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Fat Albert
Theatre In The Round

Starring: Kenan Thompson, Dania Ramirez, Shedrack Anderson III, Aaron Frazier, Omari Grandberry, Bill Cosby
Director: Joel Zwick
Screenwriters: Bill Cosby, Charles Kipps, Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel

Reviewed by Derek McCaw

With Fat Albert, Bill Cosby has achieved something we may not have known could be done. Somehow, he has taken a postmodern approach to one of his most beloved creations and stripped it of irony. Fat Albert (Kenan Thompson) freely admits that he exists solely to solve people's problems, just as he does in every half-hour episode of his television show. He and "the Cosby Kids" are also fully aware that they live in an animated world. Yet somehow they all manage to refrain from winking at us, presenting themselves in all earnestness to a troubled girl in the real world.

"Hey Cos! Got any pudding pops?"

You might miss the winking, though, if you're over twelve years old. Fat Albert has little more depth than the original animated series, and as a family film, it's clearly not one with enough quirk to catch the older members of the family. Dropping Aaron Carter into the mix is not a way to catch the teen-agers, guys - especially when he serves no purpose other than to copy the style of Cosby Kid Rudy (Shedrack Anderson III).

Director Joel Zwick (clearly following Cosby's orders) does set the gang up against modern conventions and fairly deftly keeps their reactions from seeming like a cranky old man's. At first hip-hop music horrifies them, but Albert gets into the groove of it; if Mushmouth (Jermaine Williams) and Old Weird Harold (Aaron Frazier) find some lyrics shocking, well, they're not necessarily alone on that one.

Modern technology baffles them, but Zwick doesn't dwell on it too long, instead pointing out the simpler pleasures that these refugees from the seventies have in common with modern teens. Though malls are overwhelming, they still find a jump-rope demonstration - what was once just a kids' game is now an expensive exercise program with video training. Of course Fat Albert can jump rope better than the "professionals," and despite it's obviousness, it's an exuberant moment. If only Zwick had resisted the urge for a fashion show montage.

The plot involves Fat Albert responding to the tears of a lonely girl, Doris Robertson (Kyla Pratt). Somehow they affect her remote control, allowing Albert to leave TV Land (literally) and jump into our world with gang in tow. They can only return when their television show is normally broadcast, thus giving them twenty-four hours to solve her problem, or they'll fade away into celluloid dust. (Apparently, it wouldn't be enough to rent a DVD - or a "divid," as Rudy calls it.)

Through his creations, Cosby has always yearned for a simpler time and argued for simple decency toward one another. The actors bringing them to life take that message to heart. Trapped in a ridiculous fat suit, SNL's Thompson still has surprising sincerity as a cartoon character trapped between his scripted goals and a desire to be a little more real for just one day.

Oddly, it's the film's "villain" Reggie (Omari Grandberry) that comes off the most cartoonish, and he's supposed to be living in the real world. All the other actors playing The Cosby Kids get moments of revelation that they wisely underplay rather than let Cosby's script hammer us over the head. It's funnier and far more thought-provoking that Dumb Donald (Marques Houston) gets more excited about having a face than the fact that he can suddenly read in the real world - he takes it for granted that with that power, you use it, and has spent several hours in the library reading African-American History.

Cosby's script turns mawkish at the end in a way that his animated series never did. But he's got a dual purpose with this film. He's not just reviving a franchise, but trying to revive its real origins as his childhood memories. While a worthy goal, he lays it on too thick. Trying to show us "the truth" creates the film's most false moment.

Still, Fat Albert proved a surprise. Just like the theme song promises, you're gonna have a good time, and your kids, at least, might learn a thing or two.

Rating:

(3 out of 4 stars)

Derek McCaw is the Editor-In-Chief of FanboyPlanet.com. He juggles his time as a high school English teacher, a husband, father, writer, actor, and occasionally funny comedian. As an actor/comedian, he has been found at ComedySportz, Calaveras Repertory Theatre, City Lights Theater Company, The Big Stinkin’ Improv Festival, and the HBO Workspace. As part of the comedy troupe Mumblypeg, he even has a few copies of his comedy album left. As a writer, his rantings have been published on ActionAce, Daily Radar, Fanboy Planet, Once Upon A Dime, and The Wave, while a series of short one-act plays of his had a successful run at City Lights in December 2002.

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