There’s a new Garfield movie on the way, and Chris Pratt will be voicing the lasagna-loving cat.
Although Pratt is more commonly recognized as an actor, he has done voice work in the Lego Movie films and Pixar’s Onward.
The Hollywood Reporter announced the big casting news.
It was announced earlier this year that Chris Pratt would be taking on the voice of Mario in the upcoming Super Mario Bros. from Universal and Nintendo as well.
The new Garfield movie is said to be entirely animated, which is a bit different from the 2004 live-action and animated hybrid Garfield and its equal, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties.
Billy Murray voiced Garfield in these two films, and many fans are feeling a bit critical over the new Garfield being Chris Pratt.
Fans react to Chris Pratt as Garfield
While there are many mixed feelings about Chris Pratt voicing Garfield, most fans on Twitter seem a bit disappointed with his involvement in the role.
Many of the fans’ comments appear to be made in a joking manner, but some people genuinely don’t want to see Chris Pratt in this role, or any others.
Much of this backlash comes from a statement in 2019 where actor Elliot Page called Pratt out for going to church at a homophobic church.
While Pratt says this is not the truth, the church has made homophobic comments and called homosexuality a sin, so many fans are not convinced that he or his church is accepting of others.
Even without the controversy of his church’s comments, some people would rather just see voice acting roles given to actual voice actors instead of big-screen actors and actresses.
While some people don’t want to see Pratt on the big screen at all, some would rather him stick to his acting roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe than keep taking voice-acting roles away from people who focus on voice-acting.
Regardless of fans’ opinions, it looks like Chris Pratt will remain the future voice of Garfield at this time.
What we know about Garfield
Garfield is a lazy orange cat who first made his appearance in newspaper comics in 1978.
In typical cat fashion, Garfield frequently causes problems for his owner Jon Arbuckle and the dog, Odie.
Garfield was created by Jim Davis, a cartoonist who grew up on a farm near Marion, Indiana.
The Indiana Historical Society notes that Davis created Garfield when he noticed that there were a lot of comics featuring dogs, but none about cats.
Today, Garfield is featured in more than 2500 newspapers worldwide as well as in movies, a television show, and many different kinds of merchandise.
There is not much information out about the newest Garfield movie with Chris Pratt, but we do know that the script is by David Reynolds, who wrote Finding Nemo, and it’s being directed by Mark Dindal, who did Chicken Little.
Reynolds and Dindal both worked on Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove.
Jim Davis gave the rights to Alcon Entertainment for the movie, but Davis will be an executive producer for the film.