Joyeux Muppet Show de Noël

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.

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.

I think that the people who made this film had the people who grew up with the Muppets (people in their 20's and 30's) in mind. But that's the problem. We watch the Muppet movies to "escape" from the crap that other movies dish out, not wanting to see a movie that celebrates it. Basically, instead of using a plot, the movie tries too hard to use "pop cultural references" (such as referring to Britney Spears, or Triumph the Insult Comic Dog) and also uses inappropriate characters and situations (such as using seemingly gay characters; a rave scene where they have Scooter dancing as a cage dancer in a club, the Shrimp, Pepe, even using the word "sexy", etc.) It's not that we viewers can't "handle" more mature and modern Muppets, it's just that we don't want to. And I don't think parents want their kids to watch this. I just think this kind of stuff would confuse them. Plus the violence, although mild and cartoonish, is unnecessary. They have characters who say "let's go beat up" Fozzie, and fight scenes between humans and Muppets, and Muppets and Muppets, that are uncalled for, and not humorous at all. Bizarrely enough, the humans in this movie (except for one) all have these bizarrely happy smiles on their faces, and don't talk. It's just weird. It's almost like the Muppets are acting worse off than the innocent-looking humans. This movie just failed with me. I was upset how the people who wrote this tried to "sell out" and break something that don't need to be fixed. I will never watch this again, and I would not want to let kids see it. The Muppets have little personality in this, and any plot is substituted with references to other movies, as if the Muppets don't have any worth of their own. Which they should.

Ah how I do love the muppets. They are always so fun and joyus and there are about five different films set at christmas, each of which is great. In this movie the gangs beloved thetre is thretened with closure from a horrible tyccoon played by joan cusack. David arquette sees kermit down in the dumps and talks to god, an apperance by whoopie goldburg. They dont help but are more there for the cameo part. Matthew lilard also plays a strange french fella. Theres fun and excitement and good songs as always as the gang set about to make the money up. I akways enjoy seeing them and am amazed by the pupperty. Overall a very good christmas film.

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)