Link Hogthrob never got so much as a line in film. Sure, he was in the film audience at the end of The Muppet Movie, he banged a gong in MTI, and he was in line to use the bathroom next to Kermit in MFS. The Muppets? He was in the immediate background of almost every shot and was in a major musical number singing lines. Wayne and Wanda were onscreen quite a bit. They haven't been seen since The Muppet Show. Even some of the more obscure monsters were there. It's a shame that there was too much plot to fit into a 90 minute movie and more of the regular characters didn't get screen time as a result. But, other than the completely obscure making of Weezer video, this was the most we saw of Rowlf since, maybe MTM.What characters got this luxury besides Uncle Deadly? And how was the Kalidahs scene any different than their heckles on TMS?
As for the Kalidahs... here's why Statler and Waldorf work. They kinda have a point, and their heckling isn't meant to be soul crushing hateful. They're the ones that get the most laughs in a Fozzie Bear sketch. Fozzie's the only person that takes their heckling seriously because he lets it get to him on occasion. Their role in MWO was meant to be hurtful, discouraging, and it was accompanied by a depressing Leitmotif and a dark scene in a completely dismal movie to begin with. While it isn't too out of character, it's using the characters out of context.