Freddie As F.R.O.7

The story begins in the distant past, where a recently widowed magician-king (Sir Michael Horden) lives in a coastal castle with his preteen son and heir, Prince Freddie (Ben Kingsley). Determined that young Frederic shall never be King, Messina (Billie Whitelaw), his wicked aunt, does away with the lad's father and turns the Prince into a frog. Before being squashed by the ugly, venomous Messina, the Frog Prince escapes by plunging into the sea; Messina turns herself into a cobra and pursues him. With the aid of Nessie (Phyllis Logan), a Loch Ness monster-style creature, the Frog Prince successfully eludes Messina.

After a musical dance interlude, the story flashes forward several centuries to contemporary Paris, where Freddie the Frog is now a six-foot tall amphibian known as Secret Agent F.R.O.7--an eccentric blend of Inspector Clouseau and James Bond. Meanwhile, Messina has joined forces with El Supremo (Brian Blessed), a latter-day combination of Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte whose singular motto is, "I will rule the world ... ha ha ha ha!"

El Supremo has invented a device that shrinks tall buildings into seeming oblivion and, in conjunction with Messina, has caused such historic London landmarks as the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace to disappear. His other high-tech weaponry includes a sleep-ray which can effectively benumb every man, woman and child in the British Isles. In desperation, British intelligence dispatches an urgent message to Paris requesting the services of Freddie to help them out of their dilemma.

Freddie gets wind of El Supremo's next target, namely, Big Ben. In company with Daffers (Jenny Agutter), a pretty, karate-practicing, female British agent, and Scottie (John Sessions), Daffers's very Scottish fellow agent, Freddie ensconces himself and partners in Big Ben's interior, figuring that the only way to capture the villians is to hide inside the landmark just prior to its disappearance. He and his fellow agents are caught in the Big Ben snatch and wind up prisoners of Messina and El Supremo in an impenetrable fortress deep within the bowels of a mountain. Ultimately--and again with the help of Nessie, the gentle sea monster--Freddie and friends escape the clutches of Messina and El Supremo and become national heroes. Freddie is knighted by the Queen and settles down with Daffers.

FREDDIE AS F.R.O.7 is woefully lacking in the plot and pacing department; the film gets off to a less-than-action-packed start and never really picks up. The dialogue is listless and flat, and never achieves the witty, tongue-in-cheek effect for which it is clearly striving. The vocal performances are competent, if uninspired, with Brian Blessed going a little over the top and Billie Whitelaw achieving the desired level of menace. Most of the songs are unmemorable, though the "Evilmainya" number performed by Grace Jones is visually striking, with its hundreds of high-stepping, jack-booted soldiers.

The animation is generally competent, but hardly extraordinary. While this feature has some good moments sprinkled among its extended, dull stretches, it is light years behind Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST or THE LITTLE MERMAID. It was released to US home video in 1995 under the title FREDDIE THE FROG. leave a comment