Fat Albert (film)

Infobox Film
name = Fat Albert


caption =
director = Joel Zwick
writer = Bill Cosby,
Charles Kipps
starring = Kenan Thompson
Kyla Pratt
Shedrack Anderson III
Dania Ramirez
Omarion
Keith Robinson
Bill Cosby
producer = John Davis
distributor = 20th Century Fox
released = December 25, 2004 (USA)
runtime = 93 minutes
language = English
amg_id = 1:289456
imdb_id = 0396592

"Fat Albert" is a 2004 live-action/animated film based on the Filmation animated series "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids". The movie was produced by Davis Entertainment for 20th Century Fox, and stars Kenan Thompson as the title character.

The plot surrounds Fat Albert and the gang leaving the cartoon world and entering the real world in order to help a teenage adolescent deal with the challenges of being unpopular, and not having any friends except her adopted sister. Her unpopularity stemmed from her tendency to withdraw into a world of her own as a consequence of the death of her grandfather, Albert Robertson, who was actually the inspiration for the Fat Albert character. It is up to Fat Albert and the gang to show her that she is special and can make friends.

Unlike some movies that melt the cartoon world with the real world while at the same time keeping the cartoon characters two dimensional, e.g. "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", Fat Albert takes a twist and transforms the cartoon characters into three dimensional humans, who have to come to grips with the differences that exist between their world and the real world (like "Enchanted").

Plot

Doris (Kyla Pratt) is a sad teenager still recovering from the death of her grandfather, ignoring her foster sister, Lauri's (Dania Ramirez), efforts to bring her a social life. Upon learning that her parents will be away for the weekend, Doris sadly lets a tear hit her TV remote, as the Fat Albert Show is on. The tear opens up the TV world to the real world and Fat Albert (Kenan Thompson) and the gang (Keith Robinson, Shedrack Anderson III, Jermaine Williams, Alphonso McAuley, Aaron Frazier and Marques Houston) (minus Bill's little brother Russell (Jeremy Suarez)) go to help her. Doris insists that she is fine, but the gang can't leave yet - their show is over and they have to wait until the next day's show to go back. They follow Doris to school the next day and are amazed by the new technology like laptops and the internet.

Fat Albert also notices Lauri and falls in love with her. In another attempt to help Doris, the gang persuades some cheerleaders to invite them all to an outdoors party. With some reluctance, Doris agrees to attend. While they're there, Lauri dances with Fat Albert. Lauri's annoying ex-boyfriend Reggie (Omarion) attempts to make her jealous by dancing with Doris. When Lauri doesn't notice him, he tries to kiss Doris. Doris runs from the party and Fat Albert warns the boy to stay away from Doris. The next day, Doris goes to school, but asks the gang to go to the park instead of following her. Weird Harold, normally very clumsy, joins in a basketball game and is able to play perfectly. Mushmouth, who can't talk normally, is taught how to speak by a little girl. Dumb Donald goes to the library and is able to read and remove his purple face-covering hat.

When Doris gets them and takes them back to her TV, Bucky, Dumb Donald, and Weird Harold jump into the TV but the show ends before the others can enter. Fat Albert and Bill have an argument in private about going back (Fat Albert wants to stay in the real world with Lauri). Searching for guidance, Fat Albert meets the real Bill Cosby and tells him of the dilemma. Cosby tells him that his character is based on Doris's grandfather, which explains Doris's confusion over why Albert seems so familiar to her. Cosby then tells Fat Albert that he has to return to the TV, or he will turn into celluloid dust. Devastated, Fat Albert tries to tell Lauri that he has to leave, but she doesn't believe he's from the TV and thinks that he is just being insensitive.

The next day, Bill, Mushmouth, and Rudy jump back into the TV. Fat Albert waits and goes to a track meet that Doris and Lauri have, then takes them home and jumps into the TV (this convinces Lauri that Fat Albert wasn't lying to her). At the end of the movie, Bill Cosby and his old friends (who the characters in the show were based on) stand in front of their old friend Albert Robertson's grave. Doris is also there. Then the group of men have a little race, showing no matter how old they are, they are still kids at heart, the same kids from the TV show that they helped Bill Cosby inspire.

Box office and critical reception

Critics were not impressed with the film, whose characters may not have been familiar to a generation raised on other recent franchises, though the film did modest business at the box office, making $48 million.

Production details

* Jesse McCartney's song, "Get Your Shine On" is sung in the film. It is mistaken as an Aaron Carter song, because Carter is in the film.
* Joel Madden also makes a cameo in this movie. He is in the scene where Kyla Pratt's character brings the boys to her school. He has a mohawk and a made shirt with a sweater probably to cover his tattoos.
* Kenan Thompson impersonated Bill Cosby on "All That" and "Saturday Night Live".
* The filming locations were in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Valencia, Santa Clarita, California.

equel

It's unconfirmed whether there will be a sequel or not, but the steps to a sequel have been taken. 20th Century Fox has approved a sequel and Joel Zwick says he's up for it, although no word has been announced on a script.

External links

*imdb title|id=0396592|title=Fat Albert
* [http://www.billcosby.com/ Official Bill Cosby Site]