Your Thoughts: The Muppets' Wizard of Oz

[Drtooth]

Oz is a movie that I'd have to check again on DVD due to the fact that it's supposedly got a better flow or something... but I just can't bring myself to want to buy it (especially since I have so many DVD wants... I still need to get Freakazoid... didn't get it for Christmas like I thought I would...).

To me, the project seemed like it was rushed... rushed so that Disney could say, we have a project to launch our acquisition of the Muppets (and we didn't get anything major after that until this year, mind you). And even then, was it really a smart idea to do another "book" movie? I mean, the main problems I had with MTI and especially MCC was the lack of focus on the Muppets themselves. I think MTI worked better in that aspect, because it really had a Muppet feel to it... Cabin Fever seemed like a good old fashion crazy go nuts Muppet song, right up there with Happiness Hotel. Not that I hated the MCC songs, but it seemed that the 2 deleted songs really had a more muppety tone than the ones included.

OZ, while it did have focus on the Muppets, went about everything butt backwards. The appeal of Muppet movies is to have a villain played by a human (something even LTS did). While the idea of Piggy playing all 4 witches was a novel idea, it just fell flat to see a human Dorothy in a role Piggy would have been perfect for (I still say this but, imagine if they got Kristen Chennowith to play Glenda...).

All and all, a lot of the movie tried to experiment too much... I really HATED those off kilter camera angles that made it an acid trippy 1960's Batman episode. And the fact that they were grasping at straws for an audience... toss a random at the moment B-list pop star in the title role for the tweens, throw some forced adult jokes in for the college crowd... but leave small bones for the classic fans. I think in reguards to LTS, what makes it not the weakest prject for me is that they found the balance in the writing and humor... sure, it was a little juvenile, but it had the right tone to it. I agree with Herald in that aspect. Oz and VMX seemed to be like kids that talk dirty pretneding that they're adult. Of course, VMX pulled it off much better and funnier.

 

[Libba Yuki]

I just got the dvd in the mail yesterday and watched the movie for first time since the night it first aired, and liked it more this time around.

It didn't feel rushed (except the CGI sequences, those were horrible and ugly), the jokes were funny (I never thought they felt forced to begin with), and the story does flow better with the added stuff.

I still don't care for the Muppet American Idol part of the plot, or Ashanti's singing (she's very average to me, like most of today's young singers are...). And I still didn't feel Ashanti interacted well with the Muppets as other celeb stars have.

Yeah, it was a dark movie for the Muppets, and there were a bunch of adult jokes (that would fly over the kids heads, these jokes weren't really that bad though)...honestly more than in any of the past Muppet films/specials. But, it was pretty loyal to the book (moreso than Judy Garland's film was) and was an enjoyable blast to watch again.

 

[stardustdanny]

Okay this is a long time after, but a few of my friends and i all got together to watch it, also i liked it enough to by the DVD.Id give it a thumbs-up

 

[CensoredAlso]

It's good that the movie included more elements from the book. However I don't think it had the same spirit as Baum's story (which the 1930's film did in my opinion).

 

[frogboy4]

It's good that the movie included more elements from the book. However I don't think it had the same spirit as Baum's story (which the 1930's film did in my opinion).

Walter Murch's Return to Oz is the closed anyone has gotten to the world Baum created. MGM's tale is fantastic, but it doesn't even come close to the book. But then again, even though the Muppets based their Oz on the source material they then proceeded to shove it all into a blender and just do what Muppets do.

 

[CensoredAlso]

But then again, even though the Muppets based their Oz on the source material they then proceeded to shove it all into a blender and just do what Muppets do.

I don't know, I mean I know the Muppets always took pop culture and twisted it. I just felt here that they let pop culture twist them.

But I agree, Return to Oz is probably more in the Baum style.

 

[frogboy4]

I don't know, I mean I know the Muppets always took pop culture and twisted it. I just felt here that they let pop culture twist them.

But I agree, Return to Oz is probably more in the Baum style.

That movie still gives me nightmares.

I don't think the Muppets had much opportunity for anything but showing up and saying their lines in their Oz. I liked it, but there was no driving force - no engine to the movie. And there certainly was no sense of urgency. I suppose that's one thing that has been lacking from the last two Thatcher helmed projects - urgency.

Also Ashanti's casting was the wrong rout to go. There are many talented vocal artists that have screen presence. She must have good agent. She wasn't terrible, but she simply wasn't good enough for the Muppets. If the project were made today Disney would have stuck someone from HSM in there. Not sure if that's better.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I don't think the Muppets had much opportunity for anything but showing up and saying their lines in their Oz. I liked it, but there was no driving force - no engine to the movie. And there certainly was no sense of urgency. I suppose that's one thing that has been lacking from the last two Thatcher helmed projects - urgency.

You're right, I think that's why a lot of fans have been hoping for a movie where the Muppets play themselves. In Oz more than any other project they were pushed into roles that didn't make any sense.

Also Ashanti's casting was the wrong rout to go. There are many talented vocal artists that have screen presence. She must have good agent. She wasn't terrible, but she simply wasn't good enough for the Muppets. If the project were made today Disney would have stuck someone from HSM in there. Not sure if that's better.

I thought she was OK, but I honestly didn't see enough of her. But yeah I don't even want to think of a HSM castmember there. ::shivers::

 

[rexcrk]

If the project were made today Disney would have stuck someone from HSM in there. Not sure if that's better.

Oh I SO would've rather had Vanessa Hudgens or Ashley Tisdale instead of Ashanti

 

[Drtooth]

I don't know, I mean I know the Muppets always took pop culture and twisted it. I just felt here that they let pop culture twist them.

I couldn't have said it better myself... I mean, Kelly Osborne? Really....

I don't think the Muppets had much opportunity for anything but showing up and saying their lines in their Oz. I liked it, but there was no driving force - no engine to the movie. And there certainly was no sense of urgency. I suppose that's one thing that has been lacking from the last two Thatcher helmed projects - urgency.

I felt the only urgency was due to Disney saying "We want a project done by the time we're finished acquiring the property." Plus, let's not forget how this was a sore spot for us Muppet fans, since there were dozens of other Muppet movie scripts in the running that weren't even considered. And I still don't know if half of them were just fan rumors or what. Seems like they deserved a better shot than retelling another story.

Also Ashanti's casting was the wrong rout to go. There are many talented vocal artists that have screen presence. She must have good agent. She wasn't terrible, but she simply wasn't good enough for the Muppets. If the project were made today Disney would have stuck someone from HSM in there. Not sure if that's better.

All I can say, that's the biggest problem I have with the project. Other than the fact that the witches should have been played by celebrity guest stars and Piggy should have been Dorothy... I mean, this movie broke the tradition of a human villain, from Charles Durning to Joan Cussack... each being hilariously goofy and cartoonish without being ridiculous or talking like they're talking to 5 year olds. Of course, MTM did NOT have a villain, and I think the fact that the antagonist is destiny itself really sets the film apart from all the others.

But back on the subject of Ashanti, I know she said she was a muppet fan (I think in I Love the 80's, she admitted to being a Fraggle Rock fan), but she really can't act, and the Muppets had no chemistry with her. The song she actually sang with Kermit and Co didn't sound like a duet (or whatever you'd call a group like that) between her and Muppets, but rather... well, you know when singers use old archival recordings of long passed on musicians to make a pseudo duet? Sort of like that.

I still say if Disney was going to go down that route, they should have gotten Raven. I mean, she has a history with the muppets (though, basically that was all the way back to Muppets at Disney World... I don't know if I'd count "Cliff's Nightmare" since she didn't have any scenes directly with them)... plus she is one of Disney's more talented child/tween/teen stars (almost up there with Shea "I was in Indiana Jones and Transformers, Hillary" LeBeuf)...

I would have wondered how the movie would have panned out if they got a little girl to play Dorothy, and they changed the story to not clearly be a tie in with American Idol.