A Garfield Christmas Special (1987)

Wow! Such a good movie.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

PLEASE BEWARE OF SOME REVIEWERS THAT ONLY HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. NOW I HAVE NO AGENDA! I REVIEW MOVIES & SPECIALS AS A WAY TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT I HAVE SEEN! I HAVE DISCOVERED MANY GEMS IN MY QUEST TO SEE AS MANY " C H R I S T M A S " MOVIES AS I CAN. Now Someone keeps reporting my reviews. I guess they are jealous because I do tell the truth. I want to point out that I never make snide remarks about actors weight or real life sexual orientation. If there acting is terrible or limited "I talk about that". If a story is bad "I will mention that" So why am I being "picked on"? IMDB? When one of my reviews gets deleted IMDB will not even tell me what someone found offensive. Well on to this review This "Christmas Special" is very funny. It was a little easy to see how the animated special most likely inspired "The Simpsons" In a dream, Garfield is awakened by his owner Jon dressed as an elf, who feeds him a large amount of lasagna before giving him his gift, a robotic Santa Claus which reads minds and produces whatever Garfield wants. When Jon actually wakes up Garfield, he tells him that it is "Christmas Eve morning" and they and Odie are going to the countryside to celebrate Christmas with Jon's family on their farm. Garfield is annoyed that they always go to the farm and the family never comes to Jon's house. During his drive to his family's farm, Jon talks about Christmases he had when he was a boy, with his parents, brother Doc Boy, and Grandma, while Garfield listens with great cynicismThis is a very funny special. You can watch it again and again and laugh just as hard on repeated viewings.Hard to find but worth the search!

Good natured holiday fun with Garfield and Odie going along with owner John to his family Christmas dinner at the farmhouse of the parents and grandma, with his only brother attending as well. I used to grow up with this cartoon on Saturdays as a child when it came on CBS and have fond memories. I hadn't even thought of this Christmas special until reading a fellow user comment by an Internet friend from Canada which inspired me to seek it out. I'm glad I did. It opens with Garfield dreaming of John bestowing upon him several trays of lasagna along with a magical chair which reads what you so desire and gives it to you. Obviously grouchy because it was a dream, Garfield isn't too keen on having to wake up and visit John's folks but soon finds that there's more to Christmas than mere material things. Among the festivities, Grandma breaks loose on the piano, secretly pours chili sauce in her daughter-in-law's sausage stew, and feeds her portion of the dinner to an appreciative(and full)Garfield and Odie under the table. Meanwhile, as if they were little kids again, John and his brother demand papa let them open presents at 1:30 in the morning and read to them a story. Most endearing are memories Grandma shares with Garfield about her late husband..Garfield finds some old letters Grandma and her late husband shared and delivers them to her which couldn't be a more wonderful present. Sure the show is sentimental and old fashioned, but it doesn't go overboard. It sure was a nice way to spend 23 minutes; and this family seems pretty genteel and genuine, rather blue collar and wonderfully rural. A good trip back in time for me to when I was a kid. As always wonderful voice work from Lorenzo Music as Garfield.

[I can't be certain, but parts of this review might be considered a spoiler (Brief descriptions of a scene, nothing detailed). Just letting you know ahead of time.]What else can be said? This is a wonderful Christmas classic (I consider it a "classic" even though it was made in the late 80s), one of what I consider the four "must-see" Christmas classics (The other three being "Frosty", "Rudolph" and "Charlie Brown Christmas") worth watching every year. You'll laugh, you'll cry (Or almost cry), you'll feel warm in your heart after viewing this wonderful Garfield Christmas episode.My one and only complaint...sometime during the mid 90s, for no reason whatsoever, portions of the best part of the entire show, the part with Garfield in Grandma's lap, was re-animated. The dialog and audio track is the same, but some of the scene was redrawn with different angles, different character views, and there is even a closeup shot on family pictures is shown. Yes, these may seem to better emphasize the mood of that scene, but in my opinion the scene was fine the way it was, and I hope to someday see the original, unedited version.But, these are just small details, one minor annoyance that doesn't, and shouldn't, affect the overall enjoyment of this heartwarming Christmas classic. Whether it's the original unedited version, the version missing the "piano scene" (Which I actually have never seen, just heard about), or the version with the edited Grandma/Garfield scene, it is almost certain that you will love this show.

Garfield's Christmas is one of my family's favorite holiday traditions. We just love watching Garfield, Odie, and Jon team up with Jon's Family, especially Grandma, for some good old family Christmas time together.Odie shows us that its not the gift we get, its the thought and effort put into it. As Garfield tells us, its not the getting, its not the getting, its the loving. And Grandma's memories scene is probably one of the most touching and heart-warming scenes I've seen in any presentation, animated or live-action. Be sure to share this with your family and enjoy all that it has to offer.