One of those Garfield specials not centred on any holiday, and thus unlikely to be aired every year, Garfield in Paradise follows our heroes to the fictional island Paradise World, where they search for adventure in a rented classic car and stumble upon a bizarre native village threatened by a volcano.
As with several Garfield specials, the best jokes of Garfield in Paradise are borrowed liberally from the comic strip. I haven't read Garfield comics in years, but bells were ringing throughout the beginning of the special. Flying third class and Garfield dressed up as a child were both pretty familiar. They wind up in a hotel, whose scummy nature was covered up by a deceptive but technically accurate brochure. Much of this has a National Lampoon's Vacation feel.
Alas, much of the episode is weak as far as the jokes go, and particularly when we get to the native village this appears to go off the beaten path. As if seeing Garfield singing (with his lips moving!) in the intro wasn't off-putting enough, the depiction of the natives is truly strange. Backwards enough to worship a car and sacrifice people to volcanoes, but knowing throwing things into volcanoes plugs the hole rather than appease the gods? More random than funny. You can't really criticize the stereotypical behaviour of the natives as racist though, because it's actually a mixed race tribe, and some members are clearly white. The end is a cheat- we see Odie and his friend fall into the volcano, but they just come back up okay? Oh well, actually killing off Odie would have been worse- this special isn't good enough to be worthy of a send-off of the character.
As with several Garfield specials, the best jokes of Garfield in Paradise are borrowed liberally from the comic strip. I haven't read Garfield comics in years, but bells were ringing throughout the beginning of the special. Flying third class and Garfield dressed up as a child were both pretty familiar. They wind up in a hotel, whose scummy nature was covered up by a deceptive but technically accurate brochure. Much of this has a National Lampoon's Vacation feel.
Alas, much of the episode is weak as far as the jokes go, and particularly when we get to the native village this appears to go off the beaten path. As if seeing Garfield singing (with his lips moving!) in the intro wasn't off-putting enough, the depiction of the natives is truly strange. Backwards enough to worship a car and sacrifice people to volcanoes, but knowing throwing things into volcanoes plugs the hole rather than appease the gods? More random than funny. You can't really criticize the stereotypical behaviour of the natives as racist though, because it's actually a mixed race tribe, and some members are clearly white. The end is a cheat- we see Odie and his friend fall into the volcano, but they just come back up okay? Oh well, actually killing off Odie would have been worse- this special isn't good enough to be worthy of a send-off of the character.