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Garfield and Friends: Volume One

Review by: Alysa Salzberg AlysaSalzberg@TheCinemaSource.com

As soon as I put the first of the three DVD's (24 episodes) included in Garfield and Friends: Volume One into my DVD player, I knew I'd enjoy most, if not all, of what was to come. After all, there are few things more appealing than nostalgia, and this is a show I grew up watching on Saturday mornings when I was but a wee young thing, as yet innocent to the cruel ways of the world.

Besides that, I think even in my youth I knew that Garfield and Friends was better than your average Saturday morning cartoon series, even if it shared some of the same packaging. Yes, there's loud music, bright colors, and average- to mediocre-looking animation. But within that, the timeless wit of Garfield creator Jim Davis has been somehow preserved and, actually, quite brilliantly reinterpreted. My half-brother, who's just recently turned six, got his hands on the DVD's before I did. When I sat down to watch a few of the episodes with him, he turned to me and pointed at the screen. "That's Garfield," the kid observed as the show's eponymous hero popped up. "He hates Monday's."

Yes, as in the syndicated comic strip, in the show Garfield hates Monday's, too, and this plight, which you'd probably think is mostly an adult thing, was understood even by a kid who hasn't yet started kindergarten, because one of the ep's in the collection has Garfield explaining to us, in his now-iconic deadpan voice (Lorenzo Music), what bad things might happen to people on said day. As my brother laughed at such sights as Odie, Garfield's doofy dog cohabitant, getting his head stuck in a bottle, I found myself cracking up at more subtle stuff (and, okay, the dog's head in the bottle made me chuckle a bit, too), like the show's announcer telling us that this demonstration about Monday's would feature Garfield and Odie's hapless owner Jon Arbuckle in his most challenging role yet: Jon Arbuckle (cut to Jon making an insulted face).

The bottom line is, as Saturday morning cartoons go, then and now, Garfield and Friends is a cut above the rest. Predating a time when animated fare like Toy Story, or even Rugrats, included both jokes for kids and sneakier things to give parents a laugh, Garfield today remains a show for all ages. If you've got a kid brother or sister you've been meaning to bond with, or some younger children to babysit, this would be a great rental…heck, even a great purchase. Then again, who's to say you may not enjoy it on your own, or with other Grown-Up's? Though it doesn't have the bombastic theme song

we came to know and love (that came in later seasons "” the one included here is the sarcastic ballad "Friends are There"), and though the "U.S. Acres" cartoons in between the segments featuring the fat feline (that'd explain the "and Friends" in the title) aren't usually quite as amusing as the Garfield ones (something I thought even as a kid), Garfield and Friends is still a ton of fun.

As a reviewer, I could complain that there are no extra features on the DVD's "” but let's face it: although there could definitely be an adult audience out there, this collection is meant for the kids. Forget things like deleted scenes, early stills, documentaries, etc. "” you'll be too busy eating up episodes faster than Garfield can suck down a tray of lasagna. Hey, these DVD's could even"¦dare I say it?…brighten up a Monday.

Series Grade:ADVD Grade: N/AOverall Grade: A-

Click Here for our review of the recently released Garfield: The Movie, for an interesting comparison

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