Sept. 13, 2002 - 9:23 pm
well, i did not exactly have the best Friday the 13th today. after locking myself out of the house this morning, i was forced to miss my 1:00 appointment with the dentist. then i was able to make it to my optometrist appointment at 2:30, but not without having an allergic reaction to medication. luckily my mom and i did get to sit down and watch a film this evening in peace. and i don't plan on leaving the house again tonight.
this is one of the many Patrick McGoohan films that can be difficult to get your hands on (if you're interested). it was one of his first big projects and was done for Walt Disney's "Wonderful World of Color" 60's television series where they showed an original film that they had shot in color. luckily the county public library had a copy of it that i could check out for free since i still technically work for the library system.
The Three Lives of Thomasina is basically a child's movie and is partially about a cat named Thomasina who goes through three periods of ownership. first with a young girl and her father the veterinarian, then with a woman who cares for injured animals, then again with the original family. this movie actually seemed to suck kids into a film about relationships by on the surface being about a cat. most of the "real" story involved McGoohan's character as he struggles to deal with a daughter he doesn't completely understand and then trying to keep up with the duties of his job. it's not easy when people start focusing on the fact that you've put a few animals to sleep. one of the plot flaws was that his character seemed to have no past before the time shown in the film. they never referred to any other animals he had helped previously. only the 3 animals that we saw him deal with onscreen.
something weird we noticed while watching this film is that Jane and Michael from Mary Poppins (1964) are both in this film. i guess this is where they first got "discovered" though.
something new about Patrick McGoohan's role in this was that he seemed to be sort of clueless. interesting character for him. it usually seems like he's more or less on top of everything and has nothing to learn from anyone. here he was constantly being corrected by those around him.
overall, it's a decent kids film, but it has some rather freaky parts. like the part where Thomasina "dies" and flies off to catland with the magical sparkling air. and what is up with the Egyptian cat god? that part seemed a little out of place, but whatever. i think my favorite part of the film has to be the girl that can cry really loudly. when the kids are having a funeral for Thomasina in the first half of the film, this girl says she'll help with the crying. and she just screams and cries really fakely for a few seconds. then later on she does it again. priceless.