Muppet 50Th
Anniversary Edition Feature Films
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: C-* Films: B-
* C+ for The Muppets Christmas Carol.
For the 50th Anniversary of The Muppets, Disney
has followed-up the great release of the first season of The Muppet Show
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) with four of the main five theatrical film
releases of the gang on DVD. The
Muppet Movie (1979) is part of the four that made it, but The Muppets
Take Manhattan (1984) is not. That
leaves the three film we will look at here.
I was not a big fan of The Muppet Movie and thought
it was problematic in many ways, so it is fortunate we get to skip that
one. The Great Muppet Caper
(1981) is the best film to date, in a tale where the gang go to England and
meet up with the wealthy Lady Holiday (the great Diana Rigg) who has a giant
jewel called The Baseball Diamond. She
also has a brother (Charles Grodin) who remarkably does not have a British
accent and does want to steal the diamond, even if he has to woo Miss Piggy to
get it. Joe Raposo’s songs are very
amusing, if not classic, while the screenplay is rich with all kinds of wit,
puns, hidden jokes, deconstructions and fun digs. It is always entertaining and if Rigg had been given more screen
time, could have been longer and a classic.
Jim Henson directed himself and has his personal touch all over it.
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
has Michael Caine as Scrooge and Brian Henson taking over at the helm, which he
returned to do again with Muppet Treasure Island in 1996. Though they are both good features worthy of
the Muppet name, they are also interesting adaptations (something that failed
with the Muppet version of Wizard Of Oz, as also reviewed on this
site) that smoothly transplant the world of the classic literature into the
sensibilities of Muppets. This includes
the idea they the producers have no pretense that they are doing definitive
versions of a given work, which gives them room to have all kinds of fun.
It would be easy for the producers to coast on the books
and the characters in these adaptations, but they exceed those limitations in
both cases here. Caine is good as
expected, but does some clever playing along that you would not expect. Billy Connolly, Tim Curry and Jennifer
Saunders from Absolutely Fabulous more than hold their own in Muppet
Treasure Island, in part due to their natural comic talents. As good as these are, this approach
eventually collapsed with Oz and it has been too long since an
all-original film with the characters has been assembled. Hope we get The Muppets Take Manhattan
and Muppets In Space to look at soon.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image in all cases is
better than the chopped 1.33 X 1 versions in all three cases, with The Great
Muppet Caper being the grainiest, yet most diverse visually. The great Oswald Morris, B.S.C., shot the
film and it is distinguished from the still good-looking later efforts. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes in all cases are
about equal, with Great Muppet Caper showing some of its age. All are Dolby A-type analog theatrical
releases, except for Muppet Treasure Island, which was a Dolby Digital
theatrical release and has songs by the great team of Barry Mann and Cynthia
Weil. Extras include brief, different Backstage
Disney Pepe Profile segments on all three DVDs, but Muppet Christmas
Carol also has a bloopers reel, Christmas Around The World segment
and terrific audio commentary by Brian Henson, who directed the film and has
carried on the legacy of his father wonderfully. All three DVDs are quality family titles worth your time.
- Nicholas Sheffo