Puppies turn into dogs that get old and die.

The Movie: Josie and the Pussycats, directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont
Recommendation: Me
Reason: Cause it's one of my favorite movies of all time, and one of the few that I really would watch anytime.

For some damnable reason, people insist on saying this is a bad movie. Their reasons range from shallow characters to bad acting to the rather overwhelming product placement, and I really could go on. I'm not going to write a specific rebuttal to any particular critique, just a sort of general love letter to the movie. Josie and the Pussycats is cheerfully wicked, taking sly shots at the MTV generation, the recording industry and MTV itself. From in-jokes about bandmembers (nobody likes the bassist) to a shamelessly shattered fourth wall ("I'm here because I was in the comics"), Josie and the Pussycats is a refreshingly self-aware musical comedy.

More than anything else in this movie, I appreciate Rachael Leigh Cook's Josie. Everyone else is good, but she really takes it away. It's the little things, the looks, the raised eyebrows, the delivery of her lines (see the title for my personal favorite). She's personable, she's cute, she's a good girl with a good heart and Cook brings that all out in her performance. I'd argue that the two dimensional characters that she and her costars create are necessarily so-the source material isn't particularily deep, so why would the film carry that expectation?

As Valerie, Rosario Dawson reminded everyone that she existed. That can never be a bad thing, ever. Her characterization is probably the deepest of the three-she gives Valerie a story and a backbone, without leaving the bonds of the role she's expected to play in the plot. Tara Reid is at her most tolerable here as Melody the sweet dunderhead. Without any heavy expectations set on her, like 'acting' or 'staying sober', she turned in a bubbly, cheerful performance.

The costumes, the set dressing, the product placement! Logos EVERYWHERE! There are mascots in the end credits, and everything anyone touches, holds, walks on, walks past...you get the idea, this movie is SATURATED with corporate miscellania. That manic devotion to the emblems of consumerism has a purpose (and was entirely done of the director's own volition. Nobody paid for commercial consideration in this film). There's an obvious difference between dull little Riverdale and the glitz, glamor and orange of 'the big city'. When Valerie, Melody and Josie are housed in a corporate-overridden hotel, those ads take on an interesting new meaning. Josie, destined later in the film to briefly become a superficial bitch, is surrounded by makeup ads from Revlon. Melody, a silly little pop-tart, gets the nutritionally questionable McDonalds ads. Valerie is lodged with Target, an allusion to her future as the primary problem for the movie's antagonists.

And speak of the devils. Wyatt Frame and Fiona. Could you get a more pathetic pair of silly little losers? Alan Cumming lays into his role as Wyatt with abandon, chewing up the scenery left right and center. He just looks so greasy and evil, and his tone is so wonderfully villainous. Nevermind getting some of the better lines in the film ("Put the chevy to the levy"). Much as I hate Parker Posey (and I do. A lot), she's good as Fiona. She, Alexander and Alexandra are the weakest points of the film, but they're just a little less four-color than the rest of the gang. That's sort of the point here. This movie isn't about real people. It's not even about fake people. It's a comic book, alive on screen, and an Archie one at that. This isn't Catwoman, slashing wholesale at a comic that wasn't that good to start. This is Josie and the Pussycats, an Archie comic about a band that solves mysteries.

The music was written and performed by some talented musicians. Kay Hanley, lead singer of Letters to Cleo, took on the role of Josie's voice, and Adam Duritz, Babyface and Adam Schlesinger contributed to the songwriting process. Their work resulted in catchy songs, not only from Josie and the Pussycats, but from DuJour, the parody-heavy boyband that shows up early in the film (C'mon people, 'Backdoor Lover' was comedy gold).

At the end of all of this humongous volume, all I can say is that this really isn't the awful movie people make it out to be. I love it, you could even say I'm passionate about it. It's sweet, funny, cheery and it doesn't require a PhD in anything to understand the point-it's stated outright, actually, for those who are having trouble keeping up. So that's my piece. I hope I might've encouraged one or two of you to give Josie another chance.

-155/365 down, 210/365 to go