The story, of an urbane amphibian who operates as a master spy, began life 20 years ago as bedtime tales for writer/director Acevskis son. This dating is the main problem, as Freddie is so rooted in early Bond movies it saddles itself with send-ups that may have amused a middle-aged film producer Freddies codename, his suave way with the ladies, his silk scarf n vintage roadster flash, etc - but wont mean much to the Bart Simpson and South Park generation.
Add to that a notion of cartoon drama that crystalised way before Homers little lad was born (ie pre-Touchstone Disney) and you have a whole that looks so dated its open to question by even the dullest five year-old. Even TVs Dangermouse managed a sufficiently cynical sense of irony.
Here, everythings played dead straight : a young prince is orphaned by a wicked witch, then turned into a frog (Freddie) who grows six feet tall, wears clothes, is multi-lingual and joins the French secret service. Years later, said witch has teamed up with a snake whos stealing historical buildings to suck out the earths goodness (why the Houses Of Parliament is included is anybodys guess). Re-enter Freddie and old sores are settled, the world is saved and the buildings put back, with a little help from the Loch Ness Monster.