Your Thoughts: Muppets Letters to Santa

[fragglerockr]

Letter To Santa....

Wow! Just wow! I don't post on the forums often but I guess I'm going to be the highly unpopular opinion at the moment. I'm sure it will make a few folks unhappy. So get out the stones ready to hurl at me.

First, let me just go out on a limb and let everyone know I love the Muppets. I gathered 20 of my friends to watch this movie. We even cooked a big dinner in celebration. Everyone was so excited and we just kept waiting for it to get better and never did. I think it's sadly on par with Muppet Wizard Of Oz, or worse.

Everyone keeps praising the songs. Did we watch the same special? The songs were insipid, and to date Paul Williams worst work, ever. Hands down! I love the guy and think he's a great composer and writer. The song were inserted in the show for the simple need (hey let's put a song here to fill time) Some of my favorite songs come from this guy. He never ever needs to work with drum machines or syntheziers again. It was electronic music overkill and it was tacky.

The "Delivering Xmas" (first) number or whatever it was called was painful to watch and listen to. The music sounded like it could have been pulled from a Xmas soundtrack of High School Musical. It was that bad! The ballads weren't nearly as painful but just lacked spark that his music usually contains. I liked the song Kermit sang at the parade this year so much better, even though Paul didn't write it.

Then there was plot writing/dialogue. I enjoyed cracks like Pepe's remark in the taxi about "I have some cashews". Other jokes just tanked miserably. When the producers have to back a "wah-wah-wah" track to underscore a joke, you know it's bad. And I don't mean like a godawful pun, I mean like a failed joke.

Plotline was ok. I mean I get it. Cheap Muppet production (in comparison to others) to put them in ther public eye. Did it really take this many writers to pull this off? Ouch! The resolution on so many situations was just brushed aside for the sake of running time. How did the Muppets get out of paying the taxi without any cash? I know, we'll cut to another scene! Poor writing. Where was the creativity in that. It seemd very kid friendly which I love, but it missed the mark for us adult fans. It seemed more Sesame Street than the Muppets. Richard Griffiths as Santa? Um, no! Great actor but horribly mis-cast.

The puppets themselves I think, looked great. The piggy face is growing on me but I swear is starting to look younger and younger. Botox anyone? LOL Almost starting to like her "daughters" in Muppet Xmas Carol. It was nice to see an assortment of familar as well as current puppets. That part was sweet. I love watching the Muppets play cameo apperances in places like the post office being mixed indiscriminately with human players.

The voices....um well. Steve and Dave sound great. But did anyone else think that Bill's Pepe sounded off? Almost like he had a cold or something. Very inconsistent with his other performances. Heck, Pepe's one of my fav characters so I notice stuff like that.

Scooter was just jarring! It was like fingernails on a chalkboard. I'm all about re-assigning characters to new performers as needed. But can we try and match the performers voice a little better? Just because someone is great puppeteer doesn't mean they can voice the character well. Point in case, Rudman. A wonderful puppeteer but a terrible Scooter. There are many other puppeteers that could use the work that can voice the character and puppeteer the actual puppet 10 times better. Ever hear of open auditions? Don't get me started on the cattle call Disney had a while back. I'm sure there was a good Scooter or that could have been pulled for this and future productions.

Of the 20 of us gathered, half of us were die-hard Muppet fans and the rest were folks who loved the Muppets from our childhood. In the end, when it was over, I was asked by everyone if we could watch something else Muppety to 'wash the bad taste out' left by this special. They majority asked if we could watch Very Merry Muppet Xmas to which everyone agreed was a superior special. Everone wanted to see something current (what can I say they like Pepe) or we would have watched Muppet Family Xmas (my fav).

Contrary to popular belief I didn't totally hate every single minute of Muppets Letters to Santa (it had a few moments) and as a completist will probably get it when it comes out on DVD but it is def not my favorite. To quote Janice "For sure"!

If I had to rate it would probably be a C- or a D. Please understand my opinions are just that my opinions and don't everyone take this as Muppet bashing. I love them and always will. Hopefully the next movie will be good and reland them a role on Primetime TV. (Sorely needed) I hope everyone has a Merry Xmas and Happy Yule in spite of my less than glowing review.

 

[Randall Flagg]

Of course Steve Whitmire isn't going to perform Kermit like Jim did, he isn't Jim. To expect a performer to simply mimick another is insulting. The spirit of a character needs to remain, but each performer will invariably bring their own take to it.

I completely agree. I can deal with the voice being different. ****, Steve's been doing the voice long enough, I'm used to it and it sounds fine. I would prefer that the mannerisms be a bit closer to how Jim did them, but it's not a big deal.
But what I don't like is that the spirit of the character has changed. That's what I was getting at in my previous post. Kermit has always been frazzled, bemused, exasperated, etc, etc. When I think back to the Muppet Show, I don't remember Kermit as a sweet, syrupy character, I remember him flapping his arms around and screaming at the rest of the cast, with a look on his face that said, "Why am I always surrounded by morons? AGGHHH!" Even on Sesame Street, he had that exasperated look when dealing with Grover. But now, he often comes across as a bit too nice and accomodating, which makes him a less entertaining character for me.

 

[TheJimHensonHour]

Yeah I didn't have a problem really with any of the muppets at all.
It's the script I really didn't enjoy all that much but the Muppets where great.

 

[The Narrator]

There were some really good moments and I enjoyed the overall feel of Letters to Santa. I thought it was better than Oz or Very Merry, but there were still some moments that fell flat for me--mostly in the cameos. Overall, it started strong for me (I loved the New York gag and post office song) and finished strong, but sank in the middle (which did still have some good moments). It definitely had heart and felt like a Muppets movie, but I guess it was just lighter on the laughs than I expected/wanted. Still, it was enjoyable and I'll be picking it up on DVD to add to my holiday marathon of movies for future years.

 

[Speed Tracer]

Am I the only one who thinks "may I cut in?" was absolutely adorable and one of the best Bunsen / Beaker moments in recent Muppet history?

I think every Muppet production has at least one moment that just absolutely defines what the Muppets are to me, and fleeting as it was, that was the moment for me in this special.

Pepe, thankfully, and for the first time since "Muppets From Space", was not a one-man show. By that I mean, it hasn't suddenly become all about trying to make audiences love Pepe by forcing him on us; they know he's become a classic Muppet by now, and I feel like they're finally allowing his comedy to come from his interactions with other characters, rather than it just being "I'm Pepe and I'll say something funny now, okay." "Oh, rapture" and the opera bit were great moments.

 

[ngreen522]

Am I the only one who thinks "may I cut in?" was absolutely adorable and one of the best Bunsen / Beaker moments in recent Muppet history?

Actually, I thought that was something else...
but yes, definetely great Bunsen/Beaker moment!

 

[Speed Tracer]

What did you think it was?

Also, I forgot to mention...

...Dave Goelz, man. Dave Goelz.

 

[Speed Tracer]

Oh, and does anyone know who was the Swedish Chef's other hand?

 

[dwayne1115]

I think some people are not seeing the true meaning of this movie. It really goes down to sharing the love and joy and giving spirt that is what this movie was all about. The Muppets even realized that all the work they did to get to Santa, and they really didnt even need him to answer Clare's letter. I think that going through all that they did to get to Santa showed that yes they cared, but to go that extra step and getting everyone together that was the most inportiant part.

 

[CensoredAlso]

What I'm wondering now since you said that Redsonga, is if these people who dislike this Muppet special for thoes reasons does that mean they also dislike other christmas classics?

I have to say in response I do love a ton of other Christmas specials, including ones with Santa. But I like ones that appeal to all ages. This one was good but not as multi layered as others have been. That's all.

And about the mob thing, the Mafia is made up of serious criminals. To be an Italian American and constantly have that image of your culture spread everywhere on TV and movies is very difficult, especially when Italian Americans have contributed so much more to America. I don't mind harmless stereotypes, but the mob is anything but harmless. Plus there are other stereotypes we would never think of using today, but apparently this one is OK.