Your Thoughts: Muppets Letters to Santa

[wiley207]

I DVRd the special, watching it right now as I speak.

Pretty cool special, and great to see that the Muppets still got it, even in 2008! I loved the relationship of Gonzo and Clara, and Fozzie was awesome as usual! Eric Jacobson did a very good job with Piggy and Fozzie, at some points I soon forgot that it wasn't Frank Oz doing them! Scooter's voice wasn't as great, and Bunsen sounded a little off for some reason IMO. And Pepe was pretty cool, as usual.

The NYC setting was a great idea. I think it was neat to see them living in the same apartment building together.

Animal smashing Scooter's laptop... reminds me of when I did the same thing to my dad's crappy old laptop! But I didn't use a bat

I enjoyed the Whoopi Goldberg cameo as well. And it was awesome when they were all hanging onto the airplane wing!

Anybody notice that Kermit seems to have a new puppet used now? And it seems they got out those chromakey rods for the puppets again, which they seem to mainly use for the Muppet films and TV specials.

 

[MWoO]

After watching this special (yes, special not movie) again I see a LOT of good.

pros:

-probably the best thing of all is that the muppets starred. Like AVMMC, this was the muppets show.

-the songs. I liked them. What's in Your Heart with Fozzie and Kermit and Gonzo was a good song as were many of the others. They are catchy with good hooks and I've been humming them for awhile now.

-good use of cameo's, even the mobsters. They were true cameo's. When i heard Whoopie was a cab driver I thought she would be like the friendly cab driver that helps them out, instead it was a one shot, line delivered, done well spot on cameo. Same with Joy. Umma wasn't horning in on the story, she served her purpose and was gone.

-good jokes. Gonzo going through the x-ray machine felt like it was straight out of GMC (my fav muppet movie) as was the mail truck scene, air plane scene, "What's in Your Heart" as well with the trio. They just look so good together on camera.

-the pigeons. I liked the scene. And to the people who think the muppets use stereotypes too much these days, stop it. They ALWAYS did that. There is the crazy swede, dr. strangepork with his stereotypical german accent, Rizzo, Pepe, Jonny Fiama. Need I go on? They use stereotypes, always have, and it's funny. If you can't laugh at yourself you have no right laughing at anything.

-Nathan Lane's character, for the most part. THe bit about the interigation room with him and Bobo was great. "You mean the place where we have coffee?" Bobo just works as a security guard and has been twice been paired with a great partner.

-lots of characters.

-Piggy used sparingly. I was glad Piggy was not in the lime light. Once Kermit admits to being in a relationship with Piggy she really doesn't serve a purpose anymore. She just becomes the frog girl friend, and recently she was been an annoying one. She worked great in Oz, but had she stuck around in this special she would have annoyed us all. I don't know if it is Eric, the writers, or just the natural progression of the character ut Piggy annoys me way too much. The voice is way too grating too. Also Eric over acts with her. She never seems natural.

-another plus would be Eric's Fozzie. I wasn't watching him thinking "hmm, Eric does a good Fozzie" I was watching Fozzie thinking "That's Fozzie alright".

cons:

-again, my only real con is how they handled Santa. Even if you have to have the adults believe in Santa, they didn't need to act like children when doing so.

-far too simple conflict resolution. The cab thing I don't care about, but come on. With no effort they convince security to let them go? I mean at least have something happen. Maybe they sing a reprise of whats in your heart, though it might have been a little soon for that. Any song would have worked. Show the muppets singing a quick song as they walk out the door and then officer meany turns around and goes "what just happened?". Anything other than "I'm standing in your way, and now I'm not"

-the directing. I mean, when David messed up in his first scene with Scooter, which he obviously did when you compare it to his second scene, why not do another take, or use another take? Why is there always mumbling happening and why do we hear obvious voice looping? I've noticed this is AVMMC and MWoO.

-Paul as the elf. Was he drunk? Was he playing drunk? Is he just not a god actor?

I say it is a success. While there were parts of Oz I liked, I didn't like it as a whole. This special has parts I didn't like, but I like it as a whole.

 

[Beauregard]

The best 'Muppet Show' production since...

It's hard to know what to compare this with. Sure it's not as epic as the 'original three', not as big-budget as the 'Disney' Muppet films...and it wasn't as...well, long, shall we say, as MFC...But this film checked all the boxes to make it every bit as classic as MFC and VMC. In fact, it's was SO Muppet-Show feeling that Bunsen even addressed the camera with his invention.

 

[wes]

I liked this movie better than the last christmas movie they did, the charactors were greatand they shined!

I think Bobo the bear is freaking great, and Pepe sweet. (they should have there own show) They are funny with out even trying! Bill Barrtta is my new muppet hero!

I love the Paul Williams cameo! Did he write the music for this, it sound true to the muppets.

Who did Floyd Pepper i don't think it was Jerry Nelson, he didn't do Robin either.

the only thing i didn't like was the new fozzie puppet it look weird,
and he kept flipping his lid (puppeteer talk for moving the top jaw)
I don't think a non-puppeteer would notice.

 

[Frogpuppeteer]

i know puppets/muppets dont gain wright but one thing i noticed and it was even put into the special
did anybody notice Bobo was huge, i dont remember him that big

 

[vaati64]

I really enjoyed letters to santa. I thought the whol beaker and the wish machine was funny. I also thought Paul Williams cameo was funny too. Does anyone know where I can possibly download this, or something like that? I'd love to be able to put this on to a dvd for future enjoyment.

 

[wes]

Bobo was always that huge, even when he was just a standby charactor in the TMTM.

I do think that kermit and Gonzo keep looking better every year. which i cant say for the rest of the cast.

It seams they can't keep a pattern for Fozzie or Piggy.

 

[stephenjlizard]

If anyone's interested in doing this, I'd love it if you called the MuppetCast phone line and left me a voicemail with your review! I'd like to have some to play on the show this week. The phone number is 614-364-4270.

And in case you're wondering...I did get my fourth interview. PAUL WILLIAMS will be on The MuppetCast this Sunday talking about Letters to Santa and the Emmet Otter musical. Don't miss it!

 

[Nick22]

If anyone's interested in doing this, I'd love it if you called the MuppetCast phone line and left me a voicemail with your review! I'd like to have some to play on the show this week. The phone number is 614-364-4270.

And in case you're wondering...I did get my fourth interview. PAUL WILLIAMS will be on The MuppetCast this Sunday talking about Letters to Santa and the Emmet Otter musical. Don't miss it!

what is the muppetcast?

 

[Vic Romano]

I agree that Beau should have had a line or two. He's one of Dave Goelz' characters and he's the one Muppateer who's still with us. I could have seen him as the cab driver. No offense to Whoopi though.

Oh wow, what a great idea!

Prawnie and Dave, thanks so much for your heartfelt reviews.

*blush
Aw thanks, Beth. You know I'm a little more... ossified than Ryan, but I agree with him on this one a lot and think you'll be pleased.

-Paul as the elf. Was he drunk? Was he playing drunk? Is he just not a god actor?

He certainly looked different then his early days with the Muppets. I had no idea it was even him until I looked it up on Muppet Wiki.

Hey Steve, what'd you think of the special?