FREDDIE AS F.R.O.7

I enjoyed a lot of films and TV shows in my childhood. Most of them still hold up while others...well...I can't believe I watched or even sat through them. There's one film that I loved as a child called "Freddie The Frog" but little did I know that the real feature full length film was made in the U.K. under a different title. They were both flops and even some critics consider both versions as one of the worst animated films of all time. As much as I found the film good in my childhood does it still hold up, and as a critic do I consider it a good film or a bad film for audiences, ON WITH THE REVIEW! Here's my review on the original U.K. film...

  A prince named Fredric is the son of a magical king and he too possesses some powers. However, his evil Aunt Messina has powers too but uses them for evil. She kills Fredric's Father and Mother; turns Fredric into a frog to devour him in her Cobra Snake form (For some odd reason Fredric can't turn himself back to human), but Fredric gets saved by the Lochness monster Nessie. Messina vows to kill Freddie and rule the world. .Okay so there's one major plot hole in the story that doesn't get looked at or even acknowledged in the film, but it sounds like a simple plot. Well guess what, that's just the opening act to the story. Fredric decides to live a frog life with the other frogs (That are just as humanly active as he is) and calls himself Freddie but as time goes by, he decides to use his powers to fight against the forces of evil. He travels through time to the present and becomes a secret agent under the name of F.R.O.7.  Yes, this is a very surreal and unusual story, but if you're up or even into this kind of story, then you've hit the jackpot.

Our hero Freddie is voiced by the Oscar winning actor Ben Kingsly and he does a good job at voicing this character. Freddie is a frog parody of James Bond but unlike Bond he doesn't have a "license to kill" and much like his Oscar winning performance as Gandhi, he's not violent...for the most part. He does use his powers and fists to fight the bad guys, but mostly he uses his brains instead of his powers or fists to foil the bad guys plan without doing it violently...yes he's basically more of a frog version of Gandhi. Some people find Freddie a very bland character or an annoying character but personally I enjoy him very much and while I don't think he's a great character, he's still very likable, very charming, very smart for the most part, and is even funny at times and to me that's good enough to make him if a decent character, if not great.






Now what about his friends, are they any good? His love interest Daffers is as likable and charming as Freddie is, but with that said something about her does scream out that she's either a bit of a whore or just a bit swallow. His Scottish friend Scotty is the Q of this movie, who can be funny and likable, and of course creates and carries inventions and weapons whether Freddie will accept them or not. Brigadier G, is the M of this film and while being likable, he can be goofy and funny at times even if a joke is over used. Finally there's Nessie the Lochness monster who is a very sweet and lovable character and to be honest she tops all the other characters I just mentioned. Oh and by the way, there are crows in this movie that play no part in the movie at all and if you were offended by the crows in "Dumbo" these crows are worse. So the supporting characters aren't great but just like Freddie they're decent characters.

Now, for the villains. Messina has a scary looking design; the animals she transforms into are deadly; and she's a complete psychopath. She's even voiced by Billie Whitelaw who played Mrs. Baylock in the original film version of "The Omen" and her voice makes her character really classy, menacing and psychopathic. Sadly we're more focused on her partner in crime El Supremo who is voiced by Brain Blessed (who you might remember his voice as Boss Nass in the "Star Wars Prequel Trilogy" and as Clayton in Disney's "Tarzan") and he too brings the same menacing performance as Billie Whitelaw. His plans for world domination is a bit confusing for kids but it's still creative; and every scene you see him in he's just fun to watch. He has a huge army of Nazi like soldiers but for some reason in the third act of the film, there's only like about 50 or less of them, were they all killed by Messina; did they relocate to the submarines to take over the world; or were they just in it for the musical number? Again it's another plot hole that's not acknowledged or explained in the film. Oh and for you Bond fans, they have a henchman voiced by Jonathan Pryce who will later in his career play the Bond villain Elliot Carver in "Tomorrow Never Dies". Again not great villains, but they are at least fun and decent.

In the 1990s you couldn't have an animated film without songs, so let's talk about the songs in the film. Most of the songs are pop or rock songs that are played in the background by various artists. "I Will Keep Your Dreams Alive" sung by  George Benson and Patti Austin is a great opening song for the film and sets the films tone and surreal atmosphere. The song "Lay Down Your Arms" sung by Asia is a rockin tune and can make a lame campy fight seem epic. Freddie also has a good theme song sung by Holli Johnson in the credits which is very catchy. Boy George also got a song to sing in the film, while Freddie has a vision of his past with his father, as the song "Fear Not The Sword My Son" is playing. There are two songs sung by the characters. The first song is the controversial villain song "Evilmainya" sung by Messina with Grace Jones as her singing voice which is one of the best villain songs and villain musical sequences I ever seen. The other one is "Shy Girl" sung by Nessie which is a very up lifting song, catchy and fun to watch as we see all the other Lochness monsters play music and watch them dance. However, this moment seemed like it should be the films finale instead of having it in the middle of Freddie saving the world. Also the musical sequences in general are forced and pointless. As for the score its really nice and really pulls you into the films atmosphere.

The animation is good and creative. For the fairytale opening it looks very magical and for the present it looks dark and cool.  The designs are really nice; the backgrounds look great; and I love some of their use of CGI animation. The action sequences in the film are campy (Even when guns are being fired) and our heroes are probably fighting some of the worst henchman ever, but it's still fun to watch. The dialogue is decent but sometimes you can get a joke that doesn't work, an over used line, or even a terrible comes back, pun, or fighting words.

The film is surreal, unusual, campy, confusing and I still enjoy it despite the plot holes, dialogue, anti climatic action, and messy storyline, but do I highly recommend it to an audience? Well the story is very surreal and over the top, but its still entertaining. The characters can be forgettable and are not well written, but they're still likable and the voice acting is good. The songs may not be a household song to sing along too but they're still fun to listen too. However, the real bull’s-eye in the film is the creative animation, but I will admit that it's not all that perfect either. Overall, it's not a good film, in fact it’s really stupid, but it's not terrible either, it’s just stupid fun entertainment that is indeed worth a look.

RATING 2/5