|
Fat Albert
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.
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: 
|
