It’s Good to Be King: Accents and Idiolects in Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties and Their Lithuanian Dubbing

Filmmakers utilize linguistic varieties, such as regional accents and idiolects, to convey key aspects of a character’s identity and background, which is particularly significant in children’s and family films for storytelling and comedic purposes. This paper integrates sociolinguistic and audiovisual translation frameworks to analyze accents and idiolects of the 2006 film Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, directed by Tim Hill, and its Lithuanian-dubbed version Garfildas 2. The study focuses on the two main characters, Garfield and Prince, who look identical. Therefore, their linguistic and paralinguistic features are crucial for differentiation. A key aspect of the Lithuanian dubbing is the creative performance of the well-known voice actor who dubbed Garfield, significantly contributing to the film’s popularity in Lithuania, greatly surpassing the original. The analysis reveals that accents were not always translated or localized to convey the characters’ national differences. The Lithuanian version shows Garfield to be more confident and even more sarcastic than in the original, with his frequent use of colloquial phrases and additional witty remarks. Prince’s idiolect was preserved and faithful to the original version. This study highlights how linguistic choices in dubbing can reshape character perception, emphasizing the impact of voice actors and translation strategies on audience reception.