Day three-hundred-fifty-two

Tonight, night three of my Christmas reviews, featuring A Garfield Christmas Special.

Like the Three's Company episode last night, the special had trouble keeping my attention, even though I've enjoyed it in the past.

Jon Arbuckle decides to take Garfield and Odie to his family's farm for Christmas. Waiting for them are Jon's mom and dad, his grandma, and his younger brother, Doc Boy ("In case you've forgotten, I'm also your only brother."). Big family dinners, lots of songs of varying cheesiness, and Odie's plan to make a backscratcher for Garfield fill out the twenty-two minute running time.

At one point, Jon's dad reads the family the same story he reads every year, Binky, the Clown Who Saved Christmas ( "I don't know about you, Jon, but for a couple of minutes there, I was getting pretty worried", says Doc Boy). Jon and Doc Boy try to coax their parents out of bed at 1:30 am to open presents, and we learn that Doc Boy wears onesie pajamas with feet and a fluffy bunny tail. Doc Boy, it should be noted, is a grown man.

Garfield finds a bundle of love letters for Grandma that Grandpa had written her when they were courting, calling them the greatest gift she could've received. Odie gives Garfield the backscratcher, made from a wood plank, a plunger handle, and a hand rake. A good time is had by all in the space of twenty-two minutes.

…

A Garfield Christmas Special is a fun little special if nothing too extraordinary. If you grew up enjoying the show Garfield and Friends, you'll enjoy this special, but chances are you've probably already seen it. I grew up with the show and enjoyed it far more than I ever enjoyed the comic strip. Everything about the show was better: the characters were funnier and did far more interesting things than the stale, repetitive jokes of the comic.

This may be damning with faint praise, but you could do much worse than A Garfield Christmas Special. I wouldn't call it a classic, but check it out if you want something light for the kids that you won't hate yourself for having to sit through.