Introduction
Welcome to my corner! This week, I'm sharing my thoughts on the film Fat Albert. It's somewhat of a back-to-school type of movie. Enjoy!
Fat Albert
Fat Albert is a 2004 American live-action animated comedy film based on the 1972 Filmation animated television series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids created by Bill Cosby. Kenan Thompson stars as the title character. Fat Albert 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.
The film acts as a continuation of the series; Fat Albert and the gang leave their 1972—85 cartoon world and enter the 2000s real world to help a teenage girl, Doris Robertson (Kyla Pratt), deal with the challenges of being unpopular. The film was released on December 25, 2004, by 20th Century Fox, to generally negative reviews and grossed $48.6 million against a $45 million budget.
Plot: Animated character Fat Albert (Kenan Thompson) emerges from his T.V. universe into the real world, accompanied by Old Weird Harold (Aaron Frazier), Dumb Donald (Marques B. Houston) and Mushmouth (Jermaine Williams). Though the gang is flabbergasted by the modern world, they make new friends, and Albert attempts to help young Doris (Kyla Pratt) become popular. But things get complicated when Albert falls for her older sister, Lauri (Dania Ramirez), and must turn to creator Bill Cosby for advice.
Acting: My favorite title is Fat Albert for the following actors, if not stated otherwise.
Kenan Thompson played Fat Albert. As hard as it was for them to cast Fat Albert, I think they did pretty good with Kenan Thompson. He's always done a good job acting. His four most notable titles currently include Good Burger, Snakes on a Plane, and the television series, Kenan & Kel and Saturday Night Live.
Kyla Pratt played Doris Robertson. Her four most notable titles currently are Love & Basketball and the television series, One on One, Recovery Road, and The Proud Family.
Dania Ramirez played Lauri Robertson. Her four most notable titles currently include X-Men: The Last Stand, Premium Rush, American Reunion, and the television series, Heroes.
Keith Robinson played William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr., a fictional younger version of Bill Cosby. His four most notable titles currently are Dreamgirls, Dear John, Blade: Trinity, and All Eyez on Me.
Shedrack Anderson III played Rudolph "Rudy" Davis. I had a major crush on Rudy after finally getting to see the movie. His four most notable titles currently include Gracie's Choice, Jacob, Broke by God, Fat Albert, and the television series, Boston Public.
Marques Houston played "Dumb" Donald Parker. His four most notable titles currently are You Got Served, Boogie Town, Fat Albert, and the television series, Sister, Sister.
Jermaine Williams played James "Mushmouth" Mush. He was my favorite character. His four most notable titles currently are House of Sand and Fog, Nobody Smiling, Far Albert, and the television series, The Shield. Frazier retired from acting in 2016 after a not so successful career.
Alphonso McAugley played Bucky Miller. His character was the funniest. His four most notable titles currently include Glory Road, Cosmic Escape, Walk of Shame, and BeforeHand.
Minor roles were played by Bill Cosby as "Cartoon-Albert" and himself; James E. Bynum as Old "Old Weird" Harold Simmons; Omarion as Reggie; J. Mack Slaughter Jr. as Arthur; Alice Greczyn as Becky; Rick Overton as Coach Gillespie; Keri Lynn Pratt as Heather; Dylan Cash as Emmitt; Aaron Carter as Darren (credited as "Teen"); Fonzworth Bentley as Salesman (as Derek "Mr. Bentley" Watkins); Raven-Saymoné as Danielle (voice); Jeremy Suarez as Russell (voice); Russell Cosby as himself; Earl Billings as Mr. Mudfoot (voice); Catero Colbert as Lead Teen (voice); Charles Duckworth as Teen #1 (voice); Ben Diskin as Teen #2 (voice); Josh Uhler as Teen #3 (voice); Bill Ratner as Announcer (voice); Jeff Garlin as Jerry (uncredited); Joel Madden as Classmate with Mohawk (uncredited).
Background information: Pre-production originally began in 1993 with Tracy Morgan slotted to play Fat Albert. However, it soon entered development hell as no studio was interested in the project.
The project was picked up again in 2001 with Omar Benson Miller being cast as the titular character with Forest Whitaker serving as director. However, production stalled again following reported clashes between Miller and Whitaker with Bill Cosby. This resulted in Whitaker being replaced with Joel Zwick. Additional cast for the prior iteration included Kel Mitchell, Lahmard J Tate, Aaron Frazier, Neko Parham, and Alphonso McAuley as Dumb Donald. When Zwick came on board, he retained Frazier and McAuley but chose to cast McAuley as Bucky intead.
Afterwards, open casting calls were held in New York City and Los Angeles in hopes of finding an unknown child actor to play the titular character, but this proved futile and the role were eventually offered to Kenan Thompson.
David Gordon Green expressed interest in directing the film and claimed he lobbied for the director's chair by writing a letter to Cosby.
Final Thoughts: Fat Albert is a hilarious, family-friendly movie about making friends and being yourself. I know we all discovered Bill Cosby wasn't the great guy we all were led to believe he was on the surface, but that doesn't mean the shows and movies he created and/or worked on are inherently bad, too. Fat Albert, both the movie and cartoon series it was based on, are great.
This is another movie that I always wanted to see, but never owned myself, until now. I was lucky that my friend had it on DVD and we could watch it together, or I would watched it together, or I would have never seen it in the first place. I fell in love with it then, and still love it now. Kids will enjoy this movie.
My favorite scene was when the gang is all playing in the park learning new things about themselves, and then Bucky slides down the cement rail and loses the back of his pants.
My favorite quote is "You're like school on Saturday: no class." —Rudy.
Rated: PG
Where to watch it: According to Google, Fat Albert is currently available on Tubi for free, but isn't available with a subscription on any streaming service. You can also purchase or rent a digital copy for a few dollars. There's also a copy of the film at the Emil M. Larson Public Library in Clark.
