**Spoilers**
If you have not yet seen this film, please go and do so before proceeding.
"I will honour Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year!" Ebeneezer Scrooge (A Christmas Carol)
Oh yeah I'm reviewing a Christmas film in April! Somehow that particular holiday is a bit more palatable away from the seasonal overdose of tinsel and 'White Christmas' blaring over the store speaker systems. It gives me a chance to step back and properly enjoy all that is wonderful about Christmas. And one of the traditions in my family (along with the obligatory tree decorating) is a yearly trek through all of the many adaptations of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. I think I've seen/read/heard just about them all...and I'm still not tired of it.
I would have to say that my favorite film adaptation is this one by The Muppets. It's fun, it's zany, it's sarcastic, and it tells my beloved story so perfectly. I'm a sucker for Dickens anyway, but when you add in the magic of the Muppets something very special happens. The film manages to capture the tone and message of the original story very well, but also contains all of the slapstick and bad jokes that make The Muppets so lovable. Right from the opening credits I start getting nostalgia chills and this is a film that I can sit through time and time again without ever getting bored. So shall we take a jaunt down memory lane and take a look at The Muppet Christmas Carol?
Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:
- I think this is the only adaptation of A Christmas Carol to have Charles Dickens himself (a.k.a. The Great Gonzo) narrating. This is part of what makes it work so well because half the charm of the story is Dickens' extremely atmospheric and memorable prose, which Gonzo quotes frequently. It also helps to explain some of the culture stuff to kids, immersing them in the story with greater ease and yet not talking down to them.
- "I know the story of A Christmas Carol like the back of my hand!" Gonzo (sorry...Mr. Dickens) then proceeds to shut his eyes and rattle off every mole and blemish to a bemused Rizzo.
- Because it is a Muppet film it is also a musical. There are several decent songs and two really good ones. The good ones are (surprise, surprise) the villain songs. The opening number is all about Scrooge:
- Ebeneezer Scrooge...how did Dickens come up with some of these names?!
- Michael Caine is definitely my favorite Scrooge. He perfectly captures the fine line between witty sarcasm and stick-in-the-mud grump that embodies Scrooge's character, helped by a phenomenal script. Yes. He even beats out George C. Scott and Mr. McDuck!- "...secret, self-contained, and solitary as an oyster." I LOVE Dickens' character descriptions and I thank Jerry Juhl for using them in his script.
- "Gosh...this really is a dirty city!" Gonzo then proceeds to use Rizzo to clean off a window. Nice friend, eh?
- While usually I am easily annoyed by comedic side-kicks (Jar-Jar, Mater, Ruby Rhod, Olaf, etc.), Rizzo and Gonzo's antics actually enhance this story. They provide just the right amount of light-hearted foil to balance out all of the doom and gloom and creepiness. In the original story this was provided by Dickens' relentless sarcasm and here the same is true, supplemented by Rizzo's social commentary on the Victorian era.
- I feel SO sorry for that little caroler. I just want to pick him up and cuddle him, he's so adorable and pathetic and shivering!- Kermit looks really nice in that Victorian suit. Also, an ice-skating penguin in an feathered bonnet is hilarious to behold!
- The door-knocker that turned into Marley's face used to creep me out SO badly whenever it screamed. Still does, if I'm being honest...
- This film really gets the atmospheres perfect. A Christmas Carol is one of Dickens' shorter novels, but it is none the less rich in tone and description. This adaptation practically breaths that, helped by Gonzo's narration.
- Normally I rant and rail against writers adding characters to a pre-existing canon...but I have to say that I am behind the Marley Brothers decision full force. Why, you may ask? Well you can't split up a dynamic duo like Statler and Waldorf. You just can't. And there was no better role for them to play than that of Scrooge's first otherworldly visitor. So we now have Jacob and Robert Marley and I couldn't be happier!- "There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!" Thank you, Hecklers, for making fun of that DREADFUL pun!
- They also get an awesome song all to themselves and I think any Muppet fan will agree with me that the moment their signature mocking laugh was cut off by a shudder just made the whole thing suddenly darker!
- "True, there was something about mankind we loved." "I think it was their money!" ouch
- I just noticed...Rizzo is wearing a Gryffindor scarf:- "Ooo...that's scary stuff! Should we be worried for the kids in the audience?" "Nope. This is culture" Ha!
- Speaking of Rizzo...I actually really enjoy the comedy scenes he and Gonzo share to break the tension. It's really tastefully done in that it does get a laugh, but it doesn't distract from where the focus of the story should be.
- It's funny how everyone to do one of these adaptations has a different interpretation of what the first spirit must have looked like. And NONE of them have followed the rather vivid description the book has given. Really? Was it THAT hard?!
- It should be noted that Scrooge's little trip to Christmas' Past is the only place where we ever see a younger version of Statler and Waldorf.
- Also...Fozziwig's Rubber Chicken Factory?! I think I'm going to die of laughter...
- I think the only thing I don't like about this film is their treatment of the Belle/Ebeneezer relationship. Young!Scrooge is FAR too obsessed with schedules and success FAR too early in his life and Belle...is just rather bland.
- Her song is just as boring, drags out forever, and almost kills the emotion of the scene. C'mon, girl...just dump the jerk already and get it over with! Don't drag him through the mud! This song practically goes against what little character she had (as we have established in our minds from the book) by using the lyrics to rub everything into Scrooge's face. It's just a painful sequence to watch and one that I usually skip so it doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the rest of the film. The one moment that is salvageable is whenever Scrooge himself starts singing along, but breaks down in bitter tears.
- I love the description Dickens gives for the second ghost and the way it was meticulously followed here.
- All of the 'Ho-ho-ho-ing' that spirit does really gets on my nerves after about the first three minutes. Gosh! It's so nauseatingly cheerful that is WILL infect Scrooge...whether or not he wants it to.
- Rizzo ate some waxed fruit. Eugh!
- Miss Piggy is a riot, as usual. I nearly snorted my drink whenever her daughters caught her 'sampling' the chestnuts.
- It's also hilarious how, in the Cratchit family, all the girls are pigs and both boys are frogs. Certainly beats the Kermit/Miss Piggy hybrid we saw in the most recent Muppets Most Wanted! That kid was freaky!
- Robin and Kermit are ridiculously adorable together. You wouldn't think that a couple of felt puppets could share such chemistry...but they do.
- Robin's song is rather bland too. Not bad...just not memorable the way the villain songs are. I actually forgot that it existed until he started singing. It's an okay song, but it's kind of 'meh'.
- Also...it should be illegal for a frog to be this cute!
- I love it whenever the Ghost of Christmas Present turns Scrooges cruel and snarky words back on him. Karma's a nasty thing, isn't it? Especially whenever it looks like Father Christmas if he rolled in Edward's body wash...
- The third ghosts always kind of scared me when I was a kid. Something about the lack of face just didn't sit right with me. Yet I was fascinated and couldn't look away. Now it reminds me of the Nazgûl's slightly dorkier cousin...
- Gonzo and Rizzo scarper here...and it's for the best. The last thing we need is comedic slap-stick for these portion of the story. Thank you, script-writers, for making that call!
- My favorite scene was always the rag n' bone shop where they're making fun of the man who recently died. Though it always made me laugh sadly a bit too how Scrooge is so determined not to understand of whom they are speaking.
- I'm so glad they didn't shy away from Tiny Tim's death. True the Muppets were never 'just for kids', but I think it really would have been a disservice to talk this one down just for the sake of the kiddos. Kids deserve better than watered-down, milk-toasty tales of rainbows and unicorns where people can be punched and yet not hurt, you know.
This film is a treasure, faithfully telling the beloved Charles Dickens classic while also putting a new and unique spin on it. The script is awesome, Michael Caine is amazing, the sets and locations are gorgeous, The Muppets are hilarious, the songs are (for the most part) catchy and good, and the message still rings true even through all the zany fourth-wall breaking. The Muppet Christmas Carol is a 5/5. God bless us, everyone!
What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?
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