A Muppet Movie Debate: Part One

[dwayne1115]

Hello and welcome to the first of a three part serise of threads called A Muppet Movie Debate!
In this first debate we will be discussing the first three movies staring the Muppets. The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets take Manhatten. In this debate we welcome everyone to join in the conversation and share your true and honest opinions about each film, or whichever of the three films you would like. We would also love to hear why you love one of these films over the others.
The only rule of this debate is that there are no wrong opinons or likes or dislikes. You may not agree with another person's choice but that dose not make them wrong.
So with that being said, LET THE DEBATE BEGIN!

 

[DMHFan]

The Muppet Movie (1979) is the first feature length film starring The Muppets. It tells the story of how Kermit the Frog got to Hollywood and gained fame.
I think this movie is great because of the characters and comedy and music.

 

[BertsNose]

I don't think I've ever seen The Muppet Movie from start to finish so I don't really have much of an opinion on it at the moment. I know I used to have it on VHS as a kid but that was a long time ago. Of course "Rainbow Connection" will always be a classic.

In my opinion nothing beats The Great Muppet Caper. "He's an irresponsible parasite with categorically no prospects." Plus I love the opening number "Hey, a Movie!", not to mention the cameo by John Cleese and that woman who was hard of hearing from "Fawlty Towers." There are just so many things to love about Caper that I'd be here all night.

Muppets Take Manhattan is another favorite. I think my favorite song from that movie would have to be either "You Can't Take No For An Answer", or "Saying Goodbye." The cameos from Sesame Street characters at the wedding ceremony was a nice treat too.

 

[DMHFan]

The Great Muppet Caper (1981) is the second feature length film starring The Muppets. It stars Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo as they work for the Daily Chronicle.
One of the best parts was the EM performing "Night Life".

 

[LittleJerry92]

Personally, I thought this was a great start to the first Muppet movie. All the characters watching in the theater to see how they all met.

And let me tell you. Some of the songs (*cough* Rainbow Connection and Never Before *cough*) really hits the feels. Doc Hopper has always been one of my favorite Muppet movie villains.

Plus, the shots of Animal becoming huge and the big shot with both Muppet Show and Sesame Street characters reprising Rainbow Connection in the end were gold.

 

[DMHFan]

The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) is the third feature length film starring The Muppets. It's about The Muppets doing this show called Manhattan Melodies and then bringing it to New York.
I think this movie is great because of the characters and comedy and music, like TMM.
So I think all 3 of the movies are good.

 

[minor muppetz]

This is interesting. The whole trilogy is great, whichever one is my favorite often changes (though my profile has always listed GMC as my favorite; in fact, when I met Steve Whitmire at one of his convention appearances, I decided if he asked me which movie was my favorite - and I wasn't asked - I planned to answer either GMC or MMW). Of course TMM and MTM have been more up at the top in the past year, TMM more because of Tough Pigs' "Moving Right Along" Podcast (when they start doing GMC that might be more there), while MTM has been on my mind a bit because of all the recent interviews with Frank Oz promoting Muppet Guys Talking (with Oz talking a bit about directing the movie).

As a kid, The Muppets Take Manhattan was the only Muppet movie I did not have a copy of (and then my copy of The Great Muppet Caper broke a few years before I got a copy of The Muppets Take Manhattan), so that did have a particularly special place in my heart (especially considering that Jim Henson Video released the other two on video but not this one, and it was uncommon to find a copy for sale). But over time, I've decided that the first two are a lot better. Kinda ironic, since I am such a fan of the 1980s and 1980s pop culture and MTM feels the most like an '80s movie (while 1981's GMC feels more like it could have come in the 1960s or 1970s). The first 30 minutes are great, and the last 30 minutes are great, but the middle 30 minutes are more hit-or-miss.

 

[minor muppetz]

Thinking some more, for years I've felt all the Muppet movies are well-known to the public at large, even the least successful ones like Muppets from Space and Muppets Most Wanted.... But in the last few months, in thinking about the "Jim Henson trilogy", The Great Muppet Caper seems to be the underrated one of the three (unfortunate, since that's the one Jim Henson directed).

When it comes to DVD and blu-ray, The Great Muppet Caper has barely had any film-specific bonus features. In fact, the blu-ray combines it with Muppet Treasure Island (which is the third highest-grossing Muppet film), but pretty much all the other film-specific bonus features are related to MTI, the only advantage GMC has over MTI in the bonus features department is with the frog-E-oke feature, as more songs from GMC are included than songs from MTI.

Additionally, it seems like The Muppet Movie is the best known (or best liked) of the trilogy, the one casual fans tend to know best (though the 2011 film seems to be more popular to today's audiences), while The Muppets Take Manhattan seems to be the best-known title of the three, there tends to be many references to the title (and officially, there's been a lot of Muppet things with the title "The Muppets Take..."). The last two Muppet movies featured new performances of songs from those movies, maybe they should have included a new rendition of something from GMC (and actually, the same songs are in both but their usage reversed - the 2011 film has a brief rendition of "Together Again" as well as Walter playing a brief instrumental on piano and a new performance of "Rainbow Connection", while MMW has a clip of "Rainbow Connection" and Constantine singing (and mangling) a line of the song while the film has a new performance of "Together Again").

Though ironically, and I could be wrong, I feel like The Great Muppet Caper had the most tie-in merchandise around the time that the movie was released. And it sometimes seems like The Muppets Take Manhattan is (or was) the "underrated" one, though more because that's the one that Henson never had distribution rights to (I kinda want to say that it seems that one used to be broadcast the most, while also feeling like the three were almost equally broadcast).