Famous Fred

Nice animation, decent production values but not much appeal for anyone over age 12.

FAMOUS FRED seems to be, in some ways, the life of Elvis in cat form! Fred is a cat who can sing and charm the ladies like The King and over time, he puts on weight and lets himself go...like The King. Aside from these parallels and some nice animation, there wasn't much about this British cartoon that appealed to me. Like ROCKADOODLE, this film seemed to be aimed just at the kids and would have extremely limited appeal to adults. In fact, it was a real chore for me to watch it. So why did I do this? Well, I have recently begun watching as many of the recent Academy Award winners in the category of Best Animated Short Film and this one was nominated for the Oscar in 1998.

This short was nominated for an Academy Award and is actually fairly good, with an amusing premise about a cat who leads a much more interesting and involved life than his humans realize. While not the best short I've seen, entertaining enough with quite a few good moments and young children will be quite entertained. Good animation. Recommended.

Joanna Quinn is a highly under-appreciated filmmaker not often talked about outside of the animation circle. Not only is she a brilliant draftsman and storyteller in her own regard, but a lot of her films delve into topics that many filmmakers don't even tackle, such as body positivity and maturity through living freely. However, in regards to her more family oriented work, Famous Fred comes to mind immediately. Based on the children's book by cartoonist Posy Simmonds, the film has remained fairly obscure as only having aired on England's Channel 4. This is a real shame since the special itself is a lot of fun in its own right.

The main storyline revolves around the passing of family cat Fred, in which siblings Sophie and Nick discover how big of a deal their favorite feline was to many other kittens and tomcats alike. While the special does take a little while to really get going at first, the overall plot manages to tell so much about just one unordinary feline in just under 30 minutes. Hearing all the different perspectives from the cats and animals that knew Fred as a rockstar, be it personally or professionally, the film becomes more and more interesting with just how far celebrity status can reach in even the smallest circles. It makes it even funnier when one considers how the main reactives to all these different creatures are Sophie and Nick, since human beings learning more about their pet's lives feels more believable from the minds of two naive children than any adult. Not to mention, the special seems to favor the children's POV over the adults anyway, as they're mainly just shown to be standard reactions to Fred's everyday cat routines. The endless wonders of childhood innocence never cease to amaze people.

As far as art direction goes, the film feels exactly like a children's book come to life, from simplified albeit graphically pleasing backgrounds to minimal character designs. The modern day English setting works as a solid contrast between the flashbacks of Fred's life, which go in a more brightly saturated backdrop to emphasize Fred's outstanding rock & roll career. The character animation is also very smooth and dynamic, showcasing some beautifully coordinated dance moves and specific acting from any given character. It also works well when even comparing the human movements to the anthropomorphized animals, they all feel like they belong in the same world. Lastly, the few musical numbers in the film would not have been nearly as memorable without comedian Lenny Henry delivering them with robust finesse, as well as doing a splendid job voicing Fred in his rockstar alter ego. Helped with Tom Courtenay as Fred's overly anxious manager Kenneth and David Robb as the nostalgic Ginger, and you've got a cast putting their all into the memories of a rock & roll star with nine lives.

Though it might seem aimed more at adults than children, Famous Fred is a charmingly hysterical tale of remembering a special someone that ordinary people would not have thought much of at first glance. If you've yet to check this out, definitely give it a go at some point, and maybe even introduce it to your children. They might not get every single reference at first, but the sheer unapologetic sincerity from how fame makes and breaks someone is all intact in this otherwise family oriented tale of two children discovering more about their pet cat. It's unique, funny, shocking, and above all else, adorable.

I remember seeing this on television at around Christmastime about eight years ago and I was highly engaged with it. I found this on Vimeo today and whilst watching it was as good as I remembered and there were a few things I noticed differently from the first time around such as the production company TVC being spelt out in magnetic letters on the fridge and some subtle adult jokes in spite of two reviewers saying this was mostly aimed at children.

The animation style, while flickery and repetitive in parts yet smooth with some great uses of squash and stretch and follow-through and overlapping action, captures the look of Posy Simmonds' book illustrations perfectly (despite not having read the original 'Fred' book but I do own 'Lulu and the Chocolate Wedding') while the music has a great variety to it from gospel to rock and roll. The dialogue is often gentle yet witty and somewhat tongue in cheek, thus giving this short a pleasing appeal to both children and adults alike while the voice acting is superb, particularly from Jessica Lynam and David John Barker as the children Sophie and Nick respectively, Joanna Quinn as their mother, Lenny Henry as Fred and Tom Courtenay as Kenneth the guinea pig.

All in all this is a hugely entertaining short film, albeit its repeated animation in places, that should also appeal to fans of 'The Snowman' films. 9/10.