Frank Oz: "New Muppets Too Cute"

[Duke Remington]

I saw this video yesterday and wasnt going to say anything about it. But of course it was on my mind all day and now I've got to say something! LOL I love Frank Oz and all the work he has done with The Muppets, Star Wars, his hilarious films, etc.... but I don't understand why he always says such crazy things like that. This is not the first time he's said something negative about a newer Muppet project. I personally feel that Jim would have enjoyed the new movie. To me it had alot of heart and nostalgia that fans connected with. It made me tear up more than once because The Muppets are like old friends to me. I grew up with them and they have supplied happiness for me when I needed it the most. For him to say that the Muppets aren't suppost to be cute is almost a contradiction! I mean he did perform Baby Fozzie in the Muppet Babies scene in TMTM. You can't get any cuter than that!! It's almost like he's bitter or something? I know he's moved on and that's fine but if he wants to take part in Muppet projects and give his opinion then... great! If not, then he should just give the Muppets his blessings and not say anything else. It makes me sad that he's like that.

Upon that very point being mentioned, I gotta say that makes Frank come across as a bit of a hypocrite in that regard, saying that the new film was "too cute" even though Muppets Take Manhattan, which he directed, had the "cute" Muppet Babies.

 

[Gonzo's Hobbit]

Well yea, but you do have to consider the fact that the "Muppet Babies" have a cuteness factor that wouldn't necessarily apply to the Muppets themselves.

 

[Oscarfan]

It seems hypocritical to me that you guys wanted to know what Frank thought and when you hear it, you start picking apart whatever he said. I respect his opinion and him as a person, but whatever negative thing he said about the movie shouldn't and won't get in the way of my enjoyment.

 

[MrBloogarFoobly]

Jesus, whenever someone comes along who doesn't vomit rainbows, a faction of the Muppet fans dismiss them as "jaded."

Oz is acerbic, witty, and has a dark sense of humor. He's not jaded. He's a realist. He has a point, although I don't entirely agree with it. The biggest problem I had with "The Muppets" is how it was blatantly emotionally manipulative. It lacked the subtlety of Henson-era Muppets. But I accepted that, good with the not so good, and enjoyed the movie anyway.

 

[MrBloogarFoobly]

And THIS is what Frank Oz actually said:

I agree with this entirely. Especially the last bit.

"I wish people would get around to appreciating the performers beneath the Muppets."

 

[D'Snowth]

Jesus, whenever someone comes along who doesn't vomit rainbows, a faction of the Muppet fans dismiss them as "jaded."

Oz is acerbic, witty, and has a dark sense of humor. He's not jaded. He's a realist. He has a point, although I don't entirely agree with it. The biggest problem I had with "The Muppets" is how it was blatantly emotionally manipulative. It lacked the subtlety of Henson-era Muppets. But I accepted that, good with the not so good, and enjoyed the movie anyway.

The problem is whenever someone within the Muppet fandom tries to be realistic about something, others start whining and crying that those someones are pessimists who are polluting everything with negativity.

But anyway, I would just like to point something out... so many people here have been saying Frank has no right to say the Muppets as of late are "too cute" because he directed MTM which include a "cute" Muppet Babies sequence... uh yeah, see the thing of it is, those are two different kinds of "cute": the Muppet Babies sequence was "cute" as in "D'awww, isn't that adorkable! Squeee!", Frank saying the Muppets are "too cute" is "cute" as in "This is really watered-down and sugar-coated stuff here".

 

[Beauregard]

But anyway, I would just like to point something out... so many people here have been saying Frank has no right to say the Muppets as of late are "too cute" because he directed MTM which include a "cute" Muppet Babies sequence... uh yeah, see the thing of it is, those are two different kinds of "cute": the Muppet Babies sequence was "cute" as in "D'awww, isn't that adorkable! Squeee!", Frank saying the Muppets are "too cute" is "cute" as in "This is really watered-down and sugar-coated stuff here".

Also, Muppet Babies was cute in almost a "so-cute-its-not-even-cute-anymore-its-hilarious", but also, I was watching MFC the other day and the writing for that is really grown-up and serious and the concern for Miss Piggy's safety is genuine, Gonzo's fight with the turkey over his girlfriend is played quite seriously, and you could easily swap out almost all the lines and characters from these "children's" puppet characters to a grown-up Christmas special with humans playing the parts and it would still work. You couldn't swap The Muppets into a film with humans playing the parts and it be even remotely realistic.

 

[CensoredAlso]

and you could easily swap out almost all the lines and characters from these "children's" puppet characters to a grown-up Christmas special with humans playing the parts and it would still work. You couldn't swap The Muppets into a film with humans playing the parts and it be even remotely realistic.

Wow, you know I never thought of that but you're absolutely right. What made the Muppets work is that they weren't treated like "puppets."

 

[Beauregard]

Wow, you know I never thought of that but you're absolutely right. What made the Muppets work is that they weren't treated like "puppets."

Often, if you watch the originals and The Muppet Show, and stuff like that, its obviously comedy (there's plenty of humour and puns and intentional humour and also loads of gags that only work with Puppets) BUT, the writing is clearly written as adults speaking to each other on an intellectual basis, this is not writing for a cartoon show or an after-school-special, but could easily be exchanged with scenes from Friends or *insert-normal-sitcom-style-show-that-you-enjoy-here*. And I think that may be what Frank means by saying the Muppets were never cute.

Also, scenes like "Halfway Down the Stairs" or "Stop, Children", or "Turn the World Around" could also not be readily described as simply "cute."

 

[MrBloogarFoobly]

This is exactly it, Beauregard. It's the same thing with the musical numbers in The Muppets, for me. The reason why they didn't reach the same level as the songs in the original Muppet Movie is because they were songs made for the movie and the characters, that don't work outside the context of the film. The music in "The Muppet Movie" can be covered by anyone because they're human songs, not just character songs.