Frank Oz worked on a new Muppet movie script

[beaker]

Ok, I got it! I just wrote this to answer Heralde in another thread, but this is it. This is my main issue with the new film:

Thats my problem with the new film...theres no moments of beauty behold. Its just whiz bang family guy style. I miss the subtle quiet moments, the breathing room, the natural progression without cheap quick edits, and the ambient moments of the original films especially TMM and TMTM

 

[Epictetus]

Yeah I find it hard to disagree with you. I got so caught up in the "OMG MUPPETS ON THE BIG SCREEN" that I got lost in my true feeling. I defer to my original original thoughts in where the film left me feeling a bit depressed. Depressed of course because of the theme, but depressed in that something just felt off.

I can sympathize. I was a senior in high school when the first new Star Wars movie came out. (Shows how old I am!) I was so excited about having Star Wars back on the big screen that I twisted myself into knots trying to love that movie. I even claimed to like Jar Jar Binks. I wanted it - really wanted it - to be good.

I think I kept up this belief until I saw the second film, when I finally was forced to admit that the films were just terrible. It felt like a house of cards collapsing.

Anyway - not to over-dramatise or make your example stronger than you wish it to be. Just saying I know what it's like to be really excited about the very idea of a film.

I think they nailed the emotion right in parts, but that something feels drastically off. I think I almost can see MFS as being more of a solid Muppet experience for me. I mean where was Gonzo in the new film? Or Pepe, that they along with Rizzo built up as some of the main characters? They were trying so hard to be a modern hip film yet try and pay fan service to hardcore TMS fans...it seems like they lost a clear identity.

It's hard to do adequate justice by all the Muppets - there are so many great ones! Gonzo, Pepe, and Rizzo are certainly three of my favorites (Gonzo forever!), but I could understand wanting to focus on others. But in this film, who's in focus? Walter... kinda? It feels like they sacrificed giving an adequate story to anybody.

The pacing is what kills me. My hunches that massive edits/whole scenes were left on the editing bay were right from some recent articles that have popped up

Interesting! That's news to me.

I have a hard time seeing myself watching this every year like I do the classics and even newer tv specials. Like VMX, I kind of got caught up in the splendor of it, and like VMX I'll rewatch it for certain scenes. But the film actually does feel like a big screen version of VMX more than I realized.

I have an embarrassing question: what's VMX?

What did you think of Letters to Santa? While heavily truncated, it feels like the Muppet film I had been waiting so long for, and to me doesnt have the typical made for tv look

I haven't seen it - I wasn't really interested, but the positive mention from you and a few other positive reviews makes me feel like checking it out.

 

[brkndwnbus]

I have an embarrassing question: what's VMX?

"It's a Verry Merry Muppet Christmas."

I just rewatched "Letters to Santa" the other night. I enjoy it more with every viewing.

 

[Epictetus]

Whoops! I was thinking of the wrong thing. You meant this Letters to Santa. No, I need to check it out!

 

[Drtooth]

Thats my problem with the new film...theres no moments of beauty behold. Its just whiz bang family guy style. I miss the subtle quiet moments, the breathing room, the natural progression without cheap quick edits, and the ambient moments of the original films especially TMM and TMTM

So it really seems everyone's main problem IS the edits. I completely agree... but it's like they were planning a sweeping Epic and Disney told them to cut most of it out for cineplexes that would rather fill the time with Coke ads. I wanna see more film, you wanna see more film, everyone wants to see more film. Hopefully we get a director's cut that puts the most important of those cuts back into the film... but it's clearly only going to be on a blu-ray only edition. The movie could very well have been longer and the audiences would have loved it just the same, maybe more. They should have at least put something at the end of the credits. But on the plus side, the only gonky part was the Me Party... perhaps if they cut that out, we could have had the Tex Richman backstory, but I guess Amy would have lobbied for that to be there.

But take my advice... if you focus on flaws of a film, that IS all you see. There's a lot of good in that film, and I prefer their vision to an out of shape insider view. We'd get another classic retelling or some other theme thing that's DTV... we'd not be excited and kinda feel dead inside upon watching it.

I've seen this happen too long... everyone LOVES a film, someone says "X" is wrong with it, and immediately everyone hates the thing. We probably wouldn't even have a film to discuss without them. Maybe an almost good DTV project... but that's it.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

"The Muppets" is a really good movie. I posted a review at www.muleythemule.com about it.

I would LOVE for Frank Oz to write and direct the next Muppet movie! Please Diz, make it so.

 

[Drtooth]

Frank's probably off on his own thing... I'd LOVE to see him write the next film... but that's up to him as much as it is Disney.

 

[Duke Remington]

I would LOVE for Frank Oz to write and direct the next Muppet movie! Please Diz, make it so.

What if Frank doesn't want to direct another Muppet film?

Why must some people be stuck in the past so much?

It's clear that Frank has been trying desperately to distance himself from the Muppets as much as possible, not wanting to get type-cast as a "Muppet person", so I think we ought to respect him by letting him be, wishing him well and allowing him to be free to do what he wants.

I'd be cool if Segel, Stoller, Bobin, etc. were given a chance to do another Muppet film--they hit a home run with this film and they understand the characters and what makes the Muppets tick overall, so why not?

Disney has done right by the Muppets and it would not be smart to pick on them, especially after all they've done for us. After all, you wouldn't want to bite the hand that feeds you, do you?

 

[Puckrox]

Thats my problem with the new film...theres no moments of beauty behold. Its just whiz bang family guy style.

I can agree there are a lot of whiz bang moments, but I wouldn't go so far as to say there aren't any moments of beauty. Rainbow Connection? Where they all lock hands? That's pretty beautiful. And the whole Rainbow Connection scene. And I think Pictures In My Head is one of the most well done scenes in all the Muppet movies (not the most well done, but one of them). And, yes, it is overall very fast paced and goes by quickly (*shakes fist at editors*), but the Muppets are just finding their footing again. For their first feature film after twelve years? I think they did a nice job transitioning back into it all.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

What if Frank doesn't want to direct another Muppet film?

Why must some people be stuck in the past so much? It's clear that Frank has been trying desperately to distance himself from the Muppets as much as possible, not wanting to get type-cast as a "Muppet person", so I think we ought to respect him by letting him be, wishing him well and allowing him to be free to do what he wants.
I'd be cool if Segel, Stoller, Bobin, etc. were given a chance to do another Muppet film--they hit a home run with this film and they understand the characters and what makes the Muppets tick overall, so why not? Disney has done right by the Muppets and it would not be smart to pick on them, especially after all they've done for us. After all, you wouldn't want to bite the hand that feeds you, do you?

Firstly, did I say he wasn't wished well and could not do what he wanted? Am I stuck in the past? Nope, but I'm sure not going to discredit history.

Your response to me and calling me out obviously means you know me so well, and so you SHOULD know that I've always supported Frank's career outside of The Muppets, and I have always supported The Muppets' career post-Frank. But, I also still appreciate the work he did while he was with the Muppets even if you prefer to ignore that history and live in the here-and-now; that's fine for you, but I'm in it for the overall experience: old, new, possibilities of the future...

Secondly, isn't the title of the thread a "what if" based on the article linked in the first post? I think it is. Having been around here for years and years I'm quite aware how to use and post in a forum and staying on-topic (or even going off-topic if it's a fun conversation going that way).

Why must some people be stuck in jumping into a thread they don't agree with to begin with and then 'set someone straight' without appreciating that it's their opinion? Did I bite the hand of Disney or debunk what they have done, or fail to appreciate the new movie? Nope.

And who's to say that Frank's career isn't leading him in the direction to direct a Muppets production? In your grand wisdom of his wants, likes and dislikes, are you so sure that he wouldn't want to work with the Muppets again? Likely, it isn't; but, when I'm asked if I'd like to see it happen based on that he'd worked on a new script per the article and I say yes, then that's me.

I think that the majority of your posts seem to be quite aggressive and that isn't very effective posting in a forum this size. I respect the opinion of others easily; but, not when their opinion starts to aggressively attempt to tell me mine is wrong, especially when I'm posting 'on topic.'