Garfield is finally here. Jim Davis' comic strip has delighted fans for many years, and now, after all this time, the sarcastic feline has made the leap from the small page to the big screen.

In the new family picture, Garfield becomes jealous when his master Jon Arbuckle (played by Brecken Meyer) falls for veterinarian Liz (played by Jennifer Love Hewitt), but the kitty litter really hits the fan when the famed cat finds out that he'll have to share his domain with a dog by the name of Odie. Given that Garfield is perhaps the most spoiled pet in the universe, this creates for much tension in the Arbuckle household.

The best compliment I can pay Garfield is that it is better than Scooby-Doo and Cat in the Hat, but if you've read my reviews for those particular pictures, then you know that's not saying much. The film makers opted to go CGI with Garfield, and for what it's worth, he doesn't look all that bad. In fact, after a while, I really forgot that I was watching a cartoon. Of course the fact that he's voiced by comedic genius Bill Murray helps out a ton. Still, no film has managed to mesh cartoon and live action quite as effectively as Robert Zemeckis' brilliant Who Framed Roger Rabbit and that was over fifteen years ago.

While Garfield himself more or less sticks to his historic roots (he's a rude, sarcastic slob-but one you grow to love), the film itself is a rather lifeless retread of Toy Story (Garfield sends Odie out into the cold only to realize he cares about his buddy--thus setting out to find him and make things right). This is not surprising given that the movie was written by Toy Story scribes Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow. What's missing here, though, is the joy and pure liveliness of that wonderful Disney film.

Breckin Meyer is a blank as Jon Arbuckle. I don't know why they went with him. He's been likable enough in other pictures (I have a real soft spot for Clueless), but here, he just coasts through and looks as if he's bored. Jennifer Love Hewitt is another one of those infectious and appealing actresses with a killer smile, but she too seems to be sleepwalking. Bill Murray was the perfect choice to voice Garfield, and while this legendary funnyman has been on the rise as of late (I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed his Lost in Translation performance), even he is unable to make this entire movie work. The writing just isn't strong enough.

Simply put, Garfield is pretty darned boring and it definitely doesn't do justice to the iconic work of creator Jim Davis. I suppose kids will find some of this stuff amusing, while the adults who grew up on the comic will only dream of what could have been. If this feisty feline has nine lives, he just blew through one of them.