Line #74 WesternAnimation/FreddieAsFRO7


1	[[quoteright:298:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Freddiethefrog_1814.jpg]]
2
3	''Freddie as F.R.O.7'' (Known in the United States as ''Freddie the Frog'') was a... ''strange'' children's film produced in the UK in 1992.
4
5	The basic plot: Frederick, a young medieval French prince with magical powers, is turned into a frog by his evil sorceress aunt, who kills his (likewise magically-trained) father in a bid to seize the throne. After being pursued by his aunt (assuming the form of a snake), the prince is saved by the Loch Ness Monster, who indebts herself to him, and hides out with a colony of anthropomorphic frogs for an unspecified time. After ultimately deciding to accept his fate and fight evil using his powers, Freddie [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext grows to the size of an adult human, travels to the future and becomes a French secret agent with a sentient car]]. (voiced by Creator/BenKingsley!).
6
7	And that's just the ''prologue''.
8
9	Two English cuts of the film exist, these being the original version of the film released to cinemas in the UK and the US (as ''Freddie as F.R.O.7'') and a noticeably-shorter cut released on VHS in the United States under the alternate title ''Freddie the Frog''. The original and unedited UK version is now available on Website/YouTube, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov2whoa8fKA here]]. The American cut is reviewed [[http://madnessmonster.wordpress.com/2009/06/27/freddy-the-frog-review/ here]].
10
11	The chief differences between the UK and the US version is that in the US version, there was an attempt to make the plot more streamlined (complete with introductory narration by Creator/JamesEarlJones), although they also removed numerous lines that makes the film a least a ''little'' easier to follow. It also removes much of the original UK cut's bizarre attempts at sexual innuendo, several shots of Klansmen within the VillainSong and a brief, oblique shot in which Daffers [[InterspeciesRomance flashes Freddie]].
12
13	----
14	!!Tropes:
15
16	* AdiposeRex: El Supremo is rather rotund.
17	* AffectionateParody: Of James Bond via WordOfGod. The movie is based on stories director Jon Acevski would tell his son about how his favorite toy frog was a secret agent.
18	%%* AnimatedMusical
19	%%* {{Animorphism}}: Freddie.
20	* AppliedPhlebotinum: The magic crystal which absorbs the national energy of the monuments.
21	* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Frogs certainly like water... ''fresh''water. Saltwater is very dangerous to most species of frog because it causes them potentially lethal dehydration. Yet Freddie has few, if any, problems taking a dip in the sea.
22	* ATeamFiring: El Supremo's henchmen form a dozen man wide firing line, and open on full automatic fire on Freddie, Scotty, and Daffers. They somehow don't hit anything.
23	* AutobotsRockOut: Freddie's final confrontation with El Supremo's mooks is scored to "Lay Down Your Arms" by Music/{{Asia}}.
24	* AwardBaitSong: "I'll Keep Your Dreams Alive" by George Benson & Patti Austin. [[InNameOnly It has nothing to do with the rest of the movie]].
25	* BadBoss: Messina kills quite a few of her own henchmen during "Evilmania" for apparently no reason whatsoever.
26	* BaldOfEvil: Most of El Supremo and Messina's {{Mooks}} have shaved heads or at least bald/balding. Even "[[EvilRedhead The Leader]]" at the horse races, when his top hat is knocked off, is revealed to be be bald''ing''. Inverted with the British Secret Service. Most of them, including TheBrigadier, are going bald (with the butler having an entirely bald head). Trilby is the only one with a full head of hair [[spoiler:and he turns out to be a turncoat]].
27	%%* BewitchedAmphibians: Guess who?
28	* BigBadDuumvirate: [[EvilMatriarch Messina]] and [[EvilIsHammy El Supremo]].
29	* {{Bowdlerise}}: The cuts and edits to the "American version".
30	* {{Brainwashed}}: Daffers at the command of El Supremo. [[spoiler:She's faking the entire time.]]
31	* TheBrigadier: The head of the British Secret Service. He's even called "The Brigadier" (with the codename "Brigadier G," specifically), and, when in uniform, this appears to be his actually rank, too.
32	* CardCarryingVillain: Messina proudly calls herself the "Queen of Evilmania".
33	* ChekhovsGun: Earlier in the film, Freddie's father (A wizard) shows off his powers by turning his sword into a flock of butterflies. During the battle against El Supremo and his kooks, Freddie uses this spell to transform their guns.
34	* ClingyJealousGirl:
35	** Nicole, who is a ''car.''
36	** It's implied Messina may be this to El Supremo.
37	* DerangedAnimation: The British spirit [[BuffySpeak thingies]] inside the crystal.
38	** The strange way Mesina's cronies walk.
39	** The scene in which the [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext punk crows notice the disappearance of several London landmarks]] is animated in a noticeably jerkier, more stop-motion-reminiscent style than the remainder of the film.
40	* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Young Frederick's father, the King of France, was not only skilled with magic, but believed in using these powers for good.
41	* DiabolicalMastermind: El Supremo, of course, since he's basically a pastiche of Bond villains.
42	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything? Freddie gives Scotty the "French Kiss of Life" but assures him "This will be our little secret".
43	* DubInducedPlotHole:
44	** Trilby's status as TheMole was superfluous to begin with (he doesn't do anything but act smug and snicker evilly) but the American Cut's removal of him getting exposed and arrested makes it even more nonsensical, as he's now acting suspicious for seemingly no reason at all.
45	** Overlapping with VoodooShark, the American cut tries to explain how Freddie is still alive in the 1990s by saying he used his magic powers to TimeTravel to the future. All well and good, but if he could travel through time, why didn't he go back and save his parents from Messina? Speaking of Messina, neither English cut explains why ''she's'' still around hundreds of years later.
46	* EveryoneKnewAlready: An unintentional example. It's reported in newspapers that Freddie is now the world's greatest secret agent. [[FridgeLogic How great can he be if it's not a secret]]?
47	* EvilAunt: Messina is Freddie's aunt, and one of the two main villains.
48	* EvilLaugh: Courtesy of [[Creator/BrianBlessed El Supremo]].
49	* EvilPlan: El Supremo's is to steal all the great British landmarks so the UK's people will be too lazy and demoralized to defend their country when his forces invade.
50	%%* EvilMatriarch: Messina.
51	* FatBastard: El Supremo is a chubby man and very lacking in morals.
52	* FedToTheBeast: El Supremo tries to do this Freddie and Scotty in his lair by lowering them into a pool of water under the floor filled with all manner of aquatic monsters.
53	* ForcedTransformation: Messina turned her nephew into a frog so that he would be easier to kill (or at least get away with killing).
54	* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Despite displaying powerful telekinesis in the prologue, and making a big deal about his preference for his thoughts over violence, Freddie is quick to just use martial arts on his enemies and doesn't bother with his magic until the climax. And even then, he promptly forgets it when it would be useful.
55	* ForTheEvulz: In her introductory scene, Messina turns a cat into a baby chick... just because.
56	* FrenchJerk: Messina is a complete bitch, and Freddie comes off as kind of a dick sometimes.
57	* GasMaskMooks: Many of (but not all) El Supremo's henchmen wear balaclavas with goggles and what looks like a gas mask.
58	* GenreShift: The first fifteen minutes of runtime are a fairly mundane fairy tale movie that seems to be based on Literature/TheFrogPrince. ''Then'' it suddenly shifts into a bizarre comedy-adventure James Bond parody about a quipping human-sized frog agent thwarting a megalomaniacal cult leader purloining London landmarks in TheNineties.
59	* GhostCity: An unintentional example in the opening credits, as Freddie drives through a completely empty city. He's the only car on the road, with no pedestrians in sight.
60	* {{Gonk}}: Most of the human characters are this.
61	* GratuitousNazis: "[[VillainSong Evilmania]]" shows that there are Nazis in El Supremo's organization... for some reason.
62	* HartmanHips: Messina. Even when she's ''a snake''. Somehow.
63	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: El Supremo is shrunk by his own shrinking ray at the film's climax.]]
64	** Happens ''literally'' before that. [[spoiler:Daffers enlarges the shrunken Big Ben while it's behind/partially behind El Supremo, and, when it grows, the clock hands grab him by the seat of his pants. He's left dangling from the clock face.]]
65	* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: El Supremo's interactions with Daffers make it ''very'' clear that he desires her.
66	* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace:
67	** Scotty pulls his gun out at one point, and Freddie tells him to put it away. So, Scotty ''throws it away over his shoulder'', and [[ShurFineGuns it goes off]] and blows a hole in his hat.
68	** [[TooDumbToLive He does it again later with an assault rifle]], although it doesn't go off. He even puts his hands up to protect himself from the bullet, as if he was ''expecting'' it to go off.
69	* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: In the fight scene in the room with the gem and the monuments, the soldiers practically just stand there and take the beating. In the uncut version, they actually try, and still can't hit slow-moving targets. In contrast, the only three fighters defeat them hand to hand.
70	* InterspeciesRomance:
71	** Heavily implied between Duffers and Freddy. [[{{UST}} It gets awkward.]]
72	** There's even some of this implied between [[UnholyMatrimony the villains El Supremo and Messina]], "ARE YOU TIRED, MY BEAUTY?"
73	** There are hints that Nicole has a crush on Freddie as well. Nicole is a ''sentient car'', by the way.
74	* {{Jerkass}}: The villains, obviously, but Freddie is also one at a lesser extent.
75	* KarmaHoudini: In the unedited cut, Messina turns into a vulture and Freddie lets her fly away, possibly starting another evil organization, in spite of not only trying to TakeOverTheWorld once, but killing his parents which he seems not very angry about.
76	* TheKlan: There are some Klansmen (or at least people dressed like them for some reason) in El Supremo's organization, as shown in "[[VillainSong Evilmania]]".
77	* LargeHam: El Supremo, who is voiced by Creator/BrianBlessed.
78	* LiquidAssets: Apparently, a nation's heritage is stored inside historical landmarks and makes everyone in the country fall asleep when stolen.
79	** The way it's explained, it's the country's national pride/patriotism which is stored inside the monuments. Stealing them doesn't do much but demoralize the people. [[spoiler:The Snake group's actual plan is to take the patriotic energy, turn it from positive to negative, and then send it back, leaving the British weak and apathetic and easy targets for a large-scale naval invasion.]]
80	* MadnessMantra: "The Snake shall rule the world!"
81	%%* MagicSkirt: Daffer's outfit.
82	%%* MauriceChevalierAccent: Freddie.
83	* MindOverMatter: Freddie, plotwise, tends to emphasize using his mind instead of guns. When he turns rifles into ''butterflies'', one can see why.
84	* MistakenForRacist: When an aide tries to warn the Brigadier that Freddy, who is from France "is a frog", the Brigadier assumes that the aide is making a racist/xenophobic slur and tells the lad off. He's rather stunned when he sees that [=FRO7=] is a ''literal'' frog.
85	* TheMole: Trilby.
86	* MonumentalTheft: El Supremo's plan is to steal national monuments with a shrinking ray so that the British won't have the morale to fight his invasion.
87	* NationalStereotypes:
88	** Guess where Scotty's from....[[ComicallyMissingThePoint Obviously]], it's {{Oireland}}
89	** Nessie as well. "Ah hahve ta get hoome ta bonnie Scotland!"
90	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Freddie and his aunt both have vaguely defined magical powers which are used solely to advance the plot.
91	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: A magic, telekinetic fairytale prince who was transformed into a giant frog and became a secret agent.
92	* NoIndoorVoice: El Supremo. When chewing out his henchmen for blowing their cover, the walkie-talkie is vibrating so much from the power of his voice that it ''jumps out of the henchman's hands''. Might have something to do with being voiced by Creator/BrianBlessed.
93	* NoNameGiven: El Supremo is only ever referred to by his title. Likewise, the EvilRedhead leader of his men at the racetrack is just called "The Leader."
94	* NonMammalMammaries: Nessie has an obvious bust despite being a reptile.
95	* ObviouslyEvil:
96	** Freddie's aunt, Messina. Having pale skin, [[AnimalMotifs an overall snake-ish appearance]] and a narrator who tells the audience you're evil helps.
97	** Likewise, Trilby, the black-haired, constantly giggling agent among the Brigadier's staff. [[spoiler:Even before we see his Snake tattoo, he's clearly a villain.]]
98	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Messina. Her accent, in human form, is a completely over the top French accent, whereas in Snake form, it's a little more subtle. When she's singing, the French accent drops altogether, because Creator/GraceJones sings it in place of her speaking voice actress.
99	* PlagueDoctor: One appears during [[VillainSong Evil]][[DerangedAnimation mania]]
100	* PretendToBeBrainwashed: El Supremo's mind control doesn't work on Daffers for reasons that are never explained. But she successfully pretends it did by repeatedly intoning "the Snake shall rule the world" in a monotone voice.
101	* PsychicPowers: Freddie's powers are repeatedly referred to as mental, implying that the "magic" is at least partly psychic in nature.
102	* PuttingOnTheReich: The uniforms of the members of the Snake. Black with high-peaked {{Commissar Cap}}s and red armbands depicting the group's symbol, knee-high jackboots and jodhpurs.
103	* RandomEventsPlot: Every new plot element comes completely out of the blue.
104	* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Freddie's evil aunt can turn into a snake. [[ScaledUp It doesn't...]] Wait, it actually ''does'' help once or twice! Huh.
105	** Averted with Nessie, who is quite pleasant.
106	* RunningGag: The Brigadier getting wrapped up in phone cords.
107	%%* ScarfOfAsskicking: Freddie.
108	* ShapeshifterModeLock: For some reason, once Messina turns into a snake she doesn't turn back into a human until the very climax.
109	* ShoutOut: "We've just lost some of our best men! 003 in China, 005 in Russia, [[Film/JamesBond 007 in Hollywood]]—"
110	* SoundtrackDissonance: The final showdown between Freddie and Messina's mooks is scored to Asia's "Lay Down Your Arms"... an anti-war song.
111	* StockFootage: When you use the same thirty seconds or so of animation of the King talking to Freddy over and over through the whole US version of the movie, the audience is eventually going to notice.
112	* StockNessMonster: Freddie meets one, and eventually a family of them, through the course of the film.
113	* {{Stripperific}}: Daffers' outfit, if not just Daffers herself.
114	* SuperNotDrowningSkills:
115	** Scotty, who even ''talks under water'' at one point ([[ArtisticLicenseBiology apparently he's okay as long as he sucks all of the air bubbles back in]]).
116	** Ditto for Messina, who can survive underwater as a snake. But this is possibly because [[AWizardDidIt she's magic.]]
117	* TakeOverTheWorld: The ultimate goal of Messina and El Supremo.
118	* ThemeMusicPowerUp: "Lay Down Your Arms" by {{Music/Asia}} plays when Freddie, Daffers and Scotty fight a horde of {{Mooks}}, and starts up again for Freddie's HeroicSecondWind.
119	* UnholyMatrimony: Implied with Messina and El Supremo. Supremo calls Messina such things as "my lovely", "my darling" and "my beauty" and Messina appears to get jealous when Supremo gets distracted by Daffers. El Supremo's...[[FetishesAreWeird oddly conspicuous obsession with serpents]] may likewise explain why Messina consistently remains in her snake form in his presence.
120	* TheUnreveal: Freddie calling Messina out by name (and identifying her as his aunt) in such a dramatic fashion suggests that it was supposed to be a secret as to who she was, and she never actually speaks to the protagonists before this point. While unconfirmed, this may indicate that the prologue sequence detailing Freddie's backstory may have been added relatively late into production to clarify the film's already-convoluted plot for kids. Given that the prologue likewise adds the detail that Freddie and Messina hail from high medieval France (which is never implied in any other scene) and thus have inexplicably lasted centuries without ageing significantly, your mileage will vary on how much ''more'' bewildering the prologue's addition made the rest of the narrative.
121	* VerbalTic: Freddie has a tendency to, eh, what do you call it?... say "what do you call it" in every other sentence.
122	* VillainBall: Messina could have killed Freddie any way she wanted, but she chose to turn him into frog so she could eat him in snake form, giving him an opportunity to escape.
123	* VillainSong: "Evilmania" by Grace Jones, like the rest of the soundtrack, is surprisingly awesome, despite being set to visuals of [[DisneyAcidSequence rollerskating Nazi officers and new jack swing-dancing Klansmen]].
124	* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Messina has the power to transform herself into animals, but she seems to prefer a snake form.
125	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
126	** Trilby, a member of the British Secret Service who is constantly seen grinning and laughing evilly to himself, who is later viewed to be a spy for El Supremo. The American version removes this revelation, and he just seems to be an asshole.
127	** In the US cut, [[SequelHook instead of turning into a bird and flying away]], Messina gets wrapped around a pole [[StockFootage (again)]] and... that's it.
128	* WhatTheHellHero: When Freddie discovers the latest targeted monument is Big Ben, he tells the Brigadier that the target is Windsor Castle so Big Ben would get taken, and he could infiltrate the enemy base. To prevent them from informing the Brigadier, he disabled their walkie-talkies. Scotty and Daffers are not pleased.
129	** Freddie also lets Messina escape in the end, for whatever reason in the original cut (possibly because the producers had actually '''begun''' to make a sequel [[StillbornFranchise before UK audiences and critics put a stop to]] ''[[StillbornFranchise that]]'').
130	* YouHaveFailedMe: Said by El Supremo to "The Leader" at the racetrack, although instead of punishing him (that we see, anyway), he just orders him and the other {{Mooks}} to return to base.
131	* YourSizeMayVary: Messina's snake form doesn't seem to have any kind of consistent size. [[AWizardDidIt Of course, since she's a witch, it's possible she can alter her own size.]]

Context WesternAnimation / FreddieAsFRO7