A Garfield Christmas Special - The 12 Days of Christmas Day 1

For the first day of christmas, my TV gave to me, A Garfield Christmas Special!

    Though many who watch this are going to assume it was part of the "Garfield and Friends" TV series (http://that90sguyreviews.blogspot.ca/2015/10/garfield-and-friends.html) that I previously reviewed on this blog, (hell, even I listed it as part of that series, just yesterday) it technically isn't as it actually came out almost a year before the series did. As a matter of fact, it was one of 8 Garfield-based TV specials that were released from 1982 to 1988 (when the series started). Nevertheless, it features the same cast and crew so fans of the series might like this too. However, I'll be the first to admit that this TV special is rather....well, special. It takes up a whole 22 minutes (triple the average Garfield episode) and it's NOT all comedy. That's right, there is actually occasionally some serious moral subtext in this special's run time (shocker I know). It follows Jon, Garfield, and Odie as they try to survive Christmas Eve with Jon's family. We meet Jon''s mother, his father, his brother, and his grandmother, who are all characters we don't see that often so it is fun to see them here. Speaking of Jon's parents, in the original comic strip weren't they the ones who owned Nermal?

Truly, the world's cutest cat......and also sadly not in this special, MOVING ON. 

    

    A disappointing lack of Nermal aside, Jon's family....isn't that fun. They're just your typical, run-of-the-mill farming family. You've got the doting mother, the well-meaning but occasionally grouchy dad, and you have the childish younger brother. While it's sensible for such a usual family to proudce such a usual character, such as Jon, they still could be a tad bit more vibrant. 

Now, the one glaring exception to this rule is the Grandma, who is a know-it-all, attention-seeking, self-absorbed, sarcastic, glory hogging, cynic..........just like Garfield. And Garfield notices this too, he actually develops a special bond with her over this special (back to the part where I mentioned this actually has  moral subtext). Now, WHY she is so cynical is explained as a result of her husband dying a while ago. Ultimately, Garfield gets her the best gift of all when he's able to get her a Christmas present that pleasantly reminds her of her late husband. Christmas morning, while all these gifts are being exchanged is also when we see Odie unveil a gift he's been making for Garfield the whole special long....and Garfield actually likes it. You heard me right folks, Garfield got a gift for someone other than himself, and Odie was able to do something nice for Garfield, all in 22 minutes. All this is missing is an Orson's Farm cameo and a Nermal appearance,  and we could call this a doggone masterpiece. 

This is not to say the special didn't have a few problems. It's not quite as funny as the show would become, and the animation isn't as good either (though that is a fault of the times, not the show). And as I mentioned, Jon's family is bland and generic (to the point even their designs are kind generic)

For real tho, I've heard of strong family resemblance but this is a bit too much

Overall however, I've gotta say this special's successes far out way its' faults and it's worth a checking out if you haven't given it one already. So with that, a ho-ho-ho and a Merry Christmas to you! See you tomorrow!