Brittany Murphy: 1977-2009

Brittany Murphy, star of such films as Clueless, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Girl, Interrupted, Don't Say a Word and 8 Mile, died this morning. She was 32 years-old.

MD Poll: Global Possibilities 2009

For our last MD Poll of the year, we turn our attention to the recently announced Golden Globe nominations and ask you to name the movies you think will win in their top two categories, Best Picture - Drama and Best Picture - Musical or Comedy.

This is our third go-round with the Globes, and you correctly predicted victory for Atonement and Sweeney Todd two years ago. Alas, you weren't so lucky last year, when Slumdog Millionaire and Vicky Cristina Barcelona bested your picks The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Mamma Mia! Let's see how you do this year!

Place your votes in the two polls located in the right hand sidebar, and be sure to vote in both of them! Results will be revealed on January 15, two days before the Golden Globe telecast.

UPDATE: This poll is now closed; click here for the results, and click here to vote in the next MD Poll.

MD Poll: Charlie in Charge

When it comes to classic cartoon Christmas specials, Movie Dearest readers prefer a little melancholy in their merriment, as witnessed by the Charles Schultz chestnut A Charlie Brown Christmas being named your all-time favorite of the genre in our latest MD Poll.

Seasonal cynicism continued with the remainder of the top three, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (watch this for proof of the latter). Of course, there does need to be a little holiday malaise for our toon underdogs to overcome, which is perhaps why these perennial favorites have stood the test of time so well.

See the comments section below for the complete results.

Toon Talk: Down in New Orleans

“The evening star is shining bright,
so make a wish and hold on tight.
There’s magic in the air tonight,
and anything can happen …”
This simple lyric is the “once upon a time” that begins Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. More than just the revival of traditional animation or the debut of their first African American princess, this is Disney’s return to magical, musical storytelling as only they can do.

A Southern-flavored take on the classic fairy tale "The Frog Prince", The Princess and the Frog immerses the viewer in a colorful, tune-filled fantasy world where alligators play musical instruments, fireflies speak in Cajun accents and there’s a happily ever after (if you work hard enough) around every bend in the bayou.

Our heroine is the strong-willed Tiana (voiced by Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose, best known as one of the movies’ Dreamgirls), an independent young woman and master chef who dreams of owning her own restaurant “down on the river” in New Orleans. That dream is sidetracked though when she meets a handsome prince … yet she doesn’t know it at first as he’s been turned into (you guessed it) a frog.

See, the Prince charming-yet-frivolous Naveen (Bruno Campos, of Nip/Tuck 's penisless bisexual serial killer fame) has run afoul of the neighborhood voodoo “shadow man”, Dr. Facilier (voiced by Keith David; a character reminiscent of Sammy Davis Jr.’s Sportin’ Life from Porgy and Bess mixed with Geoffrey Holder’s Baron Samedi from Live and Let Die).

In a devilish plot to get his hands on the riches of the local “Big Daddy”, La Bouff (John Goodman), Facilier facilitates the prince’s amphibian transformation and recruits his put-upon valet Lawrence (Peter Bartlett, best known as the put-upon butler Nigel on the ABC soap One Life to Live) to masquerade as his master. This allows the faux prince a chance to cozy up to La Bouff’s eligible-yet-shallow daughter Charlotte (Broadway babe Jennifer Cody) at her masquerade party.

And this is where the frog-ified Naveen finds Tiana, fatefully attired in a princess costume. Borrowing a page from the fairy tale, Naveen naturally asks the “princess” to kiss him to break the spell … except (as we know) she’s not a princess and the smooch results in Tiana’s own transformation into a frog as well. Talk about “one froggy evening” …

UPDATE:  The Princess and the Frog is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com.

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of The Princess and the Frog on LaughingPlace.com.