Sunday, December 21, 2014

Movie Review: "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992)

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Movie"The Muppet Christmas Carol"
Director: Brian Henson
Year: 1992
Rating: G
Running Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes

Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine) owns The Counting House and cares only for money. He despises the Christmas season and the idea of charity and good will towards his fellow man. He also underpays his employees like Bob Cratchet (Kermit the Frog). On Christmas eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of his old business partners, Jacob & Robert Marly (Statler & Waldorf), who warn him of his fate of dragging chains in the afterlife. To help save his soul, Scrooge is visited by three spirits who intend to show him the true meaning of Christmas and his past, present, and future. 

There are many, many versions of "The Christmas Carol," and if you had to pick one version to share with your kids, this would be an excellent choice. Several of the adaptations of this story might be hard for children to not just sit through, but to be engaged in and understand fully. Kids and adults alike can appreciate the Muppets and their version of this classic Charles Dickens tale brings a lot of laughs, smiles and like most Muppet films. songs, to the table. By featuring the Muppets, this movie is able to capture the spirit and sentiment of the "Christmas Carol" story as a whole. It stays relatively faithful to the tale and doesn't shy away from the darker themes and moments this story can bring. However, this movie also has fun in between the seriousness in the form of cheerful songs and a lot of witty exchanges prevalent in Muppet culture. Again, the humor isn't so childish that adults will be displeased while watching it, as can be the case with many kids films. Michael Caine and his dry British delivery was the perfect choice for Ebenezer Scrooge in this adaptation. He "gets along" with the Muppets really well and seemed to fall right into place among them. We can imagine it must have been really hard to either keep a bitter and straight face while sitting next to Kermit the Frog, or to try to yell at him...who can resist that cute green smile? Sure, some of the jokes are obvious and overly silly, but the sweetness of the story overshadows any flaws in its humor. Using the Muppets as actors is a great way to introduce younger people to this timeless piece of literature. We also really love how the film introduces each individual Muppet as the actor in their respective part, not the puppeteer. Personally, we love the Muppets, so it only makes sense that we love rendition of "The Christmas Carol."

My Rating: 8/10
BigJ's Rating: 8/10
IMDB's Rating: 7.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 69%
Do we recommend this movie: Yes!
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One year ago, we were watching: "The Polar Express"

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