No review could do this masterpiece justice.
The loader itself holds unique appeal, particularly with its choice of color. The pink background suggests love, innocence, and unfamiliarity all at once, a mixture of emotions one rarely experiences in cinemas with the same subtlety and humbleness as this single frame. The white bars on the top and bottom of the screen are highly mysterious--do they exist for a purpose? Are they inverted widescreen bars, or are they portals into an infinite white void? They really set up a mood even before the movie begins. I could go on about the skinny preloader, the choice of writing for the title and caption, the perfect expression on Garfrield's face, and the black-lined rectangle in the corner, but it's likely I would run out of room in this review before ever reaching the greatest part--the movie itself.
I love the inclusion of the Newgrounds preloader notes at the very beginning, which are clearly meant not to be there. The existence of the notes obviously symbolizes rebellion and foreshadows Garfrield's actions in the animation. The rainbow shot had some of the most eye-opening special effects I've ever seen, even if it lasted a single moment, and I had to watch the movie again and again under the assumption that I'd missed something the first time through because of that shot.
Immediately after the door of Garfrield's house opened on its own, I felt the true magic and creativity of this movie. Doors never open out away from the house--therefore, something is different about this house than any other. And that difference is Garfrield da Cat. The wrinkles and infinite chins on Garfrield are very effective in expressing his obesity and his age. It's difficult to figure out what Garfrield's owner--whom I assume also has a different name from the newspaper cartoons, like Garfrield--is vocalizing until you learn to read his lips, and it is at that point the viewer feels a great sense of accomplishment and respect for the writing. There's also a lot of magic behind the sound effects of inconsistent sound quality that lend variety to this short creation.
Garfrield is really a character here. He cares more about the audience behind the camera than he does the hand that feeds him, evident by his beautifully-portrayed wink and his double middle-finger glare. The owner, unable to comprehend his own cat's awesomeness, grows furious and jealous. The best part of this animation, to me, was the rainbow lazanya (I can only guess that 'lasagna' was misspelled from Garfrield's perspective, and if that's the case, that was a lovely touch). The rainbow lazanya brought back the fleeting moment of the rainbow shot from earlier in the movie, yet at the same time, it represents the splendor of the morsel on the fork, which Garfrield proceeds to savor. The burp, after that terrific buildup, marked some of the best comedic timing I've witnessed on the Internet. The whiteness in the last few moments of the Flash leave the audience wondering what will happen next.
This is a historic day for the Newgrounds portal and movie-making as a whole. Nothing has been made for decades that could compare to the pure wonder of this spectacular work of art. I wish that I had half the talent you have, sir, for creating such an excellently-animated, exquisitely-written, expertly-timed comedy Flash. You have done what no great movie producer has yet done, and that is take a daily newspaper cartoon, add an R to its protagonist's name, and turn the comics into an entertaining animation with a brand new storyline.
