Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties

Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties is a 2006 British-American live action/computer-animated comedy film directed by Tim Hill and written by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow. It is the sequel to the 2004 film Garfield: The Movie. The film stars Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Billy Connolly, Ian Abercrombie, Roger Rees, Lucy Davis and Oliver Muirhead and features the voices of Bill Murray, Tim Curry, Bob Hoskins, Rhys Ifans, Vinnie Jones, Joe Pasquale, Richard E. Grant, Jane Leeves and Roscoe Lee Browne. In the film, Garfield, Odie, Liz and Jon travel to the United Kingdom, where Prince, another cat that looks exactly like Garfield, is ruling over a castle after the death of his owner. His reign is soon jeopardized by Lord Dargis, an aristocrat and the nephew of Prince's deceased owner who plans to destroy the estate and get rid of Prince.

Produced by Davis Entertainment Company for 20th Century Fox, it was released in United States on June 16, 2006 to largely negative reviews. A video game, Garfield 2, was developed by The Game Factory.

Plot
Jon Arbuckle plans to propose to his girlfriend, veterinarian Dr. Liz Wilson, who is going on a business trip to London. Jon follows her to the United Kingdom as a surprise; after escaping from the kennel, Garfield and Odie sneak into Jon's luggage and join him on the trip. Garfield and Odie break out of the hotel room due to boredom, and subsequently get lost in the streets of London.

Meanwhile, at Carlyle Castle in the English countryside, the late Lady Eleanor Carlyle's will is read. She bequeaths Carlyle Castle to Prince XII, her beloved cat who is a twin counterpart of Garfield. This enrages the Lady's nephew, Lord Manfred Dargis, who will now only receive a stipend of £50 a week and inherit the grand estate once Prince passes away. Lord Dargis traps Prince in a picnic basket and throws him into the river.

Garfield inadvertently switches places with Prince after Jon finds Prince climbing out of a drain, and Jon later takes Prince to the hotel after mistaking him for Garfield, while Prince's butler Smithee finds Garfield in the street and takes him to Carlyle Castle after mistaking him for Prince.

In the grand estate Garfield is residing in, he receives a great deal of special treatment, including a butler and a group of four-legged servants and followers. Garfield teaches his new animal friends how to make lasagna, while Prince learns to adapt to his new life with Jon. Dargis sees Garfield and thinks Prince has come back – if the lawyers see Prince/Garfield, they will not sign the estate over to Dargis, who secretly wants to destroy the castle and barnyard and kill the animals to build a spa resort. Dargis makes many attempts to kill Garfield, one involving a merciless yet dim-witted Rottweiler named Rommel.

Eventually Garfield and Prince meet each other for the first time and they convince the animals to help them defeat Dargis. Jon and Odie discover the mix-up and go to the castle, which Liz is coincidentally visiting.

Garfield and Prince taunt Dargis, whose plan is exposed, and they are seen by the lawyers. Dargis barges in, holding a blunderbuss and threatening everybody if they don't sign the papers giving him ownership of the estate, and also taking Liz hostage. Jon attempts to force Dargis to release Liz by holding a crossbow at him, only for Dargis to threaten to kill Jon for getting involved in the first place. Garfield and Prince, with the help of Odie and Jon, save the day while Smithee alerts the authorities and Dargis is arrested for his crimes. Garfield, who had been trying to stop Jon from proposing to Liz, has a change of heart: He helps Jon propose to Liz, and she accepts.

Live action actors

 * Breckin Meyer as Jon Arbuckle, the owner of Garfield and Odie
 * Jennifer Love Hewitt as Dr. Liz Wilson, Jon's veterinarian girlfriend
 * Billy Connolly as Lord Manfred Dargis, an evil lord who wants to remodel Carlyle Castle into condominiums
 * Ian Abercrombie as Smithee, the Carlyle Castle butler
 * Roger Rees as Mr. Hobbs, a solicitor
 * Lucy Davis as Abby Westminister, a solicitor
 * Jane Carr as Mrs. Whitney, a solicitor
 * Oliver Muirhead as Mr. Greene, a solicitor
 * Ben Falcone as American tourist

Voice cast

 * Bill Murray as Garfield
 * Tim Curry as Prince XII, an English cat who is a twin counterpart of Garfield
 * Bob Hoskins as Winston, an English bulldog who is Prince's servant.
 * Rhys Ifans as McBunny, a Scottish-accented Belgian hare.
 * Vinnie Jones as Rommel, a rottweiler who is Lord Dargis's former companion.
 * Jim Piddock as Bolero, a bull
 * Joe Pasquale as Claudius, a rat
 * Greg Ellis as Nigel, a ferret
 * Richard E. Grant as Preston, a parrot
 * Jane Leeves as Eenie, a duck
 * Jane Horrocks as Meenie, a duck
 * Roscoe Lee Browne as the Narrator

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 11% based on reviews from 73 surveyed critics, with an average rating of 3.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Strictly for (very) little kids, A Tale of Two Kitties features skilled voice actors but a plot that holds little interest." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 37 out of 100 based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, the same grade earned by its predecessor.

Box office
Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties grossed $28.4 million in North America, and $113.3 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $141.7 million. The film opened to number seven in its first weekend, grossing $7.3 million. According to 20th Century Fox, the studio was aware that the film would not make as much as the first, and only made it based on the worldwide success of the first film.

Home media
The film was released on DVD on October 10, 2006. The DVD includes a "Drawing with Jim Davis" featurette, teaching viewers how to draw Garfield, Odie and Pookie, and two games: Garfield's Maze, and Odie's Photo Album. It also includes a music video, trailers, featurettes, a new Garfield comic strip by creator Jim Davis, along with a making of the strip featurette and an extended cut with eight minutes of footage not seen in theaters. The theatrical cut of the film (78 minutes) is included on the DVD along with the extended version, which is 86 minutes long. The film was released on a 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD/digital copy combo pack on October 11, 2011, alongside its predecessor.