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Good concept, poorly executed.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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.

Gross! I went to Florida with my two favorite cousins and in the nice rented beach house we stayed at, the owner left a bunch of kiddie movies, including this one. We were going to watch "Little Shop of Horrors" (which I had seen before and loved) but then this little creepshow caught our interest. You must understand that my cousins, my brother and I all love to make fun of stupid things. A lot. This may not be such a good thing, but we do. So we watched "Freddie the Frog."First of all, Freddie(as a human)'s anorexic aunt wants to get rid of him so she can rule the throne. Why then, with her magical powers, didn't she just kill him instead of turning him into a frog?!?!?? Then Freddie (as a frog for good now) meets up with a morbidly obese loch Ness monster named (this is creative) Nessie who claims she is ten-years-old but maybe ten years later has grandchildren. Freddie then flies away to frog land which is really just a fanchy-schmancy way of saying "an ugly pond that looks like someone's overflowed septic tank." Freddie hits on a bunch of female frogs and then one hot summer day, while lounging about in his heart-dotted boxers, he somehow "grew, and grew, and grew until he reached his adulthood. And then he knew he knew he knew, he was not..." FREDDIE: I am not, I am not!!! CREEPY FROG CHORUS: A frog, he is not a log! No joke! This is that stupid! Then he decides he wants to become a secret agent and his frog friends dress him.The movie continues in this idiotic fashion for about an hour and twelve minutes. It includes the following: 1) Freddie's real name and "top secret" code name being displayed with pride on the headline of a newspaper. 2) Freddie being attracted to a totally useless human woman. 3) Freddie french-kissing a human man who is also useless. 4) A fat man who is supposedly a villain who threatens Freddie and friends with a dinky sword that goes BOING! 5) Stupid dialogue like this HENCHMAN: I have a message for you Freddie. And the message is....Death!!! FREDDIE THE FROG: Well, then you'd better give me the message. Freddie then leaps onto some bleachers like a Peter Pan wannabe. 6) Freddie accidentally kills innocent civilians and then nonchalantly replies "Oh, I'm sorry my friend" and leaves!!!This movie is now a tradition with us and my cousins (I bought the tape. It isn't even released on DVD!) and we watch and make fun of it every time we see each other. We also watched it with my friend and my brother's friend and they agreed that compared to the movie we like to make fun of with them (My Neighbor Totoro), "Freddie the Frog" makes "My Neighbor Totoro" look Oscar-quality. If you love to make fun of movies, here is a list starting from dumbest to least dumb (but still very dumb): 1. Freddie the Frog 2. My Neighbor Totoro 3. Barney's Great Adventure - The Movie 4. Balto III - Wings of Change 5. Any episodes of Caillou 6. Any episodes of Dragon Tales 7. Any episodes of The Berenstein Bears 8. Rock-a-DoodleI hope this review made you laugh and was helpful in enriching your life.

I have seen this film a few times, and have always enjoyed it. It is a fairy-tale; it is for children; if you can allow yourself to see it in that light, it will be entertaining. Clearly the creators of this film have a lot more imagination than your average Hollywood hack, though perhaps a little more respect for contemporary audience's expectations would have gone a long way to making this more popular. I really love the songs, though. Especially "Lay Down Your Arms" by Asia. Nothing like a bit of moral 80's cheese-rock.

This is one of the strangest films I have ever seen, but I loved the idea & the Nessies.A prince is turned into a frog by his evil aunt & grows up to be a Bond-style detective. He makes friends with Nessie (excellently played by Phyllis Logan) & her extended family. Meanwhile landmarks such as Big Ben are disappearing. Freddie is on the case...If you feel like a change from the usual formula, then this won't disappoint. It's not that bad. Really. 7/10