Freddie as F.R.O.7 (1992)

Director:

Jon Acevski

Writers:

Jon Acevski (writer)
David Ashton (writer)

Release Date:

28 August 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Fantasy | Musical

Plot:

The story about a man-sized frog named Prince Frederic who is turned into a frog by his wicked aunt...

Plot Keywords:

Frog | British | British Intelligence | Shrinking | Secret Agent

Cast

Jenny Agutter	...	Daffers (voice)
Brian Blessed	...	El Supremo (voice)
Nigel Hawthorne	...	Brigadier G (voice)
Michael Hordern	...	King (voice)
James Earl Jones	...	Narrator - American Version (voice)
Ben Kingsley	...	Freddie (voice)
Edmund Kingsley	...	Young Freddie
Phyllis Logan	...	Nessie (voice)
Victor Maddern	...	Old Gentleman Raven
Jonathan Pryce	...	Trilby (voice)
Prunella Scales	...	Queen / Various Voices (voice)
John Sessions	...	Scotty / Various Characters (voice)
Billie Whitelaw	...	Messina (voice)

Also Known As:

Freddie the Frog (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

Spain:91 min | USA:90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:G

Company:

Hollywood Road Films

Trivia:

Began life in the early-1970s when writer-director Acevski made up bedtime stories about a secret agent frog for his young son.

Quotes:

Daffers: Don't you ever get... afraid, Freddie?
Freddie: No. We frogs are very cold-blodded.

When censors go INSANE!!!

'Freddie as FRO7' is really an enjoyable little film. It might be a bit chaotic, and even weird, it has its very own, very different kind of charm. What's that you're saying? That this movie is a stinking bowl of manure? Wait just a second, and answer me this:

WHICH VERSION ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

This is a vital question in this case, because if you're talking about the USA version, i must point out, that I'm talking about the original version. And both of us are totally right about each opinion.

With this unfortunate little movie, American editors have gone way too far. While at some points I understand the concept behind their motive to chop this poor cartoon into shreds, but at many times, there doesn't seem be any kind of concept to talk about.

For example, I can see why they cut the two jokes about Daffers' (a female secret agent) breasts. One of the jokes consisted of the main role gazing at her boobs while taking a comment about them, in the other one however she shows them off to Freddie (not to the audience). I was around nine, when I first saw this movie, and found the first joke funny, and the second one quite weird. But none of them offensive. Men are attracted to boobs. I don't have any problem with that, neither did back then. But okay, it's not children's material, so I can accept that it's been cut. Next thing: dancing soldiers. The problem with these evil minions lies in their appearance. They do look a bit like Nazis, and some of them wear KKK uniforms. As a nine year old kid, I knew quite a few things about WWII, but I knew how Nazis looked like, and I already knew many things to hate them for. So evil soldiers portrayed as Nazi look-alikes felt appropriate. But maybe i only knew these things because I'm European... but wait! I even understood the KKK references! Still, I may understand why the cut HALF of the song featuring these guys. At this point however, those enthusiastic US editors really got themselves into editing! Geesh, what to cut next? What to cut next? And there goes the fight scene at the end. I don't get it. It's not that they cut out the more violent parts. They've just erased half of it with no reason! Why? Were they short on celluloid? Anyway, this is a painful cut. It makes the ending totally anti-climatic, and makes the rest of the fight-scene entirely pointless.

But why stop here? Let's trash out a whole plot line! Why? Seriously, WHY? You see, there is this guy at the yard who's always turning his eyes, snickering in a very slimy manner, and so on. He is just the evil slime-ball stereotype. In the original version he turns out to be a spy for the evil ones, and gets arrested at the end. In the US version, he doesn't turn out to be a spy, and doesn't get arrested. He just does his evil looks, eye-turnings, and snickering, and thats it. WHY???? Now he's a character that's not just totally useless, but also clearly insane! What was the point?!

That's nice, the movie is in ruins now. But oh, we aren't finished yet! The original version starts off with Freddie cruising through France in his weird car, arrives at his apartment, starts feeding the fish, which gives him a flashback about a pond in France, where he spent his childhood. This neat touch gives the movie a needed framing. In the US version, the film starts with random medieval castle-parts. I really got confused at first, and thought the DVD might have the wrong film on it. Again, this edit makes absolutely no sense.

No, that's not all, really that's only the tip of the crap-berg, but I think you got the idea.

For the original version the score would be 7/10, While the American version barely lives up for a mere 3/10.

Take my advice: If you really want to see this, DO NOT BUY THE US VERSION, which appears to be the only version for DVD. You better off with buying a VHS player and a copy of the original on tape.