A MORE ENERGETIC MOVIE 'GARFIELD'.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

THE APPEAL of Garfield, the plump house cat of the popular syndicated comic strip, is his embodiment of the lazy side of all of us.

No matter how slothful we may feel from time to time, Garfield outdoes us with lethargic pride, declaring from his cozy bed: ``I hate Mondays'' - even though his Mondays are no more taxing than Saturdays or Sundays. Eat, sleep, torment the housemates with minimal effort, sleep some more.

Of course, a cat sitting in a box with an expressionless face that only occasionally morphs into a wry smirk does not a movie make. So the computer-generated star of the otherwise live-action ``Garfield: The Movie'' is a lot more active. He runs, he jumps, he goes on adventures, he even dances on his chunky hind legs in a bouncy boogie with his much- maligned canine companion, Odie.

Anyone who understands Garfield knows he wouldn't go to the trouble to dance - and he would ridicule any pet that does.

The movie opens where the typical comic strip panel leaves off. Jon Arbuckle (Breckin Meyer) is a single man whose life seems to revolve around his spoiled, lasagna-slurping cat. His love life consists of overly frequent visits to Liz, the vet, in hopes that someday she'll go out with him. Liz, seeing Jon as a devoted pet owner, pairs him with a not- too-bright mutt named Odie who needs a home.

Garfield's response to the intruder - ``a splattered bug on the windshield of my life'' - is less about fear of a dog and more about sibling jealousy now that Jon is showering affection on the pooch.

It's hard to say if Bill Murray's voice expertly captures the sluggish nature of his character more accurately than the animators did or whether he simply was phoning it in. But Murray's match to the role is ideal when the locked-out cat gets a case of the blues and warbles, ``I'm in a New Dog State of Mind'' and later still, when biding his time in Animal Control lockdown, he sings ``Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.''

THE CGI work created by John Kilkenny, Chris Bailey and the crew at Rhythm & Hues is good, especially when the lard-bottomed cat tries to jump and claw his way to a high spot (it may trigger flashbacks to junior high phys ed classes for less-athletic types) and when Garfield repeatedly muscles Odie, played by a well-trained dachshund-terrier mix, off his favorite chair.

But the story by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow is predictable, even for young moviegoers.

Local TV personality Happy Chapman (Stephen Tobolowsky) discovers the dancing Odie and sees the dog as his ticket to the big time, so he attempts to run away to New York City with him.

Garfield, feeling guilty for having left the clueless mutt outside all night, decides to go on a rescue mission to the Big City. Garfield winds up in the pound, relating his story to his fellow cat-and-dog inmates, which leads to a jailbreak and vigilante justice even a 4-year-old can see coming.

Even with the blessing and vetting of strip creator Jim Davis (who has an uncredited cameo), there are other departures from the essence of the comic characters. Jon's attempted courtship of the deadpan lady vet is always spurned in the newspaper, but in the movie, Jennifer Love Hewitt is a perky, personable animal doc who winds up asking Jon out before he can make his move on her. And Garfield's revulsion of Odie is short-lived and turns into genuine affection.

All this means there probably is no sequel in the offing, and the filmmakers knew it all along.

So much for feeling like a fat cat, Garfield. Back to the newsprint for you.

Valerie Kuklenski, [phone]

valerie.kuklenski(at)dailynews.com

GARFIELD: THE MOVIE - Two and one half stars

(PG: brief mild language)

Starring: Breckin Meyer, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Stephen Tobolowsky, voice of Bill Murray.

Director: Peter Hewitt.

Running time: 1 hr. 20 min.

Playing: Citywide.

In a nutshell: Garfield, the lasagna-loving, lazy feline of the comic pages, makes the leap to the big screen in a CGI form that's a lot more animated than you might expect.