Muppets Most Wanted: What went wrong?

[Drtooth]

Lol, that works!

I really do like MFS, but Kermit not showing concern over one of his closest friends or supporting another? I know the hack director that ruined the film wanted to focus on the Muppets doing mundane tasks over Muppet things, but Kermit seemed so much more concerned about the house not being painted than anything else in that movie. I expect a deleted scene to surface where they have to talk Kermit out of putting a third coat to rescue Gonzo. And with a lot of convincing. Like a whole 8 minute sequence where they're screaming at him saying "They're gonna dissect him! He's gonna die!!!" and Kermit's like all "yeah... I'd love to drop everything I'm doing, but I really need to decide which primer I should use. The glossiness of the house is very important to the curb appeal. Tell you what. Let's rescue him on the way back from Home Depot."

 

[Muppet Master]

I really do like MFS, but Kermit not showing concern over one of his closest friends or supporting another? I know the hack director that ruined the film wanted to focus on the Muppets doing mundane tasks over Muppet things, but Kermit seemed so much more concerned about the house not being painted than anything else in that movie. I expect a deleted scene to surface where they have to talk Kermit out of putting a third coat to rescue Gonzo. And with a lot of convincing. Like a whole 8 minute sequence where they're screaming at him saying "They're gonna dissect him! He's gonna die!!!" and Kermit's like all "yeah... I'd love to drop everything I'm doing, but I really need to decide which primer I should use. The glossiness of the house is very important to the curb appeal. Tell you what. Let's rescue him on the way back from Home Depot."

He is also concerned about his pants more as well.

 

[Ladywarrior]

I'm not sure what anyone is talking about. ^^;

 

[Drtooth]

Be thankfully he didn't get to do a sequel. Muppets From Space 2: Kermit does the Taxes in Real Time.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Be thankfully he didn't get to do a sequel. Muppets From Space 2: Kermit does the Taxes in Real Time.

I hope that something deductible comes along!

 

[Drtooth]

Okay... One more:

Yeah. This film was directed by someone who's magnum opus was the first Chipmunks movie. In other words, someone who probably said, "Jason. You're not off putting and angry enough as Dave."

But yeah. The MFS film had all the Hallmarks of a trouble production and it was no wonder why it was treated with such ennui by both Sony and Henson. The script was constantly fussed over. Just too many cooks all around. Hence why I'm defensive about these last 2 movies. If nothing else, those guys wanted to be there.

 

[minor muppetz]

C
I HATE the whole "the movie was bad because my favorite character wasn't in it" logic.

I kind of had that logic around the time of Muppets from Space, up until sometime after the Palisades era was over. With so many characters (and so many favorites) it is hard for every favorite to be included (it would be an interesting task to list all of my really big favorites and then determine what production has the majority of them). I liked Muppets from Space a lot better at first, in part because Rowlf, Scooter, and Dr. Teeth were all heard, in addition to the fact that we saw so many classic characters again (after Muppets Tonight focused more on new characters), but at the same time was disappointed that it didn't have Lips, Thog, Doglion, Digit, or Seymour (it was the first time Pepe was a solo character, not counting his Muppetism which may or may not have come first, and I was used to him being part of a duo). I was also disappointed that these characters didn't appear in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (and also disappointed that this was the start of Clifford and Dr. Phil van Neuter no longer being used), but I still liked that one a lot (and still do).

And this had also worked its way into older stuff. Suddenly I was liking The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show a lot less, because of the small amount of characters. Of course I still like Miss Piggy's Hollywood a lot better and that one has a lot less Muppets, but what's really disappointing is that the Muppets who weren't Miss Piggy were limited to control room scenes, and it was pretty much the same crew the whole time (they didn't mix it up from scene-to-scene), with occasional visits from Piggy and Scooter. They could have had more Muppets on-stage instead of all those extras, used the full-body monsters with the human extras, had Rowlf or The Electric Mayhem back-up Miss Piggy on some songs, made new Vets Hospital or Pigs in Space segments (though Jerry Nelson didn't perform in the special so Dr. Strangepork likely wouldn't have been in it). Now, I can overlook the shortage of characters, but still feel like it's not that great a production.

And around this time there were a few formerly rare specials I saw for the first time. Big Bird in China was rereleased (not sure if it was rare since it had previously been released on video and constantly broadcast on The Disney Channel back when I didn't have that channel, but it wasn't often I saw the old video release in stores, not even during the Random House Home Video era). I knew not to expect much besides Big Bird and Barkley (and a subplot with Oscar and Telly), but was hoping to see more characters in the opening scene. I was disappointed that it was pretty much only Muppet characters who were still on the show at the time, and was disappoitned that the special didn't seem to have anything dated, Sesame Street-wise (overlooking how the street looked). Ditto with Sesame Street Home Video Visits the Fire House which didn't have any recognizable characters beyond Big Bird, Elmo, Oscar, and Gordon. I haven't seen the Fire House video in ten years, but overlooking the small amount of Muppets involved in Big Bird in China, the special is good but not great (certainly no Christmas Eve on Sesame Street - which was also limited to the main characters but my opinion of that never changed - or Follow That Bird).

And I felt this way about John Denver and the Muppets: Rocky Mountain Holiday. I was excited, as that special had reportedly only aired once, and this was the first Muppet special being released by Jim Henson Home Entertainment that had not previously been released on video. And I was disapointed that this was just half the main cast - actually a mix of the main characters and some supporting characters. I was disappointed that the whole Electric Mayhem wasn't there (and it seems like Dr. Teeth wasn't in any of the early 1980s specials), that it didn't have Bunsen or Beaker, thought up ways that a lot of missing characters could have appeared, was happy that the jugband popped up for a scene. In hindsight, it seems there weren't that many Muppet performers back then, and it seems like the camp setting might have made it hard for a lot of characters to show up for cameos (well the special does have a few flashback scenes...), but whether I'm disappointed by who was or wasn't in the special, the special does have plenty of flaws, like scenes with John Denver singing where we don't see the Muppets, and the nighttime scenes (while nice to look at) are a little slow. I felt I should have been happy to see a rare special, but now I realize that opinions on a special shouldn't be better just because it was so rare.

One other thing to note is Muppets Party Cruise. I liked that a lot better when it was new, due to a lot of the characters included. There were disappointments I had with other things, but at the time I was trying to determine whether that or Muppet Race Mania was the better game, and was trying to determine based on which one had more characters (and I still forget off-hand), but eventually decided that Race Mania is the much more fun game. But both had plenty of characters, and Party Cruise had most of the characters who were racers... But it also had Lew Zealand, Crazy Harry, and Digit. It was the first time I heard Brian Henson's The Newsman (since I didn't attend Muppetfest). Of course I was disappointed that the game didn't have Beauregard or Dr. Phil van Neuter (among many others), and was disappointed there weren't appearances by any characters who didn't host mini-games, that most of the mini-game hosts weren't involved with the game (just providing voice-overs at the beginning and end, and their pictures appearing), and that even playable characters got to host mini-games.

But in recent years I have, for the most part, tried hard to not let the lack of certain favorites or the usage of only a small amount of characters affect my enjoyment of a new production. I liked Letters to Santa despite the fact that it mostly has just the core cast (but did bring back a few characters who hadn't been seen in a few years, like Pops and Carl), and there's a lot to dislike about the Lady Gaga special beyond the fact that it only has a few minor characters (and Lips is one of those few).

 

[Ladywarrior]

Man alive. I have o watch those films. I've seen more of the mainstream films myself. movie, caper, manhattan, family christmas, christmas carol, treasure island, from space, that nbc christmas special, wizard of oz, the muppets and most wanted. I'm also currently watching the muppet show and I'm halfway through season three. what films am I missing?

 

[Mo Frackle]

Man alive. I have o watch those films. I've seen more of the mainstream films myself. movie, caper, manhattan, family christmas, christmas carol, treasure island, from space, that nbc christmas special, wizard of oz, the muppets and most wanted. I'm also currently watching the muppet show and I'm halfway through season three. what films am I missing?

You got 'em all except for "Kermit's Swamp Years." (by the way, "A Muppet Family Christmas" was a TV special, not a movie. )

 

[Ladywarrior]

oh yeah. I've actually seen swamp years. we have it on dvd but i only saw it once. and now that I remember it. the family christmas one was on tv when I was really little. i recent;y rewatched it on youtube. I felt bad for lips getting the door slammed open in his face. XD