Posts Tagged ‘The Muppets’
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I think pretty much everyone is on board with the idea of a new Muppets movie. So I’m not going to waste a lot of time trying to convince you how awesome it will be. I’ll just leave this new trailer here for your enjoyment.
That said, I sincerely hope that The Muppets is successful and that it leads to a brand new Muppet Show. Because if there’s one thing America needs right now, it’s a new Muppet Show.
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Nov14
The Muppets comes out two weeks from now and – as I declared on Twitter – that means you get two weeks of Muppets-related Theater Hopper comics.
I’ll be frank and admit that I don’t entirely know what to expect from The Muppets. I’ve been in lockdown mode on this one for a while. It has been extraordinarily hard to do this because it seems like Disney is practically littering the internet with clips from the film. I’m even doing my best to avoid the commercials.
I hope I haven’t gotten my hopes up too far. There’s been inklings of dissaproval swirling around the movie from people in the know – most notably, Frank Oz. The creator of Miss Piggy, Fozzy Bear and original Muppeteer has been quoted as saying that the new movie sacrifices the integrity of the characters for the sake of making cheap jokes, and rewrites their personas and relationships in a way that “creates a false history that the characters were forced to act out for the sake of this movie.” There’s even been talk of some of the Muppeteer’s who performed in the movie wanting to take their name off of it.
The main complaint seems to be that writer/actor Jason Segel had the right intentions with the movie, but that basically… it’s not what Jim Henson would have wanted.
Personally, I see both sides of the story. Yes, it’s important to maintain the integrity of The Muppets. There is something unquantifiable about these characters that people have fallen in love with and we don’t want to see the sullied.
But to disparage the film because it’s not what Jim Henson would have done is simple short-sighted. Where would Disney be if they stopped producing cartoons after Walt Disney died? At some point, you have to prepare for the reality that the characters you may have had a hand in creating really don’t belong to you anymore. They belong to the people who believe in them. If you want your work to live on, it might not hurt to be a little magnanimous about it and hand them down to the next generation.
Oz’s comments in the Hollywood Report article strike me as a little possessive in a “get off my lawn” kind of way. If the new Muppets movie gets it wrong in some way, let them go back and try again. Were the Muppets fully formed characters out of the box when they were introduced 50 years ago? No, the evolved over time. There’s got to be a learning curve to this.
But to lock the characters in amber because you don’t want their integrity sullied? Well, that’s just selfish.
What are your thoughts about The Muppets? Are you looking forward to it? Specifically, I’m kind of interested in what Gen Y’s reaction to The Muppets will be. Do they feel left out of the loop since The Muppets were essentially a lost property during the 90s? Do they have the same affinity for the characters that older audiences do? Will the elixir of nostalgia be as potent among that audience?
Leave your comments below! I’d love to hear them! And, as always, if you could use the ShareThis tool at the bottom of the blog post to share the Muppet-y goodness, I’d appreciate it!
Have a great week!
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As if you needed another reason to check out The Muppets when it lands in theaters next week – but it will be prefaced by a NEW Toy Story short called “Small Fry.” From the synopsis…
Buzz Lightyear is left behind at a fast food restaurant when a kids’ meal toy version of Buzz takes his place. While Bonnie’s toys are stuck with the annoying three-inch-tall Buzz impersonator, the real Buzz is trapped in therestaurant at a support group for discarded toys. As Woody and the gang devise a way to rescue their friend, Buzz tries to escape the toy psychotherapy meeting.
Check out a clip here:
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I don’t know what it is about The Muppets that has generated so much excitement in me. But I knew as soon as the first of November turned the corner that I had more than I couple of ideas comic-wise to approach the movie with. He’s the follow-up to last week’s strip with likely more Muppet goodness to come.
Did you guys happen to catch Saturday Night Live this weekend? Jason Segel was hosting and The Muppets were right there with him. In fact, I thought the opening monologue was pretty funny in that it cleverly anticipated the audience’s expectations to see The Muppets and (more than a little likely) their desire to see The Muppets host instead of Segel.
I mean, Segel’s a great guy. I like him a lot, don’t get me wrong. But nostalgia is going to win out every time, buddy. It’s just the nature of things.
I read a couple complaints that The Muppets were a little too bitter and cynical on Saturday Night Live. But to me, that was just them playing to the audience. I mean, The Muppets have always had a sarcastic edge to them. As much as we all love “The Rainbow Connection,” there’s a bitter, anti-authority streak in there.
Incidentally, I have been so-moved by this Muppet mayhem, that over the weekend, I decided to sit down at the ol’ drawin’ table and crank out a portrait of Kermit the Frog. I even made YouTube video out of it for your enjoyment!
Did you like it? Do you like the drawing? Guess what? YOU CAN OWN IT!
I’m auctioning off my drawing of Kermit on eBay and you can place a bid on it right here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160686601767#ht_500wt_1132
The drawing is in ink on an 11 x 14″ sheet of Bristol board. It will be mailed flat to prevent bending and has been signed and dated by yours truly.
Bidding starts at $25 and ends in 3 days. I also left a “Buy it Now” price out there for $75. If it sells for that much, I’ll be thrilled.
At any rate, feel free to bid away and good luck to the winner!
One last piece of news, I will be exhibiting at the Market Day Black Friday event this Friday from 9:00 – 2:00 PM at the Kirkwood building in downtown Des Moines. So, if you’re a local and are looking to find some really cool, creative and hand-made items, this is the show you need to come to. Why fight the crowds for a Blu-ray when you can buy some original art for way, way less! Your family will love you for it.
That’s all for now. If you’re celebrating Thanksgiving this week, have a safe and happy holiday!
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Last week Cami and I took Wednesday off. Largely to prepare for Thanksgiving and all the cooking we had offered to do for family. But we made sure to take a little time for ourselves to check out an afternoon matinee of The Muppets.
I’ve been wrestling with what to say about The Muppets in my review because (if Twitter is any indication) everyone already seems to be on the same page.
The movie is magical and left me smiling from ear to ear. It sounds trite, like a pull quote from a movie reviewer on some obscure CBS-affiliate. But its true. I don’t think this is spoiling anything for you, because they’re using the song on the TV ads, but by they time they break out “The Rainbow Connection” in the third act, The Muppets had me in a nostalgia headlock and it wasn’t going to let go anytime soon.
But there’s an intrinsic problem with nostalgia – it has a somewhat limited audience. I read a few reviews this weekend that said adults in the audience seemed to enjoy the film more than children. They wondered aloud if that would be a problem. The weekend box office seems to suggest as much.
The Muppets came in second place this weekend with $42 million. Breaking Dawn added over $62 million to its $221 million dollar take in its second week.
I think positive word of mouth with help buoy The Muppets over the holidays. But I can’t deny that I really wanted to see Kermit and Piggy bash Edward and Bella’s heads in at the box office.
What can you do? Breaking Dawn is for teenagers with lots of disposable cash and time to kill. The Muppets is a fantastic family film, but it’s really more for the 30-somethings out there that barely have time to step away from their responsibilities.
Or maybe I’m projecting.
For what it’s worth The Muppets isn’t a perfect movie and I’d say the blame falls mostly on the shoulders of the human actors. Amy Adams was stunningly wasted as the token girlfriend/prop. She has a few good lines and sings her heart out, but I would have love to seen more.
Chris Cooper was cast as the heartless villain – an area where he typically excels. But for some reason, his performance left me a little cold. It was a little too much wink-wink, nudge-nudge for my liking. His rap song in the middle of the film was cringe-worthy. Also, was anyone else entirely confused by the subtitles they threw in there?
Jason Segal was more than capable as the film’s leading man. Although there were contrivances in the plot that moved him away from the action in the last third of the movie to create false tension.
These are minor complaints, though. No one really goes to a Muppet movie to watch the humans. I’m just pointing out the things that distracted me a little bit.
As for the Muppets themselves, they were fantastic. I was continuously amazed at the lengths the movie went to present the Muppets as being free from any puppeteer manipulation. I was also very surprised how quickly I warmed up to the newest Muppet – Walter.
Segal made a smart decision in making Walter the proxy for the audience. Through his eyes, we were reminded of the enthusiasm we feel for the Muppets and what makes them special. Segal’s script is keenly aware of the reality that the Muppets have essentially been lost to a generation. And while the film is primarily a nostalgia trip for the majority of the audience, it also has to serve as a reintroduction to the characters.
Look, all I know is that I’ve been singing “The Rainbow Connection” in my head over and over again for the last 5 days. It might be eroding my sanity, but I’m totally not complaining. The Muppets was fantastic from top to bottom and if you didn’t enjoy it, you might be soul-dead. Just a head’s up. Seriously. No smiles? You might want to get that checked out.
Did you see The Muppets this weekend? If so, what did you think? Leave your comments below!
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Yesterday the trailer for Rock of Ages came out and I was sufficiently underwhelmed. I pretty much tuned out the minute the title card read “From the director of Hairspray.” That is, unless their talking about John Waters.
Spoiler Alert: They’re not.
I know the appeal of Rock of Ages is supposed to rest on the car crash appeal of watching Tom Cruise slum it a little bit. He rarely does comedy, so it should be fun to watch him flail around for a bit, right?
Let me tell you right now that I saw a touring production of Rock of Ages earlier this year and it is easily the most mindless two hours I’ve ever spent in a theater. Basically, it was a bunch of singers and dancers performing in a show FAR below their ability, singing karaoke versions of Whitesnake songs.
Don’t get me wrong. I love that music. But that’s not a show. There’s no story here. If I’m going to sit through a “musical,” I want at least ONE original song, ‘kay?
By the way, what the hell is going on with that “We’re Not Gonna Take It” / “We Built This City On Rock and Roll” mash-up at the end. More importantly, why the hell is “We Built This City” showing up in so many trailers this year? It was in the first trailer for The Muppets as well.
It’s even on the soundtrack.
Don’t most intelligent people consider “We Built This City” to be one of the worst recorded songs ever? Blender and VH1 did in 2004. A 2011 readers poll in Rolling Stone concluded the same thing. Evidently Bernie Taupin is blackmailing Warner Bros. and Disney executives with some rather incriminating information.
What’s your reaction to Rock of Ages? Fun-time musical or limp noodle nostalgia trip? Leave your comments below!
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