"Hey! Hey! Hey! Christmas Day"

Fat Albert (2004): 7/10

Poster (c) 20th Century Fox

Although I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia, I don't often go into town, especially into North Philly, where Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids hung out. Nor had I seen the TV show, but having grown up with the golden age of Nickelodeon with All That and Kenan and Kel, I almost religiously follow Kenan Thompson around (well...not really...but he's a young person's Morgan Freeman). He's kinda been in limbo since Good Burger (based on an All That) skit, until he got onto Saturday Night Live, and now he's here as Fat Albert. As I've said, I've never seen the show, so I can't comment on the authenticity of the whole movie (in fact, before the movie, all I knew of Fat Albert was that he was a Cosby creation and his patented "HEY HEY HEY!"), but I think I got the gist of Fat Albert's modus operandi of helping others.

Doris (Kyla Pratt) is a lonely kid in North Philly (wouldn't that mean that she goes to the Philadelphia school district? Yet the computer to kid ratio is 1:1?) whose sole solace is watching her favorite show every day, "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids". She's so upset that she begins to cry, and as her tears hit the remote control (I'm being serious here), Fat Albert (Thompson) and his friends jump out of the TV to help her solve her problems. Not only do they marvel at recent advances in technology (cans with the opener on them, rap music, etc.), but Fat Albert falls in love with Lauri (Dania Ramirez), Doris's half-sister. Fat Albert and his friends need to find the root of Doris's problem before they fade too much-the consequences of being out of the TV for too long.

Critics could dismiss Fat Albert as simple family entertainment, when it's really much more than that. Well, not much more, but still more than one'd expect. Instead of being one of those "farts for the kids, sex for the adults" kids movies (like Shrek 2), it's strictly tasteful humor, some the kids will laugh at and adults can enjoy. For example, kids will like the skateboarding mishap that Fat Albert goes on, and parents will laugh at the fact that Fat Albert's a fast runner, as per the TV show. Neither go over the heads of the other generation, and one can laugh at the other. It's this kind of humor that is sorely missing from cinema today. When Finding Nemo's "funniest line" is about "touching the butt," you realize that family movies are needed, not kids' movies. Fat Albert is a family movie-a simple message wrapped around light-hearted situations that everyone can understand and enjoy.

I'm sure the biggest question people ask is if Thompson is right for the role of the live-action Fat Albert. The answer is-yes. As I've said, I've never seen the TV show, but he seemed to have watch his fair share of the show. Supposedly, some of the characters were not very similar to the characters on the show, but the characters seemed to fill the daunting roles well (such as the aptly named Dumb Donald and Mushmouth). But when you have a silly, simple show like Fat Albert, you don't expect everything to be exactly the same (which is one of the reasons why I'm both looking forward to and dreading the Simpsons movie). Kids won't have seen the show, anyway. But that's not really even the important part of the movie. What's important is that the movie's funny and has a simple message for kids, both parts it fulfills. There were a few "mayhem=humor" moments, but even the rap scene wasn't bad. It's silly, it's fun. And the message is easily accessible for kids: be yourself. It's a message that's reiterated over and over, but it's an important message.

My one large complaint is how director Joel Zwick (who brought My Big Fat Greek Wedding to an obscene gross) seemed to treat this movie as a movie for adults (Greek Wedding was rated PG but was certainly not for kids). The way he moved the camera and tried to do a bunch of "nifty" camera tricks made the movie feel like it was in some sort of cinematic limbo-a family movie, yet somewhat of an Oscar contender or something among that caliber? But other than that, Fat Albert is a fun family movie. You may end up liking it more than your kids.

Rated PG for momentary language.

Review Date: January 12, 2004