Christmas Party: Muppet Christmas Triple Feature
It’s time, friends, for a Muppet Christmas Triple Feature! Now the truth is, the Muppets (or at least the Jim Henson company) have made more than just three Christmas features. There’s the classic Emmett Otter’s Jug Band Christmas and The Christmas Toy (the latter of which, to the best of my knowledge, is still criminally unavailable on DVD), but for today, I’m going to focus on three Christmas features that have starred the classic Muppets, A Muppet Family Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol and It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Carol.
(There is, in fact, a fourth Christmas DVD with the classic Muppets - A Rocky Mountain Christmas, co-starring John Denver. I’ve never gotten my hands on that DVD, so it won’t be in this review. Maybe next year.)
A Muppet Family Christmas (1987) was a crossover Christmas treat. Fozzie brings the whole Muppet gang to his mother’s house for Christmas, unaware that she’s been planning a vacation to California and has already rented the house to the Doc and Sprocket (from Fraggle Rock). As the Doc and the Muppets begin to make their peace, the house gets even more crowded as the turkey arrives for dinner - with an attitude - a snowman comes to life, and then the gang from Sesame Street arrives. Throughout it all, though, someone is missing - Miss Piggy hasn’t arrived, and the snowstorm outside is getting worse.
This TV special really is fantastic, having all the classic Muppet wit, even poking fun at the other Muppet properties. (As Bert and Ernie instruct the Doc on what words begin with the letter “D,” Bert sheepishly proclaims, “Where we come from, this is small talk.) The Swedish Chef and Gonzo both have their battles with the turkey, who deftly points the Chef at a more succulent feast: Big Bird. The Sesame Street gang puts on a performance of “T’was the Night Before Christmas” and Fozzie and the Snowman attempt to try out a new comedy routine, only to find out that Fozzie’s mother is good friends with perennial hecklers Statler and Waldorf, and they’ve dropped by for Christmas as well. We’ve even got a few great running gags - Fozzie’s mother mistaking Kermit for a lizard, the icy patch on the walk, and “It’s cold enough to freeze your Winnebago.” (I have no idea why that last one is so funny, but it is.) Kermit’s worry for Piggy dominates much of the story, but there should be no doubt that both she - and the would-be main course Big Bird - will all have a Merry Christmas in the end.
The special is full of great traditional music, and the occasional new song as well - such as when Kermit and Robin venture into the basement and encounter the Fraggles, who sing their festive song, “Pass it On.” Overall, the format and brand of comedy makes this feel almost like a Christmas special spin-off of the classic Muppet Show, and I mean that as a compliment. Ironically, the DVD release isn’t the complete film. When they made the TV special, they secured the broadcast rights to all the songs they used, but neglected to secure the distribution rights (VHS sales of TV specials not being a major factor at the time, and DVD being nonexistent), so several songs and related subplots have been cut out. But if you do a little creative Google searching, hopefully you can find the bits that have been cut out of the DVD.
1992’s
The Muppet Christmas Carol was a bold movie on many levels. First of all, it was the first collaboration between the Henson company and the Walt Disney company (who would buy the Muppets outright about a decade later). Second, it was the Muppets’ first attempt at adapting a piece of classic literature. And third, it was the first Muppet film after the untimely death of Jim Henson. It’s safe to say that the Muppets’ entire future was resting on the success of this film.
And they nailed it.
Casting the great Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, the Muppets themselves took on the supporting roles in this fantasy - Kermit as Bob Crachit, Miss Piggy as his wife Emily, Fozzie Bear as Fozziwig, Statler and Waldorf as Jacob and Robert Marley, and the Great Gonzo acting as the narrator, Charles Dickens himself. New characters were crafted for thee Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, and they were among the most magical Muppet creations of all time. Paul Williams, who had composed the music for the original Muppet Movie, returned for this film, composing a memorable score and fantastic original songs. “It Feels Like Christmas,” the signature song for the Ghost of Christmas Present, is practically a traditional to me now. And Brian Henson, making his directorial debut taking over for his father, proved himself to be a capable and talented filmmaker.
As for the movie itself - well, everyone knows the story of A Christmas Carol by now - nasty ol’ Ebenezer Scrooge doesn’t like anyone and especially doesn’t like Christmas. Then, on Christmas Eve, a trio of apparitions takes him on a magical journey through the past, present and future of the holiday, hoping to redeem the miser’s heart of stone before it’s too late. It’s perhaps the best-known (and certainly most produced and parodied) Christmas story since the first one, the one that happened in that manger 2000 or so years ago.
The Muppet production includes beautiful music and plenty of the characteristic Muppet comedy, but it doesn’t shirk when dealing with the moments that are supposed to be frightening, such as Scrooge’s encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Future and his own mortality. The opening song, “Scrooge,” has its funny lines, but ultimately paints a pretty bleak and unforgiving portrait of the character. The fear about Tiny Tim’s illness is real, and wrenches the heart. The film includes scenes that many productions of the story leave out (such as the segment where Scrooge’s unscrupulous employees try to sell his belongings mere minutes after his death), and in fact, has become over the years my all-time favorite adaptation of A Christmas Carol. This is the movie that kept the Muppets alive, and it has earned a valued place in my Christmas DVD collection.
The final Yuletide production by the classic Muppets is 2002’s It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie. This made-for-TV movie was broadcast on NBC shortly before the Henson family sold the classic Muppet characters to the Disney company, who hasn’t really done justice to them since. In this film, low-level Angel Daniel (David Arquette) discovers that Kermit the Frog is in trouble down on Earth. Rushing to the “Boss” for help (someone erroneously thought it would be funny to cast Whoopi Goldberg as God - erroneously because Whoopi Goldberg, frankly, isn’t funny). Daniel tells the story of how Kermit is on the verge of losing the Muppet theatre to an unscrupulous landlord (played by the highly underrated Joan Cusack). Once the story is told, Daniel is sent forth to show Kermit the truth of how much his life matters - by showing him what it would be like had he never been born.
The movie, clearly, is a direct rip of It’s a Wonderful Life (even going so far as to cast Fozzie in the Uncle Billy role), but that’s far from the only thing it parodies. The opening sequence contains several Gift of the Magi jokes, there a very brief A Christmas Story gag (if you’re paying attention) and the immortal Mel Brooks drops in to do a quick parody of a Rankin/Bass-esque snowman narrator. The movie is really very funny, but it’s hurt by an over-reliance on topical humor. Jokes about movies like Moulin Rouge and A Beautiful Mind already serve to date the film very badly, not to mention a gag about the now-late Steve Irwin.
The good about the movie outweighs the bad, though. Getting back to the classic Muppet Theatre (from the original TV show) is a real treat for longtime fans, and this movie returns to the tradition from the first three films of throwing in frequent celebrity cameos (although the status of the celebrities has been downgraded - where they once got Orson Welles and Bob Hope, now they’ve got Matthew Lillard and Kelly Ripa). Pepe the King Prawn (the funniest Muppet introduced since the original series) gets a nice, juicy role, which always cracks me up. There’s a good bit of music in the movie, fortunately. Most of it is traditional or parodies of other songs, but the film is notable for one original song that melts the heart: Kermit and Gonzo’s duet of “ Everyone Matters.” The words of the song, combined with a beautiful melody, really strike a chord as Kermit tells his despondent friend that everyone, no matter how small, makes a difference. To me, it’s the high point of the film, and a piece of Muppet Music right up there with “The Rainbow Connection” and “It Feels Like Christmas.”
Together, all three of the Muppet Christmas movies work beautifully, putting a smile on my face and helping drive home the important things about Christmas: friends, family and, ultimately, the chance for redemption. That may be pretty heavy for movies whose stars are made of felt and operated with a hand shoved up their butts, but it’s true. Every one of these films, to me, genuinely feels like Christmas.