What a disappointment.

Just checked out the Garfield: The Movie DVD, and man, what a fucking disappointment…

…not the movie, mind, it’s still good, I still love it. It’s the DVD itself. In this day and age, this is just cheap bullshit.

For bonuses, it has the usual commentary and chapter selection and language options, sure. It even has the Baha Men music video for “Holla,” though it’s not really selectable; it tail-ends some other irrelevant features.

But the rest, little as it is, is crap. A few previews for OLD movies no one cared about in the first place(Sandlot and Like Mike), and some weird upcoming shit for a CG movie about robots that I might be more interested in if I were in the mood. But when I want to see Garfield… that’s NOT when I’m in the mood.

It’s Garfield’s fucking 25th… well, 26th, now, anniversary, and this is all they put together? Let me tell you something… the commentary was rather telling. It was done before the premiere of the movie in theatres, and they seemed to expect a lot more to make its way into the DVD. Sorry guys, but apparently FOX didn’t seem to think as highly. Fuck them.

My Street Fighter DVD had more bonuses than this. Fuckin STREET FIGHTER. The VAN DAMME one.

Here’s a short form of what should have been on here:

1) Interviews. Something with Jim Davis, most preferably, given he created all this.

2) Behind the scenes. Instead of behind the scenes of some movies no one will care about anyway, how about some for the movie we just picked up?

3) Trailers. TV, theatrical, whatever. I sort of liked them, and they aren’t even on here. This is probably the first DVD I’ve picked up for a movie that did not have the damn trailers on it.

4) Cut scenes. Assuming there were any. The commentary didn’t really make it seem as though there were.

5) Some sort of games or Garfield trivia or SOMEthing would have been nice.

I don’t know if there’s a VHS version that will be available when the movie comes out this Tuesday, but if there is and you’re looking to buy, get that instead. Odds are it’ll be far cheaper and an overall better value. This is an insult to DVDs, an insult to Garfield, and an insult to me. And the price of the DVD(around 27 Canadian, IIRC) is an attempt to add injury to insult.

If you’re going to rent, may as well get the DVD, since it’s the same price. Just don’t expect a lot to watch. And also a note, the commentary seems to be confusingly kid-friendly, as they talk sometimes about what they had to give Garfield, yet also going on about how so much of the movie was done with nothing there at first. Nothing against the two fellows who did it, but I’ve heard better commentaries. But I’ll say one thing for it… it seems to lend promise to a sequel. So for that much, I’m happy.

LBD “Nytetrayn”

David Oxford

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

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