![]() I mentioned above that I was a huge Gonzo fan as a kid, and he’s still one of my favorite Muppets. Maybe it’s that there are more Muppets with dialogue, maybe it’s that the movie doesn’t feel the need to be as faithful to its source material, but there’s something a little wilder and bolder about that film. The same goes for Muppet Treasure Island, of course, but the problem doesn’t seem as sharply in focus. ![]() In The Muppet Christmas Carol, at least, the lead character isn’t played by a human. Humans don’t deserve zero praise for their work in Muppet movies for example, I quite like Charles Durning and Austin Pendleton as the baddies in The Muppet Movie. See also 'Shadow Show' #1 adapts the influenced wonder of Ray Bradbury's workīut therein lies the key issue with The Muppet Christmas Carol: the highest praise I have for one of its performers should not go to a human. That Caine does say those lines, does bring the proper amount of emotion to the character, and make the audience believe in Scrooge’s life-altering transformation speaks to his power as an actor. None of them had to say that kind of silly dialogue and mean it. But none of them had to say, “Why, it’s old Fozziwig’s rubber chicken factory!” with a straight face. They’re all fine Scrooges, in slightly different ways. ![]() You can keep your Alistair Sims, Patrick Stewarts, and George C. (Seeing this when I was 8 meant that I’d probably never seen a movie with him in it before.) Caine is arguably the best Scrooge of the age of cinema and television. Now, I’m also a much more appreciative and aware fan of Michael Caine. Lo and behold, he’s the onscreen narrator for The Muppet Christmas Carol, so I wasn’t complaining about not having Kermit, Piggy, or Fozzie to kick around. When I was a youngster, my favorite Muppet was probably Gonzo. I really like them, and since there are so many of them, whether or not you know their names, it’s easy to latch onto a favorite. In that way, The Muppet Christmas Carol is pretty toothless.Īnd yet, I enjoy The Muppet Christmas Carol, as do many of you, I imagine. They may not have been as anarchic as, say, the cast of Saturday Night Live, but the Muppets have always broken the fourth wall, commented on the stories they’re in or the jokes they’re telling. It’s more faithful than people assume, but that’s because when you think of the Muppets, you don’t think of honoring the author’s intent or the source material. Good or bad, The Muppet Christmas Carol isn’t that faithful an adaptation. Dickens didn’t plan for felt versions of frogs, pigs, bears, and more to interpret his story, nor for them to sing about it. No matter how faithful Juhl and Henson are, though, we must remember something fairly important: this movie isn’t that faithful, because of THE MUPPETS. Some of the most famous Muppets are given small roles, simply because the movie chooses to be somewhat more faithful than we might expect to Charles Dickens’ classic tale. Three of the ghosts–the ones with the most screen time–aren’t played by Muppet characters we’re familiar with. It’s almost like a form of fan fiction: “If the Muppets were starring in a version of A Christmas Carol, who would play Bob Cratchit?” The problem, really, is that the creative team here boxes themselves in. But what if a Muppet movie becomes a movie with Muppets on the side? We get the Walt Disney Pictures’ version of Muppet movies, something akin to Classics Illustrated adaptations with brighter colors and friendlier twists and turns. The Muppets are the focus of any Muppet movie. But the problem in The Muppets isn’t nearly as frustrating as what happens in The Muppet Christmas Carol.īy making Ebenezer Scrooge a human character, director Brian Henson and screenwriter Jerry Juhl put themselves into a corner. There have been different ways of saying it, but the biggest flaw in The Muppets is that Jason Segel and Amy Adams aren’t as compelling as the felt creatures standing next to them. Simply by being Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, the Great Gonzo, and more, the Muppets take the spotlight away from the humans beside them. There were humans present in both films, but humans play second fiddle to the Muppets. Is it right for us to see the Muppets out of their natural habitat? That question was posed to audiences in the 1990s, as Walt Disney Pictures brought us The Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992 and Muppet Treasure Island in 1996, two adaptations of famous novels with Muppets inserted into key roles.
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