The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
A retelling of the classic Dickens tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, miser extraordinaire. He is held accountable for his dastardly ways during night-time visitations by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.
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The Muppet Christmas Carol was released on 11 December 1992 but there is one sad song that did not make it into the final cut of the original cinema release of the film: a song called "When Love is Gone". When Love is Gone was cut from the film by Jeffrey Katzenberg because he thought the song would not be interesting or might upset little children. Jeffrey Katzenberg will be proved wrong so that he will reinstate the song "When Love is Gone" back into The Muppet Christmas Carol by making a brand new cut of the film for its 25th anniversary and will be rereleased on DVD and Blu-ray around the world, updated with new 1080p Blu-ray screencaps and reuploaded on all film and TV websites. Let's all hope The Muppet Christmas Carol will get a 25th anniversary with the song "When Love is Gone"!
Spoiler alert, I know, but thank goodness Scrooge brought Bob and Emily Hartley, er, Cratchit (Kermit and Miss Piggy) a turkey instead of a ham. THAT would've been awkward. As much of a Muppets fan I am, I've only seen The Muppet Christmas Carol once or twice before, probably right around 1992-3 when it came out. At the time, I loved their original stories and wasn't pleased when they took on other fables, like 'A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost- Story of Christmas' or this movie's follow-up, 'Treasure Island.' I thought this was just okay back then.Insert Present Day Me, or in 1992-3 Me's case, Me Yet to Come (wait, that sounded weird ) and this movie isn't just harmless, it's cute, hilarious for all the inserted perfect Muppet humor and knows how to stick to the original source while intergrading basically a kids play. The humor can be appreciated by both adults and children and the story is timeless. Now, the bad part. I know, bah humbug. I'm not a fan of the musical numbers. They're okay, but to me, not catchy or memorable. One stood out – the last one, but overall, they worked but were quickly forgotten.The synopsis should be so well-known by now you would be the Ghost of Christmas Past not to know it. So, I'll spare you. What you might not know, this might very well be the first time it was co-hosted by a rat. Yikes!I liked it. I'm watching this for the first time in almost a quarter century on Decemeber 1st and it *is* getting me into the spirit. Well done, Muppets!And "A Merry Christmas to us all; God bless us, every one!" (I didn't make that up, so I really can't take credit for it. Tiny Tim actually said that. Okay, not for real. It was Charles Dickens who originally wrote it. But YOU GET THE MEANING! Cheers!)***Final thoughts: Funny, the only thing I remembered about this movie from a nearly 25 year absence was the scene where Rizzo came through the bars after needlessly falling. Just as hilarious back then as it was now. Gosh, I love the Muppets!
This movie is twenty years old, and I have never seen this, despite being a movie lover and having had two children now sixteen and nine, plus numerous nieces and nephews. Yet for some reason this movie has always passed me by. And it is my loss that is the case, as today I stumbled on a movie I wish I'd watched with my two kids when they were much younger than they are today. Plot In A Paragraph: In this adaptation of the Christmas story narrated by Charles Dickens himself (played by Gonzo the Great) , It is Christmas Eve in 19th century London. The merriment is not shared by Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine), a money-lender who is more interested in profit than celebration. He is so against it, that his staff, including loyal employee Bob Cratchit (Kermit the Frog), have to beg for Christmas Day off. Later that evening, Scrooge finds himself face to face with the still mean-spirited ghosts of his former business partners, Jacob and Robert Marley (Statler and Waldorf) who have been condemned to shackles in the afterlife as punishment for the horrible deeds they committed in life. They warn him that he will share the same fate, only worse, if he does not change his ways, and foretell the arrival of three spirits throughout the night. The Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
It may not be as off-the-wall hilarious as "The Muppet Movie" or "The Muppets Take Manhattan" as the humour is more gentle and the plot is obviously more serious but it's still a wonderfully entertaining film which leaves you with a warm and fuzzy feeling. What more can you ask for from a Christmas film? It was a fitting tribute to the peerless Jim Henson, whose son Brian did a fantastic job directing the film.Michael Caine is excellent as Scrooge and he takes the role as seriously as if it was a more conventional adaptation of the Dickens classic. When it comes to family / children's films and TV series, some actors see it as an excuse to go over the top but Caine is too experienced and talented to make that mistake. It's a shame that my three favourite Muppets - Fozzie, Miss Piggy and Kermit - all had much less screen time than usual but they were all very well used. The Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come scenes in the Cratchit home were definitely my favourites. The latter could hardly have been more heartfelt if it had involved humans instead of pigs and frogs. Paul Williams wrote some fantastic songs for the film. This is probably my favourite Christmas film.