unlikelyheroine For a long time when I was a kid, this film sat on the shelf of our local video store and I used to glance in its direction, seeing as the cover looked kind of fun. One day, I persuaded my mother to rent it for me, but when we got the tape home, it was corrupted, which meant no "Freddie as F.R.O.7" for me. At the time, I was disappointed. Having actually sat through this film when it was on satellite TV recently (precious moments of my life that I can never have back - it is perhaps no defence to say that there was something hypnotic about the awfulness), I am glad I did not endure this as a child.This film sums up everything that is bad with some kids' films. It's lazy, amateurish and uninspired. You get the impression the feeling was that the kids wouldn't really notice how bad the script and storyline were, and how unconvincing the characters. It seriously underestimates its audience; OK, I'm a grown-up now, but I hope as a kid, I would have called this for the nonsense that it was (and from other comments on here, I can see a fair few people who watched this as children did just that).Freddie is a French frog (not sure whether the whole idea of the character is actually politically correct these days, really) who ends up as a British secret agent, the logical career progression, I am sure, after you have started out life as a prince, but thanks to the evil machinations of your aunt, end up an amphibian in the palace moat. This curious medieval-set section from the beginning of the film, as others have noted, appears to belong in a different draft of the script. Then I don't know where the aunt goes, there's something about the Loch Ness monster and some woman and some disturbing suggestions that the frog fancies both of them and then Brian Blessed appears. Brian appears to be doing an animated version of his role in "Flash Gordon", and I kept expecting him to shout "Gordon's alive?!" at some moment where the stupid frog was doing something moronic. Brian Blessed is trying to take over Britain by stealing monuments and using them as power sources or shrinking them or... something. Somehow, people across Britain get sent to sleep (possibly they have been forced to watch this tripe). Then Freddie manages to remember that love is more powerful than a sword and then this helps him to use some power that comes out of his tongue or eyes or whatever, to kick Brian Blessed's behind, and then somehow Brian gets shrunk so that he can fit in a little matchbox. Then the aunt reappears as a scorpion or a snake or something and gets electrocuted. Then I think it's over.A few comments on IMDb have praised the animation; to me personally, it looks horrendously ropey, but I may be unfairly judging it by 2007 standards. In my view it's certainly not stood the test of time. Astonishingly, this film features a voice cast that looks incredibly strong on paper: as well as the aforementioned Blessed, we have (Sir) Ben Kingsley, Jonathan Pryce and Nigel Hawthorne, all fine actors who I suppose must have had tax bills to pay in 1992. They can do nothing to salvage this horrible, animated mess. The lines these guys have to work with are shockingly bad. The scriptwriter's idea of humour is for Freddie to express clichés such as: "Well, we can see 'ere dat, 'ow you say, your chickens 'ave come 'ome to roost!" I may have missed something, but I thought this line was said following a sequence that had nothing to do with chickens, coming home or roosting, and as such was entirely random and apropos of nothing - is there supposed to be a joke somewhere that I failed to grasp? I have no idea - perhaps it just filled a few more seconds of screen time and that was the idea. Then there's the dreadful songs and just... ugh. Horrible film, and an embarrassment for all involved. Kids (and the adults who watch films with them) deserve a lot better. Whilst I am sure it will not have had anything like the same budget, "Freddie as F.R.O.7" came out the same year as Disney's "Aladdin"; the latter is light years ahead for entertainment value, professionalism and treating children with even just a bit of intelligence and good taste.

jcsmarchesi If you're a fan of animation from independent companies, you can stumble across anything far worse than Freddie as F.R.O.7. It's not a horrible movie, but sadly it isn't a great one, either. The main weakness of it is that the plot just isn't very believable, as the story of a young prince transformed into a frog saves England from disappearing buildings is just plain silly. If you can ignore the confusing silliness of the plot, you might find it a charming cartoon.And it helps that some have actually put some effort into the film. The animation isn't up to par with Disney, but like all indie company efforts, some shots are truly gorgeous. The nessies are particularly well animated, our first encounter with one of them is beautifully handled. The voices are topnotch, too, with Ben Kingsley pumping charm through Freddie.Other than that, it's pretty weak. While kids would love the characters and good intentions, it's not satisfying enough for the big screen. But at least it has its charm.

Nicholas Bellerophon 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.

supercrisis I remember seeing this film in theatres as a child. I don't remember much about it except that I did enjoy it. It's a good watch for the kiddies, probably not as watchable for the parents. Since I can't remember much I'd say take a chance on a $.99 kids' rental and then get Spy Kids for the whole family to watch.