Josie and the Pussycats (PG Version)

Josie and the Pussycats (PG Version) Review

Wow... I'm shocked. I loved this film!

I was trolling YouTube for some video of the original cartoon and came across the PG rated version of this film that someone has uploaded. I didn't even *know* that a film version had been made. So out of curiosity I clicked on it ... and found myself laughing from the very first scene!

I've read a lot of reviews and found some people that just don't get the product placement joke but I thought it was hilarious, especially considering that the producers got not one penny from these companies. From the moment I spotted Seth Green in the opening scene I thought "How bad can this be?" Then I saw Alan Cumming and I just had to keep watching.

So I kept watching... and watching... and laughing. Then I spotted Parker Posey and thought "No way!" The cast was perfect but I want to single out Tara Reid as Melody. Let me just say up front that I have never been a fan of Ms Reid but her take on Melody was nearly perfect. I say nearly because there is one aspect of Melody that I think a human actor just cannot carry off and can only be done in animation. The rest however she did to perfection. Melody is not just another dumb, wacky blond like so many people seem to believe. She is innocence encapsulated to the point where you just love to listen to her and watch her antics. Just like Josie says to her in the film "That's what I love about you!" Indeed the only part of the cartoon Melody that Ms Reid couldn't pull off, and didn't even try -credit to whoever's idea this was - was the blinking of the eyes as she tries to process in her head what it was she just saw or heard. Just a great piece by Ms Reid.

I can't believe it took me nine years to realize this film even existed. I would recommend it to all and I will be buying a copy of it.

Josie and the Pussycats (PG Version) Overview

THE HIGH ENERGY STORY ABOUT THREE NEWLY DISCOVERED SMALL-TOWN MUSICIANS WHO GET TANGLED UP IN AN EVIL PLOT TO CONTROL THE YOUTH OF AMERICA. A PSYCHOTIC STUDIO EXECUTIVE IS MANIPULATINGTHE LUCRATIVE TEEN MARKET BY MIXING SUBLIMINAL ADVERTISINGMESSAGES INTO THE MUSIC OF HER BANDS.

Josie and the Pussycats (PG Version) Specifications

"Oh my God, I'm a trend pimp!" cries rocker Josie McCoy (Rachel Leigh Cook) when she discovers that she and her best friends Melody (Tara Reid) and Val (Rosario Dawson)--collectively known as the Pussycats--have been recruited in a plot to brainwash America's youth into a frenzy of mindless consumerism. Unbeknownst to the Pussycats, subliminal messages in their chart-topping hit "Pretend to Be Nice" are forcing kids to follow the latest prefab trends as if their lives depended on it. Josie's going to be the Next Big Thing, and to her manager (Alan Cumming) and Megarecords mogul Fiona (Parker Posey), the other Pussycats are expendable baggage in their scheme to dictate the cool quotient of teenagers everywhere.

Shrewdly concocted by codirectors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, this wildly comedic update of the Archie comic book (and early-'70s cartoon show) is a deliriously entertaining assault on pop-cultural flotsam, with a disposable boy-band (aptly named "Du Jour") and cross-product marketing ploys that perpetuate blind conformity among gullible teens. Blatant product placements dominate virtually every colorful scene as Josie gamely embraces the cultural blight it claims to criticize, but this isn't Hollywood hypocrisy. Elfont and Kaplan willfully bite the hand that feeds them, and they're having loads of fun while advocating independent opinion. Cook and her pals are more honestly sexy than Britney Spears, and they make genuinely catchy music (although Cook's vocals were dubbed). It's pure fluff, but Josie and the Pussycats was conceived in such high spirits that it's hard to imagine how it could be improved. Even the obligatory end-credit outtakes are utterly irresistible. --Jeff Shannon