PREMISE TOO THIN IN 'FAT ALBERT'.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic THERE ARE TIMES during the exceedingly average, bothersomely bland big-screen version of ``Fat Albert'' when the feature film seems to exist solely as an advertisement for the recently released DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. box set collection of episodes from Bill Cosby's 1970s cartoon series A cartoon series is a set of regularly presented animated television programs created or adapted for television broadcast with a common series title, usually related to one another. . It's not just the scenes where the characters stand smack-dab in front of a poster advertising the aforementioned DVD set, although that sort of repeated product placement seems egregious even by today's standards of synergistic chutzpah chutz·pah also hutz·pah n. Utter nerve; effrontery: "has the chutzpah to claim a lock on God and morality" New York Times. . It's when a 5-year-old meets the film's live-action version of the chubby title character and excitedly tells his 30-something dad, ``It's Fat Albert!'' and the dad replies, ``Who's Fat Albert?'' Shouldn't it be the other way around? Of course, if the all goes according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. plan, today's generation of youngsters will actually know Fat Albert's identity thanks to this movie. But much like this summer's film version of ``Garfield,'' ``Fat Albert'' simply exists as a bone tossed to families starved for something they can watch together in movie theaters. My advice: Save your money, heed the product placement, and buy the DVDs. The movie has its inner-city cartoon kids coming through the TV screen to help Doris, a lonely teen girl (Kyla Pratt Kyla Alissa Pratt (born September 16, 1986), is an American actress and occasional singer. She is a native of Culver City, California, and sometimes she is credited as Kyla A. Pratt. Kyla is also the eldest of five children. ), find some friends and discover her own self-worth. The first hour features a lot of uninspired jokes about these old-school cats, who have been recast as slightly older versions of their television counterparts, grappling with newfangled new·fan·gled adj. 1. New and often needlessly novel. See Synonyms at new. 2. Fond of novelty. [Middle English newfanglyd, fond of novelty, alteration of technology (what is this thing you call a cell phone?) and standing apart from today's kids (Aaron Carter?) in their brightly colored garb. There's also a lot of singing and dancing (the catchy theme is performed three times), a subplot sub·plot n. 1. A plot subordinate to the main plot of a literary work or film. Also called counterplot, underplot. 2. A subdivision of a plot of land, especially a plot used for experimental purposes. with Fat Albert (Kenan Thompson from ``Saturday Night Live'') falling in love for the first time with Doris' ``Jenny From the Block''-style foster sister (Dania Ramirez) and the requisite musical montage, this one featuring Fat Albert trying on clothes. Only very late in the game do the filmmakers, which include Cosby as one of the two screenwriters, make any attempt to freshen fresh·en v. fresh·ened, fresh·en·ing, fresh·ens v.intr. 1. To become fresh, as in vigor or appearance: freshened up after the day's work. 2. things up, reinventing some of the characters as they might be in today's world. Why they didn't take this approach - or any approach - earlier instead of following the tired family-film formula has to do with business. Studio executives equate blandness with broad appeal, even though the good folks at Pixar have repeatedly proven this approach wrong. (They even made a movie about the wrong-headed ways we reward mediocrity - ``The Incredibles'' - and I hear it's doing quite well.) Cosby's Saturday morning series had more than its share of well-intentioned sermonizing, but it also had a little urban grittiness and veracity veracity (v  ras´itē),n , which are completely absent here. (The film's ``North Philly'' setting is unabashedly un·a·bashed adj. 1. Not disconcerted or embarrassed; poised. 2. Not concealed or disguised; obvious: unabashed disgust. rendered on studio soundstages and L.A. locales.) The cartoon's drawing card was Cosby's distinctive voice, both in its writing and character vocals. The show came from his own experiences. You won't find that distinction here. Fat Albert may still possess an unfaltering belief in himself, but the same cannot be said for his creator. Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com FAT ALBERT - Two stars (PG: brief language) Starring: Kenan Thompson, Kyla Pratt. Director: Joel Zwick. Running time: 1 hr. 33 min. Playing: Opens Saturday in wide release. In a nutshell: Hey, hey, hey! Another mediocre family movie to spoil your day! |
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