Freddie as F.R.O.7
| Freddie as F.R.O.7 | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Jon Acevski |
| Produced by | Jon Acevski Norman Priggen |
| Written by | Jon Acevski David Ashton |
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Adrian Della Touche (British release) James Earl Jones (American release) |
| Music by |
David Dundas Rick Wentworth |
| Cinematography | Rex Neville |
| Edited by |
Mick Manning Alex Reymant |
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Production
company |
Hollywood Road Films
J&M Entertainment |
| Distributed by |
The Rank Organisation (UK) Miramax Films (US) |
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Release date
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Running time
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90 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1,119,368 |
Freddie as F.R.O.7 (released in North America as Freddie the Frog) is a 1992 British animated musical action fantasy film written and directed by Jon Acevski. It is a parody of James Bond. The film was inspired by bedtime stories Acevski told to his son about his favourite toy frog working as a secret agent.
The tale begins in the Middle Ages at Monaco, Monte Carlo, France. It tells of Prince Frederic, who is a 10-year-old boy who lived with his kingly father in a huge castle by the ocean at Monaco, and was taught magical powers. His mother, the queen, has been dead for over a year, drowned at sea in a storm. One day, while the two are out horse riding in the forest, Frederic loses his father who is thrown to his death from a great height (6 ft) after his mount is spooked by a strange red cobra. Frederic watches it slither away; he had never seen one of those in the forest before. Now an orphan, Frederic is taken in by his paternal aunt, Messina (Billie Whitelaw), who, as the king's sister, accedes to the throne, but only as regent, until her nephew comes of age to assume responsibility as the next ruler when she must step down. Soon Frederic realizes that the cobra he saw in the forest was Messina (also responsible for conjuring up the storm that took the life of his mother) and rather than killing the young prince, she transformed him into a frog and tried to capture him. Soon, both fall from the castle window and into the raging ocean, and Frederic is saved in the jaws of a giant sea monster. The power-hungry Messina vows to rule the world and destroy Frederic. The monster really turns out to be Nessie (Phyllis Logan). As Messina departed, Nessie's tail became trapped under a boulder. She befriended Frederic, who in turn used his powers to free her tail from the boulder. Nessie took him near dry land, and notes that if Frederic ever needed her, he would whistle. Frederic then leaped into the night sky, jumped through time zones until the late 20th century and landed in a swamp full of frogs, where he would spend the rest of his childhood in his new life as Freddie the Frog.
Freddie eventually grows up to become a member of the French secret service, known as F.R.O.7. and also has an anthropomorphic car (the reason for which is never explained). He is then called to London, England by the British Secret Service, as some major famous buildings in the United Kingdom are vanishing. By the time Freddie arrives as he left Paris, France. Nelson's Column, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, St. Pauls Cathedral, and Stonehenge are already missing. Freddie meets the Brigadier G (Nigel Hawthorne), who seems to have trouble keeping himself and his comrades from getting tangled up in the phone cord. Freddie is introduced to Daffers (Jenny Agutter), an Englishwoman who is an expert in martial arts, and Scotty, a Scotsman who is an expert with weapons. Things take a turn for the worse as Canterbury Cathedral disappears. Freddie also meets Trilby, a sneaky member of the secret service.
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Wikipedia