Have always found Garfield, everyone's favourite orange cat, a very funny and lovable character. Him, his specials and 'Garfield and Friends' have held up very well, while finding 'The Garfield Show' and the live action films not near as good. There have been things loved as a child watched much later, and the question "what made me like this when younger?" crops up in my mind.
Like to love all the Garfield animated specials, but 'Garfield's Babes and Bullets' is definitely high on my list of favourite Garfield specials. A list that includes 'A Garfield Christmas Special', 'Garfield in Disguise' and 'Garfield's Feline Fantasies'. Like 'Garfield's Feline Fantasies', 'Garfield's Babes and Bullets' (which for me does the Garfield fantasy premise even better, because it also signalled a change of pace for the character) does not have the most original of premises, with a character dreaming of being someone or something else. But that does not matter, it's how anything that this applies to executes the premise and everything else. This could have been very tired and predictable in the wrong hands, instead 'Garfield's Babes and Bullets' is one of the cleverest, most inventive and best written Garfield specials, one of the most atmospheric and story-wise it stands out among the rest in a good way.
The animation is very striking, and it is one of the main assets that makes 'Garfield's Babes and Bullets' different. With its mix of both colour and black and white, with more of the latter, rather than just colour. Both are done excellently equally, with one not being better looking than the other, that said while the colour is smooth and vibrant and the drawing throughout shows no crudeness with meticulously detailed backgrounds, the noir-ish atmosphere and moody visual touches of the black and white for the fantasy were more impressive. The music is not just catchy in an unmistakably Garfield way but also haunting in how it captures the atmosphere of film noir mysteries. The Garfield specials always excelled when it came to the music, which has always been a very important thing for me to talk about being a singer and musician.
'Garfield's Babes and Bullets' is one of the best written Garfield specials. It is typically wry and witty in a way that is never less than very funny in the humour, and there is still a good deal of it despite a more serious approach to the storytelling. Yet it captures the lean tautness of the mystery genre every bit as well. If there was a prize for the best story of the Garfield specials, 'Garfield's Babes and Bullets' wins it. It never forgets to be fun and smart, with great cat references and nods to private detectives and their stories that were affectionate and knowing, but also has suspense and a clever mystery worth investing in, with clues and suspects that never come over as obvious or muddled. It was great to have this balance done so well, when story-wise this is pretty dark for Garfield yet not in a way that traumatises.
Really loved the supporting characters, especially Tanya and Burt. Odie and Jon also make nice short appearances. This is Garfield's show though as it ought to be, he is his usual hilarious and endearing self while also adopting the laconic, cynical edge and shrewd attention to detail of all the best private detectives. Voice acting is on point, nobody portrayed Garfield better than Lorenzo Music and the others were not even close.
Concluding, fabulous and one of Garfield's best. This is an example of what Garfield is all about and a perfect example of why he has so much appeal. 10/10
