When i first heard that Fat Albert was going to be a movie–i was *amped*…then when i saw the previews i knew i wasn’t going to probably really enjoy it too much.

Since i was alone with the kids this weekend i decided to pick it up for us.

I was right–it was pretty trite. Without the real-life element its message could have been delivered within a 30 minute episode, although the way it unfolded w/ the character history bit was interesting. It wasn’t that funny (mushmouth learning to speak was cute and funny), but it *was* fun, and my daughter loved it. She hadn’t seen much Fat Albert at all, while i was raised on him, so it was fun to hear her amazement when i knew the theme song, and knew about the characters.

I’d known that Bill Cosby modeled the characters from his real life experiences (he brings them up a bit in his stand up routines) I didn’t know to which extent–all of the characters have a mapping. :) I also appreciated how funny it is that of course Bill being the storyteller, that he was the most “normal” of the bunch.

It’s been 2 days and they’ve seen it twice, and my girl wants me to own it. I’ll be buying this, *and* the cartoon set (their marketing plans are realized i’m sure :). I’m excited i get to share a piece of my history with her.

kyla pratt is a cutie too. she reminds me of a high school crush, cindy moreland. :)

my 5yo daughter’s capsule review–both times: “That was a fun movie dad.”