Freddie as F.R.O.7. (1992)

I love this movie so much

Such a frustrating disappointment

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Don't Believe the Hype

Freddie as F.R.O.7 isn't all bad once i seen it. But i did see some of the reasons why it was a flop and a box office failure. The story wasn't that great, some characters are awful (like the Ravens), and the animation should of been better. What are some of the things that are redeemable about this film? First of all i think Freddie is a likable character. He is based on James Bond, but he also reminds me of Basil from The Great Mouse Detective. Second of all, i love the villains in this movie. Messina was a great villain. She killed Freddie's parents, and she tried to kill her own nephew as well. The real main villain in the movie is El Supremo, a crime boss who is responsible for capturing famous buildings, which he plans to use to create a sleeping virus. He is also Messina's husband. He was great villain to, but he should have a better fighting skills. Finally, some of the songs in this movie are enjoyable. "Evilmania" is the best song in the movie. Overall to bad this film din't success very well. It had its mistakes, but i do find this movie okay to watch, just for the villains and the songs. So i,m giving this movie 5 out of 10 stars.

In a magical kingdom in France (?) there lived magic Prince Frederick with his magic dad the king. The king's sister (who is also magic) shapeshifts into a cobra and spooks the king's horse, killing him. Later she turns the prince into a frog and tries to kill him, but he escapes from his aunt and is helped by the Loch Ness Monster (?).Things don't necessarily have to be logical or sensible in kid's films when magical kingdoms and sorcerers are involved. But after this point it gets progressively sillier.Freddie becomes a giant anthropomorphic frog, a lecherous and complacent French caricature in a beret and a leather jacket who talks rot about overcoming violence with 'the powers of the mind' and drives a ridiculous car with eyes and lipstick that emits hearts instead of exhaust fumes. Meanwhile, his aunt, perhaps having been belatedly informed that France is a republic and she thus can't be queen of it, turns back into a snake and goes and hangs around Brian Blessed's neck (more on this later).Meanwhile, in England, various architectural landmarks and national monuments float away under mysterious weather conditions. There are some scenes of this happening, including one with offensive crows who talk like black Americans. The 'Brigadier' presumably meant to be the head of MI5, requests the help of FR07 to solve the problem. We meet a dumb Scottish character with a huge chin and a tartan coat who has a thick Scottish accent and uses a haggis as a weapon, and who unsurprisingly is called Scotty. And we meet 'Daffers', who is introduced as some kind of martial arts and gadgets person, but who spends the remainder of the film dressed like a tart, flirting and shrieking and needing to be rescued from baddies. Less importantly, we meet a simpering double agent, Trilby.Freddie is given orders to get on with the mission but decides to go to a racecourse instead. Some henchmen turn up and try to kill Freddie, but he beats them up and overhears their conversation, revealing that Big Ben will be attacked that night. Because Freddie is an arrogant prat, he deceives the people he's working for by telling them the target is Windsor Castle.Meanwhile, in Brian Blessed's secret hideout, an army of Nazis and Ku Klux Klan and other people in strange costumes perform a dance and the snake aunt sings a bad song. Brian Blessed's character's history and motivation are never explained: he is simply a fat bearded villain in a blue jersey. Brian Blessed's voice talents are however excellent as usual.Freddie and his stupid accomplices hide in Big Ben and get captured. Brian Blessed uses his shrinking ray on Big Ben and then monologues about how he has a box that sucks 'energy' out of the stolen architecture and uses it to make a pink cloud that makes everyone in Great Britain fall asleep. He throws Freddie and Scotty into a subterranean lake filled with monsters. The Loch Ness Monster returns and rescues them and introduces Freddie to her family and there follows another lousy musical interlude. Then the Loch Ness monsters tie Brian Blessed's submarines up with seaweed.Freddie and Scotty return to Brian Blessed's hideout and defeat soldiers with machine guns by kicking and punching them. Freddie breaks Brian Blessed's machine, and when the villain tries to kill him with a sword, it is revealed he is impervious to blades and can hurl people across the room using his magic powers, throwing into question how and why he allowed himself to be overcome earlier in the story. His aunt shapeshifts into various animals, most of which Freddie overcomes by simply stepping out of the way. Then there's a party and Daffers kisses Freddy and there's a heart-shaped blackout and a frog noise.The things that really struck me both as a child and an adult were how unlikeable the characters are, particularly Freddie and Daffers, and how the film lacks any coherency. It tries to be both a magical fantasy and a high-tech story about villains and secret services and manages neither. It sucks that Freddie is so 'up himself' and defeats his enemies not by careful planning and organisation, but by deus ex machina magic powers and coincidence. This is kind of a shame because the animation is good for the era and the voice acting (particularly Brian Blessed, whose character seems to have been designed for him) is top notch. The background music (not including the interruptions by characters singing) is not bad either, and some of the characters designs -- the snake and Scotty, plus the caricature-like people in the Brigadier's club -- are pretty damn good. The idea of a big fat villain with a pony-tail and a cobra draped around his neck is awesome, and it's just a pity they couldn't give him a bit more depth and provide him some more worthwhile protagonists to go up against.There are a couple of mildly amusing one-liners and jokes, although these are likely to be lost on children. Great children's films do often have more complicated humour and undertones that would be expected to fly over the heads of their target audience, and these films can be enjoyed by both kids and adults. In the case of this film, adult viewers are likely to be put off by the unlikeable characters and the ludicrous premise that only gets stupider as the story progresses. In all, this is probably worth watching for the animation and the voice actors, but as a whole the film is weak and even borders on being offensive in its use of unflattering national stereotypes.

I saw this movie on the shelf of the local charity shop, and was differing whether to get it. In the end I made up my mind not to buy it, but to look at the rating and reviews on IMDb and watch it on YouTube. In spite of the low IMDb rating and the negative reviews, I enjoyed this movie. As for people saying that this is the worst animated movie ever, sorry I cannot agree. Doogal, Titanic:The Animated Movie and Secret of NIMH 2:Timmy To The Rescue are much much worse.Freddie as F.R.0.7 isn't a perfect movie. The story about a prince turning into a frog and then an agent and having to investigate what happened to the disappearing monuments is predictable and sometimes uninvolving, some of the script is a little cheesy and there are one or two parts that drag. But there are a lot of things that compensate:Firstly the animation is great. As long as you are not expecting Disney, you'll be fine. Some of the backgrounds are gorgeous, like in the encounter of the Nessies, and the characters in general are well drawn particularly Freddie himself and Messina in snake form.Contrary to other reviews I liked the songs. True they are not perhaps Oscar worthy material, but they are memorable. The beginning song was excellent, and Messina's song was very well done if unusual. And the singing is actually good, in some animated films like the Secret of NIMH sequel the music sounds like it is being performed as part of a school end of year production but not here.The voice acting is top notch and add to the charm and quirkiness that the film does have. Ben Kingsley is absolutely charming as Freddie, and Phyllis Logan is excellent as Nessie in a truly charming scene. Brian Blessed relishes his role as the main villain El Supremo, while Billie Whitelaw is great as Messina particularly in the final climax. I love Jenny Agutter and she was lovely as Daffers. Sterling supporting voice work also from Nigel Hawthorne, Michal Hordern and Jonathan Pryce.All in all, this is a flawed but charming film, helped by the great animation and voice acting. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Where to start? This is one of the greatest animations to date, hell IT IS THE GREATEST ANIMATION TO DATE!!!! The story is as follows, a 17th century prince in France gets transformed into a frog, meets the loch ness monster and becomes present day secret agent Freddie the frog, fighting evil. Now the logic starts. All of Britains great monuments are disappearing because an obese warlord allied with Freddies evil aunt are shrinking them for a reason that makes perfect sense. All the Britons lives are directly linked to those monuments and if they are taken away, the British people die. Wow. What a film. So full of the logic and structure lacking in all of Spielbergs movies. It also has incredibly well done dialogue by a uniform cast and great songs that should have won an Oscar.