Frank Oz: "New Muppets Too Cute"

[CaseytheMuppet]

What? I loved IAVMMCM. Now, it's not my favorite, but it was the closest to The Muppet Show we've seen in years. I do respect your opinion. Everyone is different.

 

[D'Snowth]

Again, it just seems to me that it was more like if some manic depressive emo guy crawled out of the hole of whatever funk he was in, tried to write a Muppet Christmas fanfic, then sold the idea as a script for a movie and they made it.

Come to think of it, as far as the Muppets being "too cute" or "too sugar-coated" or "too watered down" in recent years, I'd argue that this movie is probably the only modern-day Muppet movie that wasn't anything like that: it had grit and edge, but in a somewhat more distasteful way than the grit and edge Jim and Frank and Jerry and Richard and all had given them in the past... I think in this case, the grit and edge came from pure shock factor.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

I prefer NOT to acknowledge MWO was ever made. That movie just needs to stay buried in those 1.00 bins at Walmart. I'll give more merits to MFS then MWO!! But that's not saying much either!

 

[MelissaY1]

I fully disagree. The Muppets have NOT been "Disney-fied" in any way. And the new movie did a great job of reviving the Muppets and the movie they did was one that HAD to be made. Plus, the new movie was filled to the brim with classic Muppet humor and vibes, so such an opinion confounds me.

While I, too, respect Frank's work, I do agree that he has become awfully jaded in recent years and it's for the best that he's not with the Muppets anymore, especially when you consider the fact that most of his performances in the 1990's Muppet production weren't as strong as they were in the 70's and 80's--it was clear that he just wasn't up to it anymore.

His opinion on the new movie (which NEVER should've been asked for, IMO), while a tad understandable, just seems to across as mean-spirited and with a lack of an understanding that they HAD to make the new film what it turned out to be and that any "experimenting" probably would've made it fail, resulting in yet another road-block for our fur and felt friends (and goodness knows we do not need any more of them).

Maybe someday, he'll realize all that, but to quote The World's Oldest Fraggle, "I wouldn't hold my breath".

You're entitled to your opinion, Duke. I'm glad you liked the film. I enjoyed it too, but it was not the same Muppets that I grew up with. I'm assuming you're younger and grew up with an even different Muppet era than myself which is fine. But I don't think Frank was being mean spirited. He was being honest. Frank is brutally honest which is one of the reasons I love him as an artist/performer. I wish he was involved with this film or that they would've made the film based on his original script which I think would've been far more Muppety than what we got.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

No offense to Frank but according to what he wanted in a Muppet movie it would've been a flop IMO!

 

[MelissaY1]

I've also been confused by the fact that people say this recent film stayed true to the characters. I found Kermit to be a very sad characterization in this recent film, almost pathetic. That's NOT the Kermit we know and love. Even him living in a mansion is out of character. Our little Kermit of the past would NEVER be living in a giant mansion, even if it was meant for him and Miss Piggy to live in. He would've gone back to the swamp!

 

[D'Snowth]

That's pretty much what I said three pages ago: in Frank's interview, he DOES have a bit of a point, if based only on the kind of attitude I've seen Muppet Freaks take in recent years, if there's one thing Muppet Freaks have been saying for some time now is that Kermit isn't the same anymore, that he's too low-key, too mellow, too laid back, that he doesn't fly off the handle or lose his cool like he used to. Admittedly, while I did love the new movie, I too felt that Kermit was somewhat wishy-washy, but I wouldn't say pathetic... but one has to keep in mind, before setting out to bring everybody back, he basically lost all of his friends, and much of everything he ever worked for... that certainly has to take some kind of an emotional toll on a person, so most things considered, I think for him to be a sad characterization was rather natural and realistic.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

Let me just say this if you loved the movie that's great, if you thought it was just okay that's also great, if you did not like the movie at all then that's also great. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and I can respect and accept that whether I agree with your views on it or not.

However I would like for people to at least try and understand this whether you liked it or not. You could NOT have done a Muppet movie for this generation like GMC or MTT. Why? Because people who haven't grown up with The Muppets, weren't even born when they were in their glory would've been like "Who the heck are these guys and What makes them so great?" Jason Segal said you had to show people who don't know who these weird and wonderful characters are why their so great. You had to otherwise if they had just jumped in and pulled out just some random Muppet movie it would've been a flop. Plain and simple it would've been a flop. The reintroduction had to happen for this new generation. But you also had to find that balance for the fans who grew up watching TMS.

I think that was accomplished on both levels. And forget Kermit living in a mansion to me that's just knit picking and besides wasn't it said in the movie Piggy had the house built? Anyways... yes Kermit was sad in this film god knows he pretty much had lost all hope. But again if your gonna introduce Kermit to a whole new generation you can't really have him starting out all happy you have work him from the bottom back up to the top. Bascially to me what happened to Kermit in the film is what happened to The Muppets in real life. You can't have Kermit already with his friends cause otherwise how do you know who they are?

Which is why Walter despite whether you like him or not had to be a version of bascially all us fans because he showed you why their great if you didn't know them but if you knew them then bascially you were him in a way and were following him and The Muppets on this journey to get them back where they needed to be.

Now that people bascially know who The Muppets are now you can put out fun, quirky movies like in the good old days of TMM, GMC, and MTM. Which is so far what the next movie is gonna supposedly do. Did I think this latest film had flaws? Oh yeah it did but I was able to easily overlook them.

No Kermit is not the Kermit from back in the Jim Henson days. But let's face it Jim was just good at having Kermit fly off the handle and loose his temper he was just good at that. I don't think that's something Steve is particuarly good at yeah I've seen him have Kermit get mad but it definitely lacks that comical feel that Jim brought to it. Plus I also feel time has a lot to do with it. This is bascially Steve's Kermit now not Jim's and you really can't compare well you could but their still two different performers who perform in different ways.

I personally feel The Muppets are back to where they need and should be and I hope they continue on this path. Its taken them a long time to find it. But as I've said a couple times on here I think their FINALLY doing okay without Jim and that's not really a bad thing. And like Dr. Tooth said I am personally grateful for this movie. I hand full credit to Jason Segal for being so passionate about getting this film made. Because let's face it without him we wouldn't be able to have this debate about it now. I probably wouldn't have gotten back into The Muppets. Which haha some of you probably wish I hadn't cause then I wouldn't have joined this forum. LOL! Trust me I miss the good ole days of The Muppets I wish TMS was still on. I wish Jim Henson was still alive because if he was then we know Jason's film wouldn't have been needed or any of the other ones before it. But I can now say I've fully embraced the new Muppets as well.

I am not out to try and change people's minds who maybe still didn't care for the film if you still didn't care for it that's perfectly fine hopefully the next one will case something that maybe you didn't like about this one.

To me though this movie was a long time in the making but it was well worth the wait IMO.

 

[CaseytheMuppet]

Let me just say this if you loved the movie that's great, if you thought it was just okay that's also great, if you did not like the movie at all then that's also great.

That's a lot of greats! LOL! Nice write up, btw!

 

[Pinkflower7783]

That's a lot of greats! LOL! Nice write up, btw!

LOL! Just trying emphasis all peoples thoughts of the movie that no one is saying they HAD to like the film and it's not a bad thing if they didn't care for it but I just wanted to make some points of my own for them of why it had to me the way it was. I'm not out to try and change people's mind about it and I don't want them to because it would be quite boring if we all thought the same.