The feisty cartoon kitty Garfield follows "Cars" as the next offering in the summer's lineup of family films. "Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties" (opening June 16) features the lasagna-loving cat in a feline take on Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper."
In the sequel to 2004's "Garfield," Garfield follows his owner Jon to the United Kingdom. Through a twist of fate, Garfield trades places with a British lookalike named Prince who has just inherited his very own castle.
Prince learns to love lasagna, while Garfield learns to love luxury. The film mixes live action and animation with Breckin Meyer as Jon, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Jon's girlfriend, Bill Murray voicing the animated Garfield and Tim Curry voicing the animated Prince.
"The Ant Bully" (opening Aug. 4) is an animated film that tells the tale of 10-year-old Lucas Nickle, a lonely boy who's just moved to a new city. Ignored by his parents (voiced by Cheri Oteri and Larry Miller), harassed by his teenage sister and picked on by the local bully, Lucas takes out his frustrations by stomping on the ant hills in front of his house. But the ants are ready to fight back — and with the help of a potion provided by their wizard Zoc (voiced by Nicolas Cage), the ants shrink Lucas down to their size and proceed to put him on trial. Lucas is forced to see what an ant's life is like by living and working with them, and eventually helps them defend their territory against a determined exterminator (voiced by Paul Giamatti). Other stars lending their voices to the film include Ricardo Montalban, Julia Roberts, and Meryl Streep.
The animated film "Barnyard" (also opening Aug. 4) reveals what happens in a barnyard after the humans leave. The plot centers around a happy-go-lucky bovine named Otis (voiced by Kevin James) who loves to sing, dance and play tricks on unsuspecting humans. The cast also includes Courtney Cox Arquette, Sam Elliott, Danny Glover and Andie MacDowell.Grownups with strong stomachs and kids who love to be grossed out will enjoy "How To Eat Fried Worms" (opening Aug. 25). Based on a popular children's book by Thomas Rockwell, the live-action film centers around 11-year-old Billy (Luke Benwald) who's not having a very good time on his first day at a new school. After boasting to the school bully that he can eat 10 worms in a day, Billy is forced to save face by accepting the bully's challenge to prove his worm-eating skills. The movie also stars Tom Cavanaugh and Hallie Kate Eisenberg.Older kids can also look forward to blockbusters like "Superman" out June 28 and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" opening July 7.By Judy Faber