Fat Albert (2004)

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids come to life and step out of their animated, inner-city Philadelphia world.

Director:

Joel Zwick

Writers:

Bill Cosby, Charles Kipps

Stars:

Kenan Thompson, Kyla Pratt, Marques Houston

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kenan Thompson	...	Fat Albert
Kyla Pratt	...	Doris
Dania Ramirez	...	Lauri
Shedrack Anderson III	...	Rudy
Aaron Frazier	...	Old Weird Harold (as Aaron A. Frazier)
Marques Houston	...	Dumb Donald (as Marques B. Houston)
Alphonso McAuley	...	Bucky
Keith Robinson	...	Bill (as Keith D. Robinson)
Jermaine Williams	...	Mushmouth
Aaron Carter	...	Teen
Omarion Grandberry	...	Reggie (as Omari Grandberry)
J. Mack Slaughter	...	Arthur (as J. Mack Slaughter Jr.)
Nick Zano	...	Camera Salesman
Annie Abbott	...	Mrs. Forchick
Alice Greczyn	...	Becky

Storyline

An obese boy named Fat Albert and his friends Rudy, Mushmouth, Bill, Dumb Donald, Russell, and Weird Harold, pulls into trouble when they "fall" out of their TV world into the real world, where Fat Albert tries to help a young girl, Doris, make friends. However, the simple life of the group is interrupted when Fat Albert falls for Doris' older sister, Lauri, sparking his friends to worry that their leader may never want to return to his cartoon world again.

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Plot Keywords:

television | party | junkyard | love | animated sequence | 

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Taglines:

Hey! Hey! Hey! Christmas Day

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for momentary language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Albert, o Gordo

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$26,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$10,021,510 (USA) (24 December 2004)

Gross:

$48,114,556 (USA) (1 April 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Culver Studios, Davis Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bill Cosby, who appears as himself, was the voice of Fat Albert as well as other characters, in the animated TV series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.

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Goofs

When Fat Albert meets Bill Cosby, you see Fat Albert raise his right hand to shake Cosby's in a shot viewed from behind Fat Albert. The next shot shows a view from Fat Albert's front, and he once again raises his hand to shake, even though he never put it down.

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Quotes

Fat Albert: Hey, hey, hey, I said I'm gonna stay.
Bill: Hey, hey, *hey*, friends don't let friends fade away.
Fat Albert: Don't use my lines on me.

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Crazy Credits

As the end credits begin, the animated Fat Albert starts to sing the title song again. Suddenly the live action Fat Albert bursts halfway through the picture, 'looking out' at the audience and picking out audience members, saying that he has to stop the movie so he can help them and telling one guy in the back getting out of his seat that he needs to stick around for the end credits. At this point the cartoon versions of the Cosby Kids finally manage to pull Albert back into their world, and the end credits continue.

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Connections

References Garfield (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Wilhelm Tell"
Written by Gioachino Rossini
Courtesy of Promusic

User Reviews

A Tremendous Kids Movie...Fun For Their Parents as Well

The reviews I've read for Fat Albert have been disheartening and for the most part, non-reflective of this movie.

Too many critics cannot put aside their pretentiousness and evaluate this and other movies of the genre for what they are...children's entertainment.

From this standpoint, Fat Albert stands above most of what I have seen with my kids in recent years. Beside a wonderful dose of nostalgia for boomers, this is a movie packed with humor, solid entertainment, decency, and important lessons about life. To me, that's what children's entertainment is about.

And there were bonuses for adults as well...

I thought the cast suceeded in capturing what we loved about the cartoon characters. Dumb Donald, Mush Mouth, Fat Albert were all on target and delivered more to love in their human form.

I also appreciated the movie's ability to laugh at itself. I cracked up when The Cosby Kids were waiting outside the girl's apartment the morning after they met. They didn't need to sleep, eat, or go to the bathroom...because hey hey hey, they're cartoon characters.

Lastly, the connection to the girl's grandfather Al was a lovely tie-in and the scene at the cemetery where the grown up Cosby gang paid tribute to their friend was sentimental without being sappy.

Can I pick apart small things about the movie? Absolutely! However, this movie provided my family and myself with such good feelings, smiles, and conversation afterwards that there is no need to bother.

Compare this with other kids movies that are chock full of scatological humor and impending sexuality and you will see that Fat Albert stands far and above.

This movie was funny, thoughtful, and brought back many a wonderful memory. Go see it.