Grande Albert

For the most part, when "family" and "movie" are right next to each other in the same sentence, my first instinct is to run as fast as I can the other way. But with a movie pass about to expire, and nothing else in the theater that piqued my interest (Christmas With the Kranks? NO THANK YOU!), I sat down in my seat with no expectations. I haven't seen the original TV series in years, but I've always been a big fan of Bill Cosby, and I was immediately put at ease when the credit "Written by Bill Cosby" came up. Bill's script keeps the spirit of the original characters intact, and incorporates them into the real world without an overkill of "Oh, wow! Things are so different now!" style of jokes. This movie is made for kids, not at kids. Things are kept simple without being condescending, and at no time will adults have to talk their way out of explaining something "adult" to the kiddies. In the end, while this movie won't win any technical or artistic awards, it's still a fun little movie that the whole family can enjoy, and for once, that's a good thing. B-plus.

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 ...

What can I say ?

I definitely looked forward to seeing this movie for nostalgia's sake. I was, and still am, a huge fan of the cartoon.

I was glad to see Bill Cosby's involvement in the movie and was glad to see him give history behind the characters he created for the show.

Eventually, in the movie, we get to meet the men he based the characters on, with the exception of Albert Robertson, the one who Fat Albert is based on. Bill and the others get together to pay him homage at his grave, which was sort of a tear jerker for me.

I'll definitely be adding the movie and the series to my DVD collection.

I just saw Fat Albert and I laughed and I cried.

I am once again impressed with Bill Cosby.

While this movie is probably targeted as a children's film it has much to offer to adults. The Fat Albert movie is a breath of fresh air from what the media feeds our kids with these days.

This film teaches the positive value that if you try you can succeed. It encourages people to help people. I believe that all movies shape the type of world that we live in and this one does a good job at framing a positive world view.

My favorite scene in the movie is the running race between Fat Albert and his rival. I never knew Fat Albert could run that fast and not look like he is running at all. Finally a special scene to me was the grave of Fat Albert near the end of the film. I wanes't sure what was going on at first and I would have like to rewind the film to see the original people that made up Bill Cosbys stand up comic routine.

Congradulation Bill you've done it again. Attention Movie media... More like this please.

Is there an unwritten rule in Hollywood that if you choose to recreate comedy, it has to be less funny than the original so that it doesn't overpower the genuine moment of the first? I am a strong believer that there is such a rule because I fully witnessed it in the film Fat Albert. This film had so much potential that I really wanted to jump into my television and start grabbing necks a-la Homer Simpson. Frustration grew inside of me as jokes were tossed out towards the viewing audience with such disappointment that to laugh would have given the film way too much credit. The characters were flat, the story was "normal chaos that has been done in nearly every other film", and the class of the television program Fat Albert was diminished by cheap thrills and over-budgeting. Did Bill Cosby have a true writing credit to this film? It would be hard for me to believe that he seriously considered this work great, but then again, he is older and has bills to pay … so why not? While the ending tried to bring a tear to your eye, I was already crying at the utter lack of appreciation that this film carried and influenced the youth of our nation.

To say that this film was horrible would be too kind of a word, to quote a line from the film "(Fat Albert is) like school on Saturday: no class" would again, probably be giving it too much credit. From the opening credit sequence to the overly animated cartoons to the lack of animation in the characters when they became real was difficult to watch. Kenan Thompson tries really hard to empower the soul of Fat Albert, but what comes through the screen are just pathetic. He has no backbone and literally, he gives Albert this image of ignorance. Instead of being this helpful friend, Thompson's Albert has these huge glazed eyes that roll around whenever trouble begins. He just didn't seem to have that pizazz that I remember Albert having from the television programs. If Albert was a leader in the cartoon, he was not one in this film. Unless you count the fact that the other actors in this film followed his suit by also leaving their energy at home. Childish humor coupled with this sense of apathy really didn't spark this film onto the level it should have been. I kept seeing glances of this really humorous story about Fat Albert in the real world, but instead I was forced through yet another Cool World. That is how I would best describe this film, Cool World for children.

With our characters firmly not caring about their careers, we are then forced to focus on the non-existent story that apparently the writers of this film chose to not write. Instead of creating a plot with some climactic moments, our writers of this film chose to just let Fat Albert wander until something funny happened. I kept wondering to myself if this was an actual scripted film or just Thompson and Zwick allowing improv to occur anywhere and anytime. Now, if you were working with a genuine comic actor this could have worked (like Robin Williams or Will Ferrell), but with Thompson it just felt forced. Nearly every scene felt forced or overworked in this film. Spontaneity was not an element that these writers considered. This ultimately caused the jokes to be extremely flat. The humor just didn't bring the true life of Albert onto the screen. This is where I question the validity of Cosby being involved with this production. I know he was getting paid, but how much did he work? The jokes felt so old and used that I am surprised that children responded to them. Maybe it was the urban feel that Albert somehow felt comfortable in … who knows? Either way, the loose story allowed for unfizzy jokes, which ultimately lead to the demise of this picture.

Finally, I would like to say that Fat Albert (when I was growing up) was an inspiration and "every man" to us all. The group that followed him and his actions somehow always felt like a part of us. There wasn't anything that could stop Fat Albert from helping another lost soul, and somehow in this film adaptation, none of these old feels could be remembered. It wasn't as if they were trying, but this was definitely not the same Fat Albert that I grew up with. He didn't reach me like he used to, and perhaps it was the larger budget or the lack of imagination, but Albert hurt the soul in this film. I am surprised that he was able to assist Doris in her problem (this obscure problem that was never quite defined), because if I were in her shoes, I would have politely kicked this Albert to the curb. Cosby needed to reconsider his options before allowing this Albert to see the light of day.

Overall, as if you couldn't tell already, this film hurt me. As I watched this dopey picture, I couldn't help but wonder if this film was focused correctly. When it first started I had this feeling that Albert would be called to help Doris with her problem, causing him to be a secondary character (like her own Jiminie Cricket), but instead what happened is that Thompson's camera excitement stole the performance away from Doris while creating a film centered around Albert. This should not have been the case for this to be a truly inspirational film. We lost the central focus of the film, and then the story just went fuzzy. Too many hands in the honey pot with one hand wanting to be on top. It was sad, and ultimately destroyed this film.

Grade: ** out of *****