CS3: Cartoon Effect

A goal of mine since I started using Photoshop was to be able to get a cartoon like effect on pictures. A cutout filter on it's own didn't give me the outcome I wanted. Sure it was 2D but it had it's flaws and didn't make the picture look very detailed (for example, on a face, the skin colour would blend into the colour of the eyes, makes it look a bit weird).
While browsing through some effects, I accidently made one of my pictures have this effect (not the same one I'm after, but it's a start) by using the "Poster Edges" filter.
The trick to this is to have the 'Edge Thickness' and 'Edge Intensity' at the maximums. Lowering them takes away the detail of the effect but you can lower them to your preference. Also, have the posterization at 0. If it's high it lowers the influence the effect has on the original picture (therefore making them less 2D).
It does tend to put small dots on the pictures, dots not visible on the original. This is just pixels (I assume).

I'm still working for that effect I'm after, but this is a well needed breakthrough.

P.S. - As you can tell, I use brackets alot :p