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| “ | Be happy! | „ |
| ~ Happy's catchphrase. |
| “ | Oh, please, what a know-it-all! And everybody always said I was the handsome one, I was the smart one, and I was born first. But there you are, "live from the Hague". And here I am working with this sack of dander on a dead-end regional morning show. | „ |
| ~ Happy's jealousy towards his anchor brother, Walter, while revealing his true colors – also his most famous quote. |
Happy Chapman is the main antagonist of the 2004 comedy film Garfield: The Movie, based on Jim Davis' comic strip Garfield. He is a disgruntled pet idol, Wendell's boss, Walter J. Chapman's twin brother, and the archenemy of Garfield and Odie.
He was portrayed by Stephen Tobolowsky, who also portrayed Walter J. Chapman in the same film, Christopher Maynard in The Glimmer Man, Jerry Barkley in Justified, Uncle Ubb in The Lorax, Ronald Tompkins in Toy Story of Terror!, Joe Weyburn in Bird On A Wire, and Ferris Boyle in Batman: Arkham Origins.
Personality[]
At first, Happy appears to be a friendly, polite, charming, handsome, smart and pet-friendly TV host, but in truth, it was revealed to be a facade to hide his true nature as he actually turns out to be nothing but a very arrogant, pompous, selfish, cruel, greedy, deceiving and manipulative person. He is allergic to cats which causes him physical discomfort when he is around them and wants a dog to star in his show to overshadow his more successful twin brother, Walter, in jealousy. He believes that he has found his perfect star when he discovers Odie and later kidnaps him after seeing his potential as a performing dog, intending to exploit him for his New York show and personal gain. It is also revealed that he expresses a strong dislike for lasagna, which is Garfield's favorite food.
Happy is shown to be extremely sadistic, ruthless, cunning, deceitful, charismatic and treacherous when he outwits Walter in success and tricks others like Mrs. Baker into believing Odie is his dog while he is even shown to be severely argumentative, unpleasant and abusive towards his assistant, Wendell. Even Walter referred to him as his idiot brother at the end. Despite hosting a pet show, he despises and detests animals, viewing them as inferior. His most notable cruel act is using an electric shock collar on Odie to make him perform.
Despite his cruel nature, Happy is shown to be a coward, which is shown when he became frightened as he finds himself cornered and surrounded by the pound animals led by his own cat Sir Roland (whom Happy had thrown in the pound) when they arrived to help Garfield rescue Odie from Happy before having the same collar that he used on Odie placed on his own neck, with Garfield and Odie teaching him a lesson by giving Happy two electric jolts as payback.
Overall, Happy is nothing more than an egotistical and atrocious man who shows no remorse for his actions and only cares about money and becoming rich while never caring for anyone other than himself, which eventually leads to his downfall due to his selfishness and arrogance.
Biography[]
Happy Chapman is a TV host who expresses true happiness on his show using his cat Persnikitty as an example. However, he later reveals that he is actually an arrogant, greedy, selfish man who is severely allergic to cats, abuses his assistant and butler Wendell, and is dissatisfied with his job as a TV pet show host. He wishes for a dog to star in his show so he can overshadow his more successful twin brother, Walter, the news anchor in fame, and expresses his jealousy towards him as well.
Later on, Jon and Odie go on a date with Liz (with Garfield towing along) where she is judging a dog show, where Happy also happens to be one of the judges. Garfield accidentally enters through the curtain that leads to the stage, and all the dogs chase after him. To stop the chaos, the dog show host orders the DJ to start the music. The DJ turns on the radio, and Black Eyed Peas' "Hey Mama" (the same song Garfield and Odie danced to earlier) starts playing. Odie runs out of Jon's lap does his little hind dance, and steals the show, becoming the unexpected winner. Happy, amazed by Odie's extreme talent, tries to offer Jon to make him his new star pupil, but Jon respectfully declines as he wishes to have a normal pet. Happy, hiding his anger, still gives Jon his business card in case he changes his mind before looking at Odie with his greedy eyes.
When Odie later ran away from home due to Garfield locking him out, Happy, taking advantage, lied to Mrs. Baker, the elderly woman who put up the poster, that Odie was his dog and put him in his show before he (presumably) placed Persnikitty in the pound. He then took out a dreaded shock collar, despite Wendell reminding him that he promised he'd never use the collar, claiming it to be cruel and inhumane. He dismisses Wendell's concern, claiming the collar to be Odie's "future," and threateningly asks Wendell if he has a problem with that, to which Wendell timidly responds, "No."
Meanwhile, Garfield notices Odie on The Happy Chapman Show when he surfs through the channels on the TV. Upon learning that Happy himself plans to move the set to New York City, Garfield, in his noblest decision yet, leaves the house to go to the Telegraph Tower (the tall building where they film Chapman's show) to find Odie.
After a series of mishaps, Garfield finally manages to make it to the Telegraph Tower and eventually finds Odie in Happy's office, where he reconciles with the dog and apologizes to Odie for how much of a jerk he's been to him. Before Garfield can free Odie, however, Happy and Wendell enter the room, forcing Garfield to hide. Happy places the shock collar on the dog's neck, then activates it, creating a powerful and painful electric jolt that forces Odie to do back-flips. He even sadistically laughs at the dog's pain from the powerful jolts, before he and Wendell leave the building to catch their train. Disgusted at Happy's horrific actions, Garfield tries to follow him, but gets captured by Animal Control and is locked up in the pound.
Meanwhile, Jon and Liz arrive at Mrs. Baker's house after seeing Odie's poster, only for her to tell them that Happy has already taken him. Realizing Happy tricked her into believing Odie was his dog, Jon, believing that Happy took Garfield, rushes off to find Happy and rescue them, followed by Liz.
At the pound, Garfield is surprised to see Persnikitty in another cage. Persnikitty explains that he is furious at Happy's betrayal towards him by replacing him with Odie, before coldly throwing him in the pound, and his real name is really Sir Roland. To get revenge on his former owner, Sir Roland collaborates with Garfield on an escape plan. When a family arrives at the pound to adopt a cat, Sir Roland takes advantage, realizing that it is the perfect opportunity for escaping the pound. Just as he is about to be given to the couple's daughter, Sir Roland runs out of the pound officer's arms and presses the red emergency button, which opens all the cages and all the animals flee out the door. Garfield resumes his search and heads for the train station.
Back at the Telegraph Tower, Jon and Liz arrive at Happy's office, and Jon sees cat pawprints on the floor and realizes Garfield has been there. A security guard suddenly comes up from behind Jon and Liz and asks them if they need help from him. Jon tells the security guard that they're looking for Happy, and the guard tells them that Happy is on his way to the train station and taking a train to New York City. Jon and Liz rush out and head for the train station as well.
At the train station, Garfield is too late to stop Happy's train from departing. Jon and Liz also see the train depart and rush to the reception desk and beg the receptionist to stop the train, but she tells them there is nothing she can do about it. However, Garfield sneaks into the control room and sabotages Happy's train route by frantically switching the tracks, which leads to an impending train wreck and manages to hit an emergency control to make the train return to the station. Garfield reunites with Odie and the two escape. However, Happy sees them escaping through the train's window while getting in a fight with some waiter and conductor, and he rushes out of the train and gives chase of them.
Happy eventually catches up to Garfield and Odie and confronts them in the luggage area, where he threatens Odie with the shock collar before grabbing the latter to put the shock collar back on him again. Realizing that Happy will abuse Odie and make him perform against his will, Garfield angrily attacks Happy, but he tosses him aside. However, the pound animals that Garfield helped free earlier (led by Sir Roland) arrive to help Garfield rescue Odie from Happy, who cowardly attempts to escape, but finds himself cornered by them.
Happy gets attacked and overpowered by numerous animals under Garfield's command, while the rats place the collar on his own neck. Garfield and Odie give Chapman some two electric jolts at him as a satisfying payback. Jon and Liz then arrive and come face to face with the dazed Happy. Jon furiously punches Chapman in the face for stealing his pets and then reunites with Garfield and Odie. Happy is later arrested by the police and sent to jail for his crimes, as shown on the news coverage by a reporter, Abby Shields, detailing Happy (referred to as "deranged man"), while complaining crazily. As Happy is arrested, Walter, while on the air, takes another jab at his humiliated brother before signing off.
After Happy's arrest, it is presumed that his client that made a deal at the Amsterdam calls off his deal and his program is now officially cancelled that he begins to suffers the losses of his fortune as he remains in prison.
Trivia[]
- Stephen Tobolowsky, who played Happy Chapman, also played his brother Walter J. Chapman in the movie.
- Happy has a strong dislike for lasagna, which ironically is Garfield's favorite food.
- Happy Chapman serves as a dark counterpart to Garfield: Both were jealous of the attention that their family members got (Odie to Garfield, Walter to Happy) and tried to cut them out of the picture. However, Garfield realizes that Odie means a lot to him as his best friend and Jon and risks his life to bring him back home and accepts him as his friend whereas Happy refuses to let go of his jealousy and tries to outshine his own brother and become the center of attention. If Garfield hadn’t accepted Odie and became friends with him, he would've ended up like Happy.
- Happy has committed all of the Seven Deadly Sins throughout the film:
- Pride: He shows a very overambitious attitude towards his attempts with the center of attention, believing he must do whatever it takes to become successful, even committing crimes to which he treats the animals as profitable than pets.
- Wrath: He doesn't really like it when his secret plans are about to be potentially interfered or foiled by someone else in some way. Evidently, he abuses his own butler Wendell and talks anyone down, uses the shock collar to threaten and torture Odie with it if he doesn’t comply, fights with the conductors and also throws Garfield away.
- Gluttony: He wants all the fame and attention for himself. He strongly hates lasagna and wants Steak instead, as seen mooching on above anything else.
- Greed: His primary reasons for pets, he is only motivated by fame and fortune as all he ever wanted from that is a ton of profit and attention with performing on television and doesn't care about the animals.
- Envy: He resents his brother Walter because of the fact that he was a particularly a more successful news anchorman and has a lot of attention than he himself has, which he even wanting to outshine him for the fame and attention.
- Lust: It’s evident, he displays some suggestive interests in ladies for attention. He is shown smooth and sweet talking with some various women.
- Sloth: He was much less productive than his brother. When Odie wins the dog show, he stole him and make it out of his own works for profit, even using the shock collar to make him perform rather than actually training him for seemingly a limited amount of proper efforts.
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 Villains
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