The new Muppet movie: Next Year's Yogi?

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If some fans end up not liking a project, that does not mean they are not true fans. That's like saying only one religion is true.

Here's the way I see it. If Star Trek fans had just decided to support Star Trek: The Motion Picture, despite how poorly it was done, we might never have gotten such a better movie in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

I don't know how this movie will do. I hope it is good. No one here really knows what will happen, good or bad. But if some people are skeptical that is their right.

Purists are simply fans who feel that the Muppets did their best work under Jim Henson. Anything but disloyal.

 

[Duke Remington]

when its a well thought out comment and review yes

but ive seen many who just spew hatred just to spew without ever even seeing the movie thats based off their fave franchise

a personal one for me is Turtles when TMNT came out in 2007 one of my close friends said it was awful and the worst thing ever just cause the turtles were cgi and not suits

That's the exact kind of point that I was trying to make.

 

[frogboy4]

If some fans end up not liking a project, that does not mean they are not true fans. That's like saying only one religion is true.

Here's the way I see it. If Star Trek fans had just decided to support Star Trek: The Motion Picture, despite how poorly it was done, we might never have gotten such a better movie in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

I don't know how this movie will do. I hope it is good. No one here really knows what will happen, good or bad. But if some people are skeptical that is their right.

Purists are simply fans who feel that the Muppets did their best work under Jim Henson. Anything but disloyal.

Re-read that last bit because that isn't what I said at all. I said the performers have been doing a good job. Nobody knows how the film will turn out because they're still shooting it. Skepticism is one thing, but wanting to be negative right out of the box is just downright unMuppety. Of course that’s the right of any forum member, but it’s why I’ve been staying off the forum a great deal more. I kind of feel Muppet purists would not only honor the work of Jim Henson, but his positive outlook as well.

 

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I kind of feel Muppet purists would not only honor the work of Jim Henson, but his positive outlook as well.

I think they do, it's just different than the way others do it.

"Actually, I don't mind the way you clown. Well, I don't mind it when you frown. I know what I see and it's fine by me."

 

[frogboy4]

Since I'm even a member on this site I'm sure you guys know I'll see it but with the quality of the aesthetics of the puppets, the 'new' puppeteers lacking in their predecessors talent, and the corny, recycled jokes for each character played constantly, I don't think it's gonna do very well in the box office.

I have been unable to locate the “Jim Henson spirit” in the little tidbit that started this pessimistic topic.

 

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I have been unable to locate the “Jim Henson spirit” in the little tidbit that started this pessimistic topic.

Well I can't speak for other users. And I'm not saying I agree with everything that was said. I'm just saying it reminds me of when Kermit didn't mind inviting Statler and Waldorf back into the theater in that one episode of the Muppet Show, even though they appear to be anything but supportive of the Muppets. That's truly the Hippie spirit that the Muppets embodied back in the day, inviting people into the group and accepting differences.

 

[matleo]

First off, I think this is an interesting thread because the reality is that, as franchise, The Muppets fall into this weird category of never having gone away been never having been around much lately. It's like when you talk about "the muppet show" with Joe Ordinary he will inevitably tell you how as a kid his favorite character was "that dog that used to tell jokes. What was his name? Fonzie?" so from that perspective you can't say for certain that "Muppet Movie2" or "The Muppets Movie" or whatever you wanna call it, You can't predict that it's going to be an instant success.

However, I think there's a big difference between Yogi and the Muppets in that when you talk about rebooting the Muppets, your talking about a property that has traditionally had very high standards and your trying to take what made it work and maybe dust it off a bit. But the thing about "Yogi Bear" is that even when it was good, it was never very good. The jokes were hokey, the characters were 2-dimensional and kind of one note, and the animation was done on the cheap. And it has a certain charm to it but it just doesn't translate. So when you reboot, your taking this very outdated source material and forcing it to try and work. And because of this, you have another major difference in that nobody has ever asked for Yogi reboot or Yogi movie. Whereas I don't think that's as true for the Muppets. I mean, how many Muppet fansites are there? How many proven celebrity fans do the Muppets have (Segel, NPH, Jimmy Fallon, Craig Ferguson, etc.) And even without a strong "Muppet Show presence' there's always the presence Sesame Street and those characters so like i said "The Muppets have never been away even though they've been away.

So while there may be some people who may look at the new Muppet Movie and roll their eyes, I think they'll most likely do better than Yogi Bear.

--Matt

P.s.--My apologies to any Yogi Bear fans I may have offended. I actually am a fan of Yogi but also realistic in it's quality level.

 

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P.s.--My apologies to any Yogi Bear fans I may have offended. I actually am a fan of Yogi but also realistic in it's quality level.

LOL, love that. Don't worry as a Yogi fan myself I completely understand, lol.

And yay Time Bandits!

 

[Drtooth]

The Beatles. Yes I know they did those two new songs in 1995, and fans liked them OK, but mainly what helped bring the Beatles back into the spotlight in the '90s was how the Anthology highlighted the prime of the Beatles work from the 1960s. I still see young kids who love the Beatles and it's because of the best work they did in the '60s, not because they did two new songs.

Bands are something different, I think. I'm talking cartoon characters and stuff like that. With any musician there's always some demo or unfinished piece of music floating around somewhere and someone at the recording company or label will want to release it. Michael Jackson's family is apparently not pleased with the album of unreleased demos that just came out...

But unlike a band, you can always make another Bugs Bunny cartoon without any of the animators or Mel Blanc. You can't have someone randomly write a song and say "It's a Beatles song." heck, Ringo and Paul could get together and it still wouldn't be a Beatles song... it would be a Paul and Ringo song. With the exception of the disastrous Devo 2.0, you just can't make a "New" version of a band. You'll have impersonators (Elvis style) at best.

The "Muppets Movie" has a great chance seeing that it gets the jump by opening the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and has very little competition. The new "Twilight" and "Happy Feet 2" come out the week before it. The only other slated competitors for that date include some sort of raunchy teen comedy and Sony Animation's "Arthur Christmas" about an elf bringing presents to an overlooked house. If “The Muppets” is a good film then word of mouth will take care of the rest.

OH GOD! A Christmas movie. No matter how bad it is, people will invariably see a Christmas movie. UGH! Yeah, something tells me this isn't going to do as well as we all hope if that's the case. And if it bombs because of Suck-ny animation's usual terrible job, I'll really be angry.

a personal one for me is Turtles when TMNT came out in 2007 one of my close friends said it was awful and the worst thing ever just cause the turtles were cgi and not suits

Did he happen to see the second 2 live action TMNT movies? Because, let's face it... they weren't all that good. The first and fourth ones were the best of the bunch. And it really doesn't matter if the turtles were CGI in that movie. They would NOT have had the budget to get live action suits. The film barely made back what it cost to begin with. But at least they didn't dance around to Vanilla Ice or randomly go back to the Edo era... though, I admit they picked a pretty "Tales of TMNT" type story to do.

 

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But unlike a band, you can always make another Bugs Bunny cartoon without any of the animators or Mel Blanc. You can't have someone randomly write a song and say "It's a Beatles song." heck, Ringo and Paul could get together and it still wouldn't be a Beatles song... it would be a Paul and Ringo song. With the exception of the disastrous Devo 2.0, you just can't make a "New" version of a band. You'll have impersonators (Elvis style) at best.

You're saying "you can always make another Bugs Bunny cartoon without any of the animators or Mel Blanc" but to me that's like saying you can always make another Muppet movie without Jim Henson. As we've seen in the '90s, that's clearly not so easy.

Newer attempts at doing Looney Tunes have never been as good as the originals. The Looney Tunes stayed popular because it was still possible for a long time to see the original cartoons like the "Duck Season/Rabbit Season" bits on TV. Definitely not because of the newer projects which are barely remembered once they're done.

And you can make newer versions of bands; bands come back in new incarnations all the time. But it's their original peak years that audiences tend to respond to. That's why bands in reunion tours mostly tend to play their original hits even though they'd rather play their newer songs. They know what the audience will respond to.

Actually bands often seem more aware and respectful of their fanbase than the studios that make the TV shows and movies. Maybe it's because when bands perform live, they actually get to see what will get the audience excited and what will turn them off. And bands will cut back on newer songs if the audience isn't interested.