Joyeux Muppet Show de Noël

Sorry, but the script for this was a good first draft, but a poor final draft. Certainly there are moments of brilliance (the snowman, bringing back Doc Hopper), but they are mixed in with a lame effort to make God into a comedic character, sexual innuendo, and over the top homosexual characters that will discourage both conservative and liberal parents from showing this to their kids.

This movie will probably appeal to the current flock of MTV fans. It has all the naughty humor, celebrities du jour and predictable plot that will more than satisfy the current 2 second attention span of today's post-adolescents.

However, as a family movie, it is simply pathetic and certainly not something that Jim Henson (or even Frank Oz, noticeably absent from this production) would've ever signed his name to. Certainly, Jim would never have approved of a muppet character admiring cleavage or another male character admiring Kermit's "tookus". Fortunately this movie is not representative of the quality Muppet movies produced over the years, of which we are big fans.

I predict that the used bins of many a video store will be filled with copies of this movie after the holidays.

It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002, Dir. Kirk R. Thatcher)

Kermit is enjoying their Christmas with their usual selection of shows at the Muppet Theatres, but then trouble starts. Miss Bitterman enters the Theatre and demands that the money on the Theatre is paid back to her bank, or the Theatre is hers. Problems arise, and the money does not make it to Miss Bitterman in time. Up in heaven, Daniel has been watching Kermit and asks Daniels 'Boss' to deal out some much needed discipline. Will Kermit get back the Theatre?

It's a shame that Muppet films have gone such downhill since their last cinema outing. 'It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie' is not a bad Muppet film, but it's not exactly the greatest. The acting as always was good, with some wonderful cameos, such as Matthew Lillard, who was just funny. The story was different, but could have been better organised. They should have had the problems with the Theatre shown should have been placed at the beginning, before they showed the visit to God etc. There wasn't many musical numbers either, which was quite disappointing. The Muppet films are known for their songs and dancing. I counted about two songs playing in this film, and both wasn't fantastic. If you are a Muppet fan, you are probably gonna enjoy this.

I wish i've never been born! - Kermit (Steve Whitmire)

I first saw this movie last year on NBC and was very pleasantly surprised. I'm not really a big Muppet fan. It's not that I don't like them, it's just that I've never watched them that much. So why was I interested in this movie in the first place? I'm not really sure. Maybe because Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was in it! Nevertheless, I had some good laughs watching this last year.

Fast forward to the present time and I saw this on sale, so I had to get it. Watching it a second time, I'm a little more conscious about concerns that some scenes were too "adult" for this movie. For example, the whole rave scene might get people upset where lovable Scooter is grinding in a cage!! Another example is the character Pepe who swoons over Joan Cusack's character and uses the terms, "sexy" and "topless."

So I could kind of see how people can get upset with this movie, but I definitely don't think it tarnishes what the Muppets are all about, unlike what's being done in 'The Cat in the Hat' movie. The Muppets still provide family-friendly laughter and moments to people of all ages. Fozzie's Grinch scene was pretty funny, Pepe steals the show, the spoof on 'It's a Wonderful Life' is great, and I like the jabs at NBC's corporate synergy (I'm a business major and a former Disney employee, so I know this stuff well!) I also found the song between Gonzo and Kermit, "Everyone Matters," to be very nice and sweet.

Overall, this is a very nice and funny Christmas movie. I wouldn't necessarily label this as a classic or really all that memorable though, because honestly, are we going to remember some of their references (Scrubs, Ricky Martin, and Moulin Rouge) ten years from now? By the way, I've never seen Moulin Rouge, so that spoof went way over my head!

This movie is good for the current time period, but I'm afraid it won't live on much longer unlike other Christmas classics (Rudolph, A Christmas Story, Mickey's Christmas Carol). Now is a good time to see it though.

My IMDb Rating: 7/10. My Yahoo! Grade: B (Good)

This is, without a doubt, the best Muppet movie in a *long* time. And the Muppets are back to zany form with parodies, such as "Moulin Scrooge", taking place in their classic Muppet Theater. Most of the newer Muppets are nowhere to be found, while older favorites have returned, and Fozzie has been brought back to the foreground. Welcome back!

The plot, basically a Muppet version of "It's a Wonderful Life" (I guess we can get used to Muppet versions of classics now, since the more original "Muppets from Space" failed), pits Kermit and the gang against a corporate shark who intends to turn their theater into a nightclub. All is fine until everybody's favorite bear fails to get their money to the bank on time. Now, the theater is gone, everyone is out of work, and Kermit is despondent. Time for a little Divine intervention.

The strange thing about this movie is that it maintains a "G" rating, but just barely. The Muppets have always had bizarre and sometimes risque humor (Gonzo's chicken fetish has always been, well, odd), but the ante is upped in this outing, with Scooter cage dancing and Pepe being promised a special bonus as a woman focuses his eyes on her chest. (No cleavage, though. Either you know what she's talking about, or you don't.) It goes a little too far, but just a little, and not enough to destroy the film.

The other problem, really, is that the director seemed more intent on making a feature film than one for television. Many of the segues into commercials feel forced, like they suddenly hit the time limit and had to end the scene prematurely with artificial suspense, or perhaps they wanted to cut to another scene directly but time wouldn't allow. Whatever the reason, the commercial breaks feel very out-of-place. (There's also one too many NBC plugs, but it never really got annoying. Network TV; what're ya gonna do?)

Still, this film is far too enjoyable to nitpick. The Muppets truly are back to form. Let's hope they stay there.