Garfield Bonds With His Long Lost Dad In The Garfield Movie

There really is no such thing as too much Garfield. The Monday-hating, lasagna-loving, Odie-tolerating orange cat has been with us since his first cartoon debuted in 1978, which amounts to nearly 50 years of Garfield. You would think by this point we would know pretty much everything there was to know about him. But you would be wrong. In an exclusive clip for The Garfield Movie, in theaters on May 24, we learn more about his otherwise unknown backstory.

After all these years of watching Garfield, voiced by Chris Pratt in the new movie, sardonically pull the wool over Jon’s eyes, torture Odie, try to find a patch of sun for a nap, and eat as much lasagna as possible, we are about to meet Garfield’s family. Or at the very least, his long lost father Vic, voiced by Samuel L. Jackson.

“There’s not a whole lot we know about Garfield, beyond that he loves lasagna and he hates Mondays,” Pratt explains in Romper’s exclusive clip. “In this film, we learn about Garfield’s relationship with his father Vic.”

Jackson, who voices the raggedy alley cat, explains that the cat’s long lost dad “wants to create a connection with Garfield.” And so he brings him along on an outdoor adventure that includes jumping trains. A challenge for Garfield as he has never even jumped. Fortunately sweet innocent Odie joins him as he follows Vic into the great outdoors for his heist, although we suspect that Odie won’t be much help. He means well, but come on. He’s still Odie.

This is the first time Garfield will be hitting the big screen in almost 20 years, since the live-action film starring Bill Murray as the voice of our favorite orange cat called Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties came out in 2006. We have certainly enjoyed holiday specials on the small screen in the interim, but seeing Garfield meet his dad for the first time certainly deserves the big screen treatment.

Especially since The Garfield Movie has such a stacked cast voicing the characters. Beyond Pratt and Jackson, there’s Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, Ving Rhames, Cecily Strong, Bowen Yang, and Snoop Dogg to name a few.

The only thing better than seeing The Garfield Movie in theaters on Friday would be to see it on a Monday while eating lasagna.