funny and touching exchanges and scenes, it struggles to take things to the next level and really have something at stake. On several occasions, the film tries to find visual inspiration in hits such as Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, but never attempts to add anything new to the mix.

The premise of The Garfield Movie had some potential, playing on the character’s origin story to build an adventure and add a character to Garfield’s world. But this is done by stripping the character of all his main attributes. While Sony adds a few visual arguments to make the film a pleasure to watch, the rest seems far too insipid to seduce us.