Kermit's Swamp Years

Oddly, "The Swamp Years" is about Kermit's adventures away from the swamp. The plot takes its good-hearted turns rather abruptly, without much signalling in advance. There are some in-jokes like Kermit's first encounter with a pig-- the sort of joke more likely to inspire a knowing nod than a guffaw. There are some poop jokes, which I don't think Jim Henson would have put up with. Kermit's voice is pretty good, except for an occasional underpronounced vowel. The music is well chosen, but there isn't enough of it and some of the lyrics are lame. I think my favorite character was Kermit's mother, who is more obviously a human hand than today's Muppets usually are. For some reason, I found it rather touching that when you go back in Kermit's ancestry you find the human creator more thinly disguised.

Just for the record, I am a big fan of the Muppets, The Muppet Show and Muppet Babies were part of my childhoods, and I love all their specials and movies, excepting Letters to Santa, Muppet Wizard of Oz and this. Kermit's Swamp Years is not terrible, it's just that I had a very lukewarm reception towards it. The costume and set design are splendid, the voice work is great especially from Steve Whitmire and Dave Goelz and there are some cute moments such as the outtakes. However, the songs are mediocre, especially the uninspired lyrics, the script and jokes fall flat due to a lack of comic timing with the human cast with little of the material coming across as memorable or quotable, the story is dull and very basic with too much emphasis on the comic elements consequently the wit and heart is gone and the human cast range from so-so(Drew Haggard) to quite bad(John Hostetter). All in all, didn't do much for me, as much as I do love the Muppets. 4/10 Bethany Cox

although I couldn't put my finger on why. I could have picked it up at Wal-Mart for five bucks, and yet I didn't. There was something about the packaging and the ads I'd seen that made me think "This isn't a Muppet film. This is a kids' movie by people who think they know what kids like" and I didn't know what made me think that way.

Until a few minutes ago, when the answer struck me like a lead brick: Color.

In most, if not all, Muppet productions to date, it has been much easier to ignore the fact that the characters are fairly brightly colored, felt objects, because of the surrounding color. The Muppet Show took place in a dimly lit theater, with dark burgundy curtains serving as Kermit's introductory backdrop. Sesame Street is, for the most part, dark grey. Fairly subdued, real-type places. The Muppet Movie ranges the gamut, but it always takes place in real locations, with no bright colors added for the sake of bright colors. And that's what was missing from (at least the promotional portions of) this movie. It seemed like they were aiming for kids because nothing seemed real. Including the grass. Including the swamp. None of it seemed like it was even *attempting* to be real, and so it was difficult for me to take it seriously enough to even desire to watch it.

It might be a good movie. I don't know. Maybe I'll learn different sometime.

But for this Muppet fan, it was just asking for one unbelief-suspension too many.

Kermit's Swamp Years (2002, Dir. David Gumpel)

Kermit the Frog whilst on his travels back to the swamp he grew up on, remembers one of his earlier adventures. Kermit, Croaker, Goggles and Blotch are sent on a wild adventure into the outside world, when Croaker and bully Blotch and kidnapped and placed in a pet store. It's now up to Kermit and Goggle, with help from a friendly dog called Pilgrim to save them. But someone else has his eye on them. Dr Krassman wants to buy all the frogs and use them in biology lessons.

When you first look at 'Kermit's Swamp Year's', it should be obvious at first, that it is not going to live up to the fun you get when watching a 'Muppets' title, but after watching Kermits life, it's obvious what is missing; The Muppets. Most things are here. The suitable story, the quality of the puppets and even Waldolf and Statler. The songs are slightly disappointing, with the longest song being quite bad. It can sometime feel very drawn out, and makes you really miss the likes of Miss Piggy and Gonzo. But still if you are a Muppet fan, then you should at least catch up on this story, but youngest are gonna like it more.

"I'm not a froggy pants." - Young Hugo Krassman (Hampton Dixon)

Not that great. Perhaps very young children might enjoy this. I would be surprised if many folks over 9 or 10 find Kermit's Swamp Year's entertaining. It's lacking in charm, wit and humor. The best part of the DVD is the Behind-the-scenes featurette with the armadillo and the on the set interview with Kermit. If the movie were as funny as the special features, it would be worth having.