Bill Cosby's gang of childhood pals evolve from standup comedy to an animated cartoon series to real life in this family-friendly comedy. Doris (Kyla Pratt) is a teenager who doesn't fit in with most of her classmates at school, has been depressed since the death of her grandfather, and is disturbed by her foster sister's willingness to remake herself in order to be popular. One of Doris' few solaces comes from watching reruns of the animated television series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and
one day while watching the show she starts to cry, with a tear dropping into her remote. The tear draws big-hearted (and just plain big) Fat Albert (Kenan Thompson) from the animated universe into Doris' real world in hopes of cheering her up and helping her deal with her problems. As Fat Albert and his pals -- Rudy (Shedrack Anderson III), Bucky (Alphonso McAuley), Mushmouth (Jermaine Williams), Weird Harold (Aaron A. Frazier), Dumb Donald (Marques B. Houston), and Bill (Keith D. Robinson) -- adapt to the three-dimensional world and try to teach Doris to believe in herself, they learn that traveling back to the animated world is harder than they thought, which becomes alarming when they start to fade away. The real world also poses some new dilemmas for Fat Albert when he falls in love with Doris' foster sister, Lauri (Dania Ramirez). Bill Cosby co-authored the screenplay for Fat Albert, using his full name, William H. Cosby Jr., and collaborating with Charles Kipps; the project was begun with Forest Whitaker as director, who left midway through shooting, with Joel Zwick taking over in his place. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
At the end of this weak comedy is a strange and touching scene in which Bill Cosby and his childhood pals from Philadelphia, now elderly men, gather at the grave of Albert Robertson, the real-life inspiration for Cosby's bighearted Fat Albert.
The sermonizing on behalf of good clean fun and hard old effort (Cosby co-wrote the script) is as faded as Big Al's sweater after too many days on earth.
The Cosby touch (he's co-writer and co-executive producer) is in full effect, schmaltz notwithstanding, as Albert and the gang run through their series of pleasantly diverting escapades.
Its messages are innocuous and may hold the attention of the littlest viewers, but older audience members may find themselves repulsed by their nostalgia.
It ruined the old cartoon, damn you Kenan Thompson
August 15, 2011
Brad Wright
Super Reviewer
Bill Cosby was the producer for this film, I believe, and it's definitely not his best or funniest work, but FAT ALBERT as a live-action adaptation is silly, cute, and it satisfied me well enough.
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