DVD Reviews

Fred the Movie – DVD Review

By June L. Oct 4, 2010, 18:35 GMT

Join Fred in his hilarious journey to find Judy! Hey, it s Fred in his first movie! And he is in love with the girl next door, Judy (Pixie Lott). But his nemesis neighbor, Kevin, thwarts all attempts Fred makes to see her, and when he finally succeeds in making it over to Judy s house she s moved! With the advice of his super cool dad (John Cena), Fred ...more

Lucas Cruikshank’s web sensation “Fred” has been turned into a movie. The characters that fans have come to love on YouTube are now in a full length film, expanded and enhanced. Fred’s off beat view of life appeals to kids and Nickelodeon has given him a chance to shine.

Fred the Movie was born online in Lucas Cruikshank’s home through the many filmed adventures of the character he created and put on YouTube. He is not Fred, but he tapped in to some of the elements of his life and personality to build Fred’s persona. This character has hit a chord with viewers on the web giving Fred a large fan following. Fred is the outsider kid a person that everyone feels like at some point in their lives.

Rather than being sullen or withdrawn and bitter, Fred seems to spring up from every embarrassing episode, or soul crushing event, with even wilder plans and dreams to achieve his goal. In this film, he is in love with Judy (Pixie Lott) the girl next door, and his entire objective is to get her attention. The pain of loneliness for Fred is masked by his grand ideas and imaginings.

The story is simple in that Fred is looking for Judy, thwarted at every turn by Kevin a seemingly cooler neighbor boy, but who has issues of his own. Fred’s world is that of unreality, until he finds Judy at a party, and he is filmed by his classmates in an embarrassing episode.

This hurts for Fred, and for the audience, dredging up all those rejection pains from adolescence. Will Fred bounce back and plan his revenge, and will he be able to accomplish his grand scheme?

It is when he seeks revenge on Kevin and the other kids that Fred actually connects with another human, his friend Bertha (Jennette McCurdy). With Bertha’s help, he is able to make at least one plan come to pass, and we feel that Fred is on his way.

Fred the Movie is presented on single disc with a running time of 83 minutes. In addition to the feature there are many special features that serve to enhance the movie. We learn the beginnings of Fred in “From WebCam to Lead Man” featurette with Lucas Cruikshank.

“Same Dude, Big Crew Fred’s First Film Behind the Scenes featurette, takes viewers to the set of the movie, showing how Fred’s world was created and filmed. There is an audio commentary for the film with Clay Weiner, Dave Goodman and Lucas Cruikshank. A classic Fred video “Fred Stalks Judy” and an exclusive Fred video “Fred’s got talent,” round out the collection.

This is an interesting look at creativity in the computer age, that this character has been imagined and filmed first by Lucas Cruikshank and now adopted by Nickelodeon and given room to grow and expand, giving Fred perhaps a different beginning from any other media character.

Parents be warned that the character and the humor are definitely of the early teen age genre, so you may not “get” immediately what your kids see in Fred.