Movie Review: The Muppet Movie
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know this was the first big-screen Muppet
movie, and its simple plot and whimsical humor seems more
geared for a younger audience than the later films (or the
Muppets' pre-existing syndicated TV show) that functioned as
more busy and sophisticated movie-genre satire. Kids raised in
churchgoing environments may be jarred to see the Muppets here
playing loud rock music in an abandoned house of worship.
Families can talk about the way Kermit the Frog, though self-doubting and frequently uncertain, nonetheless perseveres, gets things done, and surrounds himself with loyal friends who come through for him. Kermit really is one of pop culture's great Everyman heroes. Here's hoping Angelina Jolie or Paris Hilton never comes between him and Miss Piggy.
Common Sense Media Review
Hard to believe now, but when THE MUPPET MOVIE opened, Paul
Williams' charming songs were judged bland and forgettable by
snooty film critics. In a classic zoom-in-opening, Kermit the
Frog is in the swamp singing "The Rainbow Connection" wistfully
to himself when he's overheard by a passing showbiz agent (Dom
DeLuise), who compliments the amphibian on his talents. DeLuise
is just one of a number of superstar gag cameos (Steve Martin,
Richard Pryor, Orson Welles, Mel Brooks) throughout the
picture.
Fired up by the thought of performing in Hollywood, Kermit hits the road on a bicycle, heading westward and gathering along the way a menagerie of equally-ambitious Muppet animals. There's the painfully-unfunny standup comic Fozzie Bear, the unclassifiable Great Gonzo, the rock band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem (who are found performing in a deconsecrated church, which may be sly reference to Arlo Guthrie's song/film ALICE'S RESTAURANT), and the feisty, narcissistic diva Miss Piggy, who immediately becomes infatuated with the go-getter frog.
But also after Kermit for less romantic reasons is a Colonel Sanders-type called Doc Hopper (Charles Durning), obsessed with turning Kermit into an unwilling mascot for his chain of frog-leg restaurants. The bad guy's cross-country pursuit sidetracks the Muppets, but eventually they arrive in Hollywood and get signed to the standard "rich and famous" contract.
So what we've seen here, then, is basically a prequel to the hit syndicated TV series "The Muppet Show" (1976-1981), showing how a group of misfit critters attained the status of putting on a weekly variety program.
You can really amaze kids by telling them that before "The Muppet Show" Jim Henson's creations had a brief run on the newborn "Saturday Night Live." Instead of Kermit and Fozzie they were grotesque, reptilian creatures, similar to those in THE DARK CRYSTAL, who commonly told off-color jokes. True story!
As for THE MUPPET MOVIE, it was considered a technological breakthrough when it first came out. Imagine seeing puppets like Kermit and Fozzie at times no longer just waist-up but full-length, even riding a bicycle. The beauty of the movie is that the relatively low-tech magic, innocence, and sweetness of Jim Henson's characters still hold up. It's wondrous how alive and likeable a piece of felt like Kermit can be with just a smirk or tilt of his fabric head. Grownups and kids will have no trouble accepting the Muppets' interactions with humans or each other, even if the Kermit-crazed villain seems a weak afterthought. If anything's gone stale it's the jokes and puns, seemingly pitched at the younger scale of the Muppets' global fandom.
Still, adults will have more than one occasion to smile, especially at the parade of celebrity appearances. The film is dedicated to two of them, whose vaudeville routines really helped pave the way for the Muppets: ventriloquist Edgar Bergen (father of Candice) and his dummy Charlie McCarthy. You might give kids a real comedy history lesson by pairing a Muppet viewing with watching Bergen and McCarthy in their prime in the 1939 W.C. Fields feature YOU CAN'T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
