Jason Segel talks The Muppets and his inspiration

[dwmckim]

Oh I say bring on the ad nauseum saturation. I wanna be driving and see giant muppet billboards. I want to not be able to walk anywhere without seeing promotion. The thing I fear is not enough over the top saturation.

Don't get me wrong. I very much want that too. But with well-done, beautiful looking photos/artwork. NOT with ugly generic-looking, expressionless, cringe-inducing poser photos accosting my eyes on every street corner. And given the Muppets' track record with their merchandising/branding/promotions, the odds of that turning out to be the case is a little too nervewracking.

 

[dwmckim]

I wonder how many of Segel's "How I Met Your Mother" costars will lend cameos in this film since it will shooting around his TV schedule. They'll be available. I hope Neil Patrick Harris and Alyson Hannigan pop up somewhere. They both Muppety actors.

And NPH is one of the hugest Muppet Freaks himself. I can't see him not ending up with a cameo - i'm sure he'd probably be visiting the set regardless! Can you just imagine how insanely cool it must be on the set of HIMYM with two of the entertainment industry's Muppet Freaks starring on the same show? And of course, just in the beginning would have been wickedcool enough - now with one of them playing such a big part in their latest major project, i would love to be a fly on the wall on that set!

 

[dwmckim]

Can I be honest? And If I may be so bold...

At this point I am getting slightly annoyed at the things happening in this thread, but not for the reasons one might think;

Earlier in this thread, a couple of people here kept telling me to stay on topic, so I did.
Now it seems all that is going on here is people going off topic and lecturing about they felt that certain Disney and Pixar films were failures.
Whether or not I agree with these opinions is irrelevant.

We might as well re-name this thread "Let's bash Disney and Pixar"

The point is, so far two people here (Duke and myself) have gotten upset about this, and who knows how many more nerves will get touched if this continues.

Sorry for the rant.

There's an important difference between what happened at the beginning of this thread and the latest discussions. The "off-topic" discussions have been used as examples to compare and contrast what might happen with the Muppets' project with actual past examples of other franchises. So it's still very much in the same direction, even if the driving's on the access road rather than the freeway.

 

[frogboy4]

Can I be honest? And If I may be so bold...

At this point I am getting slightly annoyed at the things happening in this thread, but not for the reasons one might think;

Earlier in this thread, a couple of people here kept telling me to stay on topic, so I did.
Now it seems all that is going on here is people going off topic and lecturing about they felt that certain Disney and Pixar films were failures.
Whether or not I agree with these opinions is irrelevant.

We might as well re-name this thread "Let's bash Disney and Pixar"

The point is, so far two people here (Duke and myself) have gotten upset about this, and who knows how many more nerves will get touched if this continues.

Sorry for the rant.

Might I add that continually telling people to stay on topic is in itself off topic. As long as the thread subject is touched on somewhere in each post there shouldn't be an issue with other conversations introduced along side it. And constructive criticism is a part of the forum. It isn't bashing. It makes for a much more interesting conversation than if everyone agreed with everything, had the same tastes or kept quiet if they didn't. Forums are conversational. There's no need for such a heavy hand and this thread hasn't come close to being muffined yet.

Now, back on topic (because I believe that every post should have some part that talks about the new Muppet film).

On the subject of posers in advertising of the film, I think most of the current spreads have been rather attractive and remind me of the old Muppet Magazine spreads. I still don't see why they don't devise some sort of knucked hand armature to go inside the Kermit poser. Some of the Kermits used on those old mag covers were unfortunate and I agree that many photo Kermits these days appear the same way too, but the cast aside from Kermit and Piggy have looked pretty good in the current poser form.

 

[The Muppaphone]

And NPH is one of the hugest Muppet Freaks himself. I can't see him not ending up with a cameo

Kermit and captain hammer team up to thwart the evil and ingenius plans of Dr. Horrible perhaps? tee hee

 

[Duke Remington]

Its alright Duke, we all have topics that we are sensitive about. I'm sure that dr.tooth didn't mean to upset anyone.

Sometimes things that others say will hit a nerve, and one just needs to rant. I understand what you were trying to say.
Its understandable. And I know how you feel, I am a fan of several Disney movies that I feel are constantly under-appreciated.

I very greatly appreciate your sympathy, my friend. I really do.

And it continues to break my heart further when under-rated films get slammed continuously.

I can agree with you on Pocahontas. It was historically inaccurate and the story wasn't as strong as other Disney films.

Again, I just cannot agree with that. Screw innacuracies! It's only an animated film made for entertainment purposes, not to serve as a history lesson.

Also, this is not the first time that this story got "romanticized", even in animation. For instance: there's one WB Merrie Melodies cartoon made in 1938 starring Egghead called "Johnny Smith and Poker-Huntas", which also distorted the whole true story (most people probably don't know about that particular short, since it has mostly been kept locked away in the vault for ages, due to racial content). If more people knew about the existance of films like that, more people would probably relax about the whole thing and keep quiet more often, IMO.

Poca, Hunchback, Hercules, Mulan and Tarzan are all classics as well and deserve to be regarded as part of the second Disney feature animation renaissance period of 1989-1999 as well, in addition to Little Mermaid, Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Lion King.

And, Dr. Tooth, just because you're an animation student does not give you the right to be so pompous, mocking film and TV titles in every other post.

I will continue to remain a staunch defender of all those under-rated films until my dying day.

I'm not flaming anybody, nor is it my intention. I'm just expressing my own personal opinion with the hope that I'll be understood and respected.

Okay, you can all start slamming me now. This odd-one-out/odd duck/outcast his protective armor on already...

 

[Drtooth]

And, Dr. Tooth, just because you're an animation student does not give you the right to be so pompous, mocking film and TV titles in every other post.

I will continue to remain a staunch defender of all those under-rated films until my dying day.

Are you a child?

I have EVERY right to say a crap film IS a crap film. It was a crap film, I'll die saying it's a crap film... it IS a crap film.

It was a poorly written piece of reconstructive historical fluff and high preachiness with NO ENTERTAINMENT VALUE WHATSOEVER! I disposed and loathed every second of it, and the only find I get is one of the voice actors has become one of the most racially intolerant people of all time.

Pocahontas is the reason people hated Disney Princess movies . Animaniacs rightfully slaughtered it as a preachy, unwatchable, formulaic waste of good animation.

you like it, FINE... don't insult me with your obvious attitude towards anyone who says different. Everyone hands everything I like its own butt on a silver platter, but I at LEAST have the common decency to move on and change the subject.

God, you are an overly sensitive one. And I;m putting you on ignore now. GOoooooood Night!

 

[dmoss]

Are you a child?

I have EVERY right to say a crap film IS a crap film. It was a crap film, I'll die saying it's a crap film... it IS a crap film.

It was a poorly written piece of reconstructive historical fluff and high preachiness with NO ENTERTAINMENT VALUE WHATSOEVER! I disposed and loathed every second of it, and the only find I get is one of the voice actors has become one of the most racially intolerant people of all time.

Pocahontas is the reason people hated Disney Princess movies . Animaniacs rightfully slaughtered it as a preachy, unwatchable, formulaic waste of good animation.

you like it, FINE... don't insult me with your obvious attitude towards anyone who says different. Everyone hands everything I like its own butt on a silver platter, but I at LEAST have the common decency to move on and change the subject.

God, you are an overly sensitive one. And I;m putting you on ignore now. GOoooooood Night!

Putting my neck on the line here, as I didn't read all of the posts within this discussion, but is this the kind of world Jim Henson was promoting? Are we taking what he worked for and believed in, and making it real by saying things like this?

What if he is in fact a child? Jim said, "The most sophisticated people I know - inside they are all children."

Think on that.

 

[Convincing John]

I gotta agree about Pocahontas. Sorry, but it just didn't do it for me, plus I saw it on the big screen about 7 or 8 times. I had to. I was working at a drive-in movie theater the summer it came out. I was stuck in the ticket booth in this town way out in the sticks with little to no way to entertain the kiddies. That's the reason the place was packed. To the parents, Disney film=way to keep the young'uns quiet.

So I gave it a fair chance. Several. I just didn't dig it. To me it was "didn't the Little Mermaid sing this already?" If it had been the Lion King, that's different. I really enjoyed that one. It was a much better film overall.

About those advertising posters Disney's (hopefully) going to do for the new film. The Disney execs or the Muppet poser/photo people NEED to read Danny Horn's article about Kermit he did a while back. It's an excellent example of how Kermit can look awful if he's not posed and positioned just right, especially the head. Would someone there have a MR Kermit poser they could practice taking pictures of before using the real puppet?

Also, the new group Muppet photo has one oddity that sticks out right away. I don't think I've ever seen Dr. Teeth take off his hat. He just looks weird without it on.

Convincing John

 

[Drtooth]

Putting my neck on the line here, as I didn't read all of the posts within this discussion, but is this the kind of world Jim Henson was promoting? Are we taking what he worked for and believed in, and making it real by saying things like this?

There's a difference between being child-like and childish. The poster is clearly overly sensitive, and has a history of flaming everyone who slightly offends him when he no doubt skims halfway through the posts. There's nothing wrong with liking a movie, but there's ALSO nothing wrong with not liking one.

And Might I add, I'm not saying "teh Movie is the stupids," I'm slamming it CRITICALLY.

I might as well give it a real run down.

The characters were flat and one dimensional, the comic relief of the non-talking animals was weak, the acting was almost Star Wars 1 wooden, the music was manipulative and syrupy (and those are the good songs), the villain was unnecessary and stereotypical, and even if banality dictated, they could at LEAST have given him a funny sidekick, the Native American spiritual world seems like a cartoonish caricature, rather than a respectful insight, they basically tore the same arranged marriage subplot from Aladdin, and it was already cliche by then (but it WORKED in Aladdin). And I could overlook any of that if it wasn't so heavy handed.

There was virtually nothing to be liked by myself in that movie. I've seen 90% of legit Disney movies (not counting theatrically released cheapquels) and I've more or less liked thgat 90% of them... This was one of the two I found to be dull and unlikable, right allong side the snoozefest Dinosaur.

But it shouldn't MATTER what I think. he likes it, and that should be good enough for him.

Pompous... really.. the nerve.