Growing up I was enjoyed Fat Albert, when I first heard they were making a movie I was a bit excited, until I saw the set photos and heard about the plot. Little did I know when I went to see the film this past Christmas I would actually enjoy it. The movie starts out almost promising enough- with a Fat Albert cartoon. Only it's animated with current technology, and has the obligatory CG in it, since all cartoons these days need CG. Fat Albert and the Junk Yard Kids are playing a game of Buck Buck with the rival kids. Cut to the main character- Doris, a girl in highschool who isn't invited to a party. And it's understandable with a name like that. She goes home and watches Fat Albert, still crying over not getting invited, and one of her tears hits the remote. Somehow, this sends the tear into the TV, where Fat Albert and the gang sees it. Albert sees Doris is upset, and...jumps out of the TV to help her out. The gang follows, and Doris is left wondering what the heck just happened. She says that she's sad because she can't find her backpack. They see it on the couch, and she thanks them and tries to get them to go back into the TV. But, the show's over, and they can't. Yes, they realize they're cartoon characters, which is actually a good touch on the writers' part. I'm sick of movies where they don't understand that they're not "real". But, she's stuck with them until the show's on again, which isn't until the next day at 2:30. They follow her around town, where they find out that she's sad because she doesn't have any friends. When they follow her to school, they make sure to say this in front of the whole class, and tell people to be her friend. This happens a few more times, and keeps embarrassing her. Fat Albert starts to get puppy love for Doris' foster sister (who is a lot like Shannon Elizabeth- she looks decent, but talks awkwardly and can't act). A guy who has a crush on her from school, played poorly by *sigh* Omarion, doesn't like this, and tries to one-up Albert from time to time, failing miserably. Along the way, not much happens, and I think we all know how much Albert will want to go home after getting Doris' sister to like him.
Yes, the plot is predictable, but it's also pretty boring. Don't get me wrong, I tried to like this movie and accept the charm from the characters. But it just wasn't there. The only Junk Yard Kids that do anything are Mushmouth and Dumb Donald. I swear, Bill served no purpose aside from completing the gang. Old Weird Harold had his moments, but never did much else when they were over. Bucky was there to look creepy (he looks like Dave Chappelle fused with Beetlejuice from Howard Stern), and I honest to god don't remember Rudy doing anything important. Yeah, I know the title of the movie is Fat Albert, but why include the gang if you're not going to use them equally, if at all? And the "problems" Doris faces aren't anything big. We don't find out what her real problem is until later on, and I don't get how someone as good looking as Kyla Pratt could have self-esteem issues. Either way, it was a chore for me to sit through the whole movie. You know things are bad when you think it's almost over, then check the time to see that it's only 15 minutes into the movie. A lot of the acting was terrible as well. Kyla and Kenan were the only ones that gave any effort. Omarion was horrendous, giving weird facial expressions I haven't seen since this one koala ran head-first into a parked jeep on Animal Planet. But, while Kenan did look just like Fat Albert, his voice could've used work. Some scenes had him talking like Albert, others had him talking like Kenan. And what was with all the cameos? The umbrella guy who runs around with Andre 3000 was here, a certain ponk band's lead singer, Aaron Carter with his giraffe-neck, and a few others showed up for a few quick minutes. I'll give the movie one extra star for a great ending sequence. The final moments were touching and a nice tribute. It's not something to not show the kids or anything, but it was a nice bit of respect
Yes, the plot is predictable, but it's also pretty boring. Don't get me wrong, I tried to like this movie and accept the charm from the characters. But it just wasn't there. The only Junk Yard Kids that do anything are Mushmouth and Dumb Donald. I swear, Bill served no purpose aside from completing the gang. Old Weird Harold had his moments, but never did much else when they were over. Bucky was there to look creepy (he looks like Dave Chappelle fused with Beetlejuice from Howard Stern), and I honest to god don't remember Rudy doing anything important. Yeah, I know the title of the movie is Fat Albert, but why include the gang if you're not going to use them equally, if at all? And the "problems" Doris faces aren't anything big. We don't find out what her real problem is until later on, and I don't get how someone as good looking as Kyla Pratt could have self-esteem issues. Either way, it was a chore for me to sit through the whole movie. You know things are bad when you think it's almost over, then check the time to see that it's only 15 minutes into the movie. A lot of the acting was terrible as well. Kyla and Kenan were the only ones that gave any effort. Omarion was horrendous, giving weird facial expressions I haven't seen since this one koala ran head-first into a parked jeep on Animal Planet. But, while Kenan did look just like Fat Albert, his voice could've used work. Some scenes had him talking like Albert, others had him talking like Kenan. And what was with all the cameos? The umbrella guy who runs around with Andre 3000 was here, a certain ponk band's lead singer, Aaron Carter with his giraffe-neck, and a few others showed up for a few quick minutes. I'll give the movie one extra star for a great ending sequence. The final moments were touching and a nice tribute. It's not something to not show the kids or anything, but it was a nice bit of respect