Garfield's Halloween Adventure
Garfield's Halloween Adventure is the fourth Garfield television special and first broadcast on CBS on 1985-10-30. The script was written by Jim Davis, and it was directed and produced by Phil Roman. As with previous and later Garfield films, the soundtrack was composed by Ed Bogas and Desirée Goyette with lyrics by Goyette and Lou Rawls. The film was adapted into a book and released on home video in a variety of formats.
In the film, Garfield learns that it's Halloween and he wants to get extra candy so he tricks Odie into going with him with the intention of only letting him keep a single piece of candy when they get home. The two dress up as pirates and go trick-or-treating, but Garfield's greed ends up getting them involved with the ghosts of real pirates.
Contents
Personal
I think I saw this TV special the year it came out, if not, pretty close to it, as I was still a little kid at the time because I remember becoming scared at the tense scene with the pirate ghosts. I loved watching it each year around Halloween. When it was released in the DVD compilation, I bought it and got to relive my childhood. This is one of the holiday specials that I think held up pretty well.
Critics often compare Garfield's Halloween Adventure to It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, probably due to a combination of the two frequently being broadcast back-to-back on television, and both being among the few Halloween TV specials that existed at the time. Critics tend to favor Great Pumpkin, but I find Garfield's Halloween Adventure to be more enjoyable.
I own the film on DVD in the Garfield Holiday Celebrations compilation.
Cast
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Lorenzo Music | Garfield |
| Thom Huge | Jon Arbuckle / Binky the Clown / |
| Gregg Berger | Odie / TV announcer |
| C. Lindsay Workman | Old man / TV pirate |
| Desirée Goyette | Song vocals / Woman at door |
Review
— This section contains spoilers! —
Good
- The film perfectly captures the excitement kids feel as they prepare for trick-or-treating and the spookiness of Halloween night. The creepy old man in the dilapidated house warning Garfield and Odie about the pirates returning from the grave is a perfect fit.
- The original music is great; the numbers are catchy and befitting the theme. I love them second only to those from A Garfield Christmas.
- There are plenty of good jokes and visual gags throughout the film.
- There is a decent moral to the story. Garfield's greed gets them in trouble, but, in the end, he learns the importance of sharing with Odie.
Bad
- There are several scenes where Garfield is draw quite poorly (like in the attic) and the animation is choppy from time to time. Also, the skull on Garfield's hat changes a lot throughout the film, and Odie's earring keeps jumping from ear to ear.
Ugly
- Nothing.
Representation
| Strong female character? | Fail | The only female character is bullied into giving away more candy than she intended. |
|---|---|---|
| Bechdel test? | Fail | There's only one extremely minor female character. |
| Strong person of color character? | Fail | Every human character is white. |
| Queer character? | Fail | There are no queer characters. |
Media
Covers
VHS - UK. Uses the original title with art that would late be used on the book. Definitely my favorite cover.
VHS - USA. Uses the later title. A more tame version of the scene with Odie missing.
Digital - Amazon. The US VHS art with even less detail.
DVD - USA. New cartoony art.
Documentation
Advertisement - 1985.
Videos
Title
As far as I can tell, the film was called Garfield in Disguise while in development, however, prior to television broadcast, it was re-titled, Garfield's Halloween Adventure. I've watched a VHS recording from 1985 and it uses the latter title, and promotional material from 1985 does as well. However, the book adaption was printed in 1985 with the title Garfield in Disguise and the UK release of the home video also used this title. My guess is, these were already in production, and there wasn't enough time to change their cover art. However, later re-prints of the book, and every American home video release uses Garfield's Halloween Adventure.
Links
- garfield.fandom.com/wiki/Garfield%27s_Halloween_Adventure - Garfield Wiki.
