Fat Albert (2004)

What a disappointment this movie was ... one of the most original and brightest cartoons of it's time deserved a lot more than this poorly-written, unimaginative effort - the characters were more two-dimensional than their original cartoon counterparts!The acting was OK, it was the script that was the real disaster - where was Fat Albert to help out with *that* particular problem ?the 'plight' of Doris and her sister barely raised enough concern in the audience to sustain a half-hour cartoon, let alone a feature film - with the long list of issues and concerns facing adolescents these days, the producers chose the softest possible interpretation of what Fat Albert was all about - kids sticking together and helping each out when problems arise - the 'problems' facing Doris were barely worth addressing - even the problems in the cartoon-within-the-movie ('Danielle' running away and leaving school) where more pressing ...The whole 'cartoon's come to life' scenario was pretty lame - either do a full feature cartoon or make a movie about the characters as if they were real people - combining the cartoon world with the real world just didn't work in the hands of these writers - they could barely muster a single gag in what was supposedly a light-hearted comedy ffs ...the characters were tampered with in a most displeasing way - Rudy was robbed of his original personality to be made more 'P.C.' - the makers of the original cartoon gave Rudy a cocky, smart-ass attitude to balance out the saccharine righteousness of Fat Albert and Bill Cosby - the gang didn't need anymore 'nice guys', and there could have been a lot of fun to be had with Rudy's character had he retained his original 'edge'. Russell's non-appearance in physical form was puzzling and uneccessary ... where the hell was Mudfoot ?!? ... only the tiniest reference was made to the Brown Hornet - surely something more imaginative could have been written with such an integral and fun character ?Fat Albert the Movie was a by-the-numbers waste of celluloid and cellulite ...

I'm not one to give a movie 10 out of 10 but if it inspires others to watch this one I'll do it. The characters and their stories, the story as a whole and every scene within the movie have been given to the movie viewing public for your enjoyment but every aspect has so many messages for the cynics and critics in everyone. Without trying to list the ways this is not just any old feel good movie I'll try to show you why this is just a brilliant movie everyone can take something away from. I see it as a medium for Bill Cosby to say: No this is not a cartoon world where a scripted character can just solve the social and emotional problems of those around him, but does that mean we all have to treat everything with negativity, criticism, and cynical views.I'd be pushing what I have taken personally from this movie and what I think others should if I go any further.Watch the movie. Watch it right through to the end (I'd seen bits and pieces and dismissed the movie until there was little else to watch, and I regret not giving the movie the time it deserved in the first place). Then you'll see what I'm saying.

Do studios have a death wish? They must, for how else can one explain the existence of this live-action, big-screen version of a 1970's cartoon series that very few of the people who are the target audience have ever even heard of, let alone remember fondly? Did studio execs really think there was a huge "Fat Albert" fan base out there clamoring for this movie to be made? The premise of this "Fat Albert" seems designed to cater to all those pre-teens out there with postmodernist tendencies. Through some sort of unexplained fluke of magic, Fat Albert and his "gang" leap out of a TV screen to come to the aid of a young girl who is having trouble fitting in with the kids at school. As is his wont, Fat Albert - whose guttural "hey…hey…hey…" became his official character trademark - dispenses chicken soup sentiment and fortune cookie wisdom as he goes about the business of solving everyone's problems.Bill Cosby, who was the creator of the original "Fat Albert," has co-written (along with Charles Kipps) a screenplay that is so well-intentioned, so inoffensive and so white-bread bland in its attitude and demeanor that the movie seems to be evaporating even as you're watching it (much as the kids gradually fade away - though it is strangely imperceptible to the viewer - as their time in the real world runs out). Although the film is supposed to be about what happens when these two-dimensional cartoon characters from the 1970's are suddenly confronted with the three-dimensional realities of the early 21st Century, the Philadelphia that is shown to us in the movie - an obvious studio backlot if ever there was one - is so squeaky-clean and homogenized in appearance that the film might as well be a cartoon itself. Thus, the comic tension that should be derived from that juxtaposition of two vastly different worlds never materializes, and we sit in backside-numbing soreness waiting for the movie to end.Keenan Thompson (from "SNL") brings a certain amount of sweetness and energy to the title character, but the screenwriters and director Joel Zwick have given him zero material of quality to work with. "Fat Albert" may be fine for undiscriminating and undemanding preschool audiences - though most of them probably won't have any real familiarity with or affection for the original reference point - but it is far too juvenile to be of any interest to the people who grew up watching it on TV.

I saw this movie on Christmas Day with my aunt and cousin. I have never seen the original "Fat Albert" cartoon, probably because I wasn't alive in the 1970's. I still thought this movie was entertaining. It's a very fun, innocent movie. I say "innocent" because there aren't many scary or inappropriate jokes or objects in it. I don't know why this movie got a PG rating because there isn't anything that would make parents think twice about seeing this movie. It says it got the rating for "momentary language", but I don't recall hearing any inappropriate language in this film. Parents, rent this movie for your kids. It's a harmless, fun, enjoyable movie, and your kids will thank you very much.