Garfield (2004):  This is one of my most-favorite movies.  I've seen a lot of movies, but this has to be somewhere at the top of the list.  I've always been a fan of the "Garfield" comic strip and cartoons, so naturally I was thrilled when news spread of an upcoming "Garfield" movie.  There are a few things in this movie that differ from the comics/cartoons:


    Garfield's character is completely computer-animated.  The other animals are real, but their facial movements are computer-animated.  Odie is completely real.  It's good that they changed Nermal's character for the very reason that Odie was meant to be Garfield's nemesis for this picture.  If the Nermal here was the same as in the comics/cartoons, it would've taken away from the fact that Odie is the one of which Garfield is jealous.  The animosity between Garfield and Odie is what drives the story.  Plus, I just love the Nermal character created for this film!  He's very dumb, and always overstates the obvious to Garfield.  Very, very funny!  David Eigenberg is the voice of Nermal and deserves special recognition for this very amusing character portrayal.

    The entire cast is wonderful!  See this movie if you really, really want to have some fun!

Josie & the Pussycats (2001):  This is a great, funny film.  What I like about it is that you don't have to know that "Josie and the Pussycats" was a popular comic book or cartoon show years before this movie was made.  I wish they would've worn the leopard-skin swimsuits and not just the ears, but that's a small detail.  Other than that, the acting and the writing was all top-notch.  It's loaded with satire about the music industry.  That could be the reason we didn't hear more about it at the time it came out.  When the first "Spider-Man" movie came out in 2002, it was heavily promoted for over six months prior to the theatrical release date.  When "Josie and the Pussycats" came out, we saw a few previews and that was it.  A movie's success is all in the publicity.  It's only big if the people in charge of things REALLY wants it to be big.  It could be considered a conspiracy film, but it's very, very funny.  I don't really care for the music they play, but you don't have to like the music.  It just gives you the idea that they're musicians.  This film is more story-oriented than anything else.

    Rachel Leigh Cook is Josie, Rosario Dawson is Val, and Tara Reid is Melody.  Alan Cumming and Parker Posey play the evil record company executives.  They were all very funny and did extremely well in this movie, but my favorite performance was Tara Reid as Melody.  She's so dumb, but a likeable dumb.  I love Melody!  The drummer Pussycat is a dumb blonde, but eternally optimistic.  If there were more people in the world like her, it would be a better place.  They don't all have to be so silly, but it wouldn't hurt to have that kind of an outlook on life.  Tara Reid's delivery is superb, and totally captures the character from comics and cartoons.  The way she says things or reacts in certain situations...you just have to see it to believe it.

    Also in the movie we see a boy band parody called "Du Jour" and two of those actors I follow in all their film projects:  Seth Green and Breckin Meyer.  Green, we all know is Scott Evil in the "Austin Powers" movies along with tons of other credits and Meyer played Jon Arbuckle in the "Garfield" film and starred in an awesome action-flick called "Blast" with Eddie Griffin.  I just love it when people make fun of boy bands, and the four actors that make up "Du Jour" do it very, very well.

    There is some foul language and innuendo in this movie, plus the story itself doesn't make it standard kiddie fare.  If you watch it expecting the family-safe content of the comics and cartoons, be warned.  But kids CAN watch this and won't get warped or anything like that.  This is simply a more "grown-up" version of the "Josie and the Pussycats" we all knew.  Watch it!  You'll like it!

Li'l Abner (1940):  I LOVE THIS MOVIE!  It's much better than the 1959 live-action film which was a musical.  This film was not a musical.  In fact, these two films couldn't be more different!

    It's like watching Al Capp's legendary comic strip come to life before your eyes!  What may have been weeks if not months worth of storylines is presented in 78 minutes.  This is very much an Al Capp kind of Li'l Abner story.  It doesn't have Capp's same biting, sometimes cynical, wit, but it more than makes up for it with plenty of charm and an outstanding cast.


The Story:

    Daisy Mae pursues Li'l Abner.  Abner tries his best to avoid her.  He actually likes her quite a bit, but he's nervous around girls so he stubbornly refuses to fall in love or get married.  FYI:  In later years of the comic strip Abner and Daisy DO marry.  When Abner eats a bad sandwich and gets sick, he goes to visit someone he thinks is a doctor.  Abner actually finds a wise-cracking barber who fools the silly young hillbilly into thinking he will die within 24 hours.  Since Abner thinks he will be dead by tomorrow, he does a lot of foolish things thinking he'll never live to regret them.  He agrees to marry Daisy Mae and another girl named Wendy Wildcat, and makes enemies with an escaped criminal named Earthquake McGoon in order to collect the big reward money ($25.00) for his Mammy and Pappy.  When he finally realizes he's not going to die, Abner is in quite a situation.  Daisy and Wendy compete to marry him in the Sadie Hawkins' Day Race, where women catch eligible bachelors.  In order to save Abner from Wendy, Pappy frees Earthquake McGoon from prison in order to stop her.  Earthquake instead seeks out Abner for vengeance.  So now Abner has to worry about three people chasing him.  To make a long story short, Daisy catches Abner.  However, Abner is not to be caught so we see him running from Daisy Mae as the movie closes.

The Cast:

    Jeff York, who went by the name Granville Owen in this film, plays Li'l Abner Yokum to perfection.  He's tall, good-looking, and has all the facial expressions one would expect of a real-life Li'l Abner.  And at some camera angles, he looks almost exactly like Jethro Bodine from the much later "The Beverly Hillbillies" TV show.  Granville really captures Abner's naivety and stubborn spirit!  He was a very busy actor before and after this film.  You may remember him best as Mike Fink in Disney's "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates" movie from 1956. 

    York was born March 23, 1912 in Los Angeles, California, USA.  He died on October 11, 1995 in Woodland Hills, California, USA.


    Martha O'Driscoll is HOT, HOT, HOT as Daisy Mae!  She's got a very pretty face and nice legs!  Martha is very good at playing this type of character.  She gives Daisy Mae just enough of a Southern accent to prove to us that she's country, but doesn't force it.  I love the sound of her voice!  As a Southern gal, she's still coherent and that is what makes her really attractive.  Just looking gorgeous wouldn't be enough.  In fact, she probably had the most challenging lines to deliver of anyone in the picture.  All the other characters could be as crazy as they wanted to be.  Daisy Mae had to show so many different emotions:  happy, forlorn, hopeful, forceful, etc.

    O'Driscoll was born March 4, 1922 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.  She died on November 3, 1998 in Ocala, Florida, USA.  She started out in movies in 1937 and left the movies in 1949.  Such a shame, because I think she had so much more to give.  One of her most famous movies was 1945s "House of Dracula".


    Mona Ray played Mammy Yokum quite vividly.  She looked just like her comic strip counterpart, as did the actor who played Pappy Yokum, Johnnie Morris.  The diminutive and much older-looking parents of Abner are constantly hilarious.  Mammy is overpowering to Pappy.  Pappy is quite childlike.  One of their most brilliant scenes is where she's giving Pappy his annual spring-cleaning in the washtub outside, much to Pappy's dismay.

    Mona Ray was born in 1909 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.  I'm not sure if she is still alive.  I do know that this was her last movie and it's such a terrible shame.  I wonder why?  She certainly had comedic timing AND charm.  Johnnie Morris was born June 15, 1887 in New York, New York, USA.  He died on October 7, 1969 in Hollywood, California, USA.  Morris did a lot of movies before this, but only did a few more films before retiring in 1942.  Mona Ray, on the other hand, was only in six movies from 1927 to 1940.


    Maude Eburne played Granny Scraggs, Daisy Mae's grandmother and mother-figure.  This character reminds me a lot of Granny from "The Beverly Hillbillies".  She wants Daisy Mae to get married plenty bad as Daisy's "getting along in years" at 18-years-old.  You get too old and they won't look at you.  Yeah...right.  She doesn't appear a whole lot in the film, but is a memorable character.

    Eburne was born November 10, 1875 in Bronte-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada.  She died on October 15, 1960 in Hollywood, California, USA.  She was busy, busy, busy in films from 1918-1951.  And before that she did stage work in Ontario and New York.


    Bud Jamison plays Hairless Joe and legendary silent-film star Buster Keaton plays Lonesome Polecat.  I like Bud Jamison a lot from his work with The Three Stooges.  You can't recognize him in this film because his character's long hair and beard cover his face, leaving only his big, round nose to be seen.  However, his thundering voice WILL sound familiar if you're a Stooges-watcher.  He's the strong, hairy white giant as opposed to Keaton's puny, little Indian.  I don't care what critics say, I think Keaton was better in his talking pictures.  He works so much better when he allows himself to have expression and speech.  He plays a stereotypical Indian character very well.  He tags around Hairless Joe because they're buddies, although the big white man always puts him down and bosses him around.   Here are Bud's and Buster's birth/death dates:

    Bud Jamison:  Born February 15, 1894 in Vallejo, California, USA.  Died September 30, 1944 in Hollywood, California, USA from complications from diabetes.

    Buster Keaton:  Born October 5, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, USA.  Died February 1, 1966 in Los Angeles, California, USA from lung cancer.


    Charles A. Post was the "bad guy" of the picture, Earthquake McGoon!  An ugly brute of a man whose strength almost matches Abner.  Abner beats the stuffing out of him, though.  Post plays a bad guy that you like to see.  McGoon is dumb, he talks funny, and he's physical enough to look funny.  This was Post's last picture.  Why, I don't know.  He did a lot of movies before this, though.

    Post was born November 7, 1897 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.  He died on December 20, 1952 in Los Angeles, California, USA.


    Kay Sutton plays Wendy Wildcat, Daisy Mae's rival for Abner's hand in marriage.  Fortunately for Daisy Mae, he's even less interested in marrying Wendy than he is Daisy.  She's pretty, and indeed, very catty.

    Sutton was born June 15, 1914 in Irvington, New Jersey, USA and died March 1, 1988 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, USA.  She was in shows from 1935 to 1964.


    Another great character in this film is Cousin Delightful as played by Billie Seward.  She's the ravishing brunette beauty who tries to steal Abner away from Daisy Mae in the guise of helping her win him.  Delightful can turn any man's head, but Abner's.  When she starts to get through to him, Daisy becomes insanely jealous and clubs him on the head.  Not realizing he was hit, Abner thinks this is what kissing  is supposed to feel like.  "Ah hated it!" he tells Delightful.  Although Daisy saved him from Delightful, she didn't do herself any favors by reinforcing Abner's anti-love feelings.  Cousin Delightful is a fancy Southern belle, coming all the way from that exotic town of Pineapple Junction.  After her one and probably only male refusal, she leaves Dogpatch and we don't see her again.  Although not crucially important to the plot of the film, Cousin Delightful is a great, funny character that gives us the idea that women fight over Abner.

    Seward was born October 23, 1912 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.  She died on March 20, 1982.  She made a lot of movies from 1934 to 1944.  Surprisingly, she only made two more movies after "Li'l Abner".  One in 1941, the other in 1944.  The bulk of her work was done in 1934-1935.  She came back to movies in 1939 and practically finished up in 1941.  1944 was one last fling with filmdom before she dropped out.  Seward was a great comedic actress who, I feel, had plenty more to offer.


    Then, of course, you have your legendary character actors like Edgar Kennedy, Lucien Littlefield, and Chester Conklin in this film.  Edgar still proves that he's master of the slowburn as Cornelius Cornpone.  In his scene with Abner, he's just about to crack-up as Abner confuses him for an angel, thinking they are both dead and in heaven.  Lucien Littlefield actually has two roles:  The Sheriff and Mr. Oldtimer.  And Chester Conklin plays Mayor Gurgle.

    It would be hard to spotlight every single actor from this film, but those mentioned are some of the highlights.  This film is very much an ensemble cast, and everyone involved had an important part in recreating the small, Southern community of Dogpatch, USA from strip to screen.  I like them all!