Your Thoughts: Muppets Most Wanted on Blu-ray and DVD

[Muppet Master]

Another thing I would like to mention, and I hope it does not sound nit-picky, but a ton of the characters sound off, very off. First the good ones. Steve Whitmire really scores big, making spot on voices for Link Hogthrob and The Newsman, and obviously Kermit, though I am referring to the more recent recasts. Also Matt Vogel does a mean Floyd Pepper and he is also really good with Sweetums, but this is basically where the good ones END. Now, the bad ones, and unfortunately there are a lot. First off, Janice, does not even sound like Janice, she sounds like a fan impression of Janice. David Rudman just does not do it for me, it sounds too high pitched, and I cringed at her one line. Not to mention, Scooter also sounds way off, but it is not as dire as Janice. Meanwhile, Sam sounds a little too much like Fozzie, and he sounds far less commanding. Also Lew Zealand sounds way off, and in fact, I do not remember seeing a fish in his hand throughout both TM'11 or MMW, talk about in character. Bill Barretta just seems to be doing Bobo when he performs Rowlf or Dr. Teeth, so they honestly do not sound like them. While the voices do not matter too much to me, I am just seeing that the voices are not all really that well.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I guess originally when they needed to start recasting, they mainly kept it in the family, whereas companies like WB I assume generally audition voice actors from the outside who specialize in echoing iconic voices, like Bugs Bunny.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

I'm gonna disagree with all this. But to each his/her own!

 

[galagr]

Another thing I would like to mention, and I hope it does not sound nit-picky, but a ton of the characters sound off, very off. First the good ones. Steve Whitmire really scores big, making spot on voices for Link Hogthrob and The Newsman, and obviously Kermit, though I am referring to the more recent recasts. Also Matt Vogel does a mean Floyd Pepper and he is also really good with Sweetums, but this is basically where the good ones END. Now, the bad ones, and unfortunately there are a lot. First off, Janice, does not even sound like Janice, she sounds like a fan impression of Janice. David Rudman just does not do it for me, it sounds too high pitched, and I cringed at her one line. Not to mention, Scooter also sounds way off, but it is not as dire as Janice. Meanwhile, Sam sounds a little too much like Fozzie, and he sounds far less commanding. Also Lew Zealand sounds way off, and in fact, I do not remember seeing a fish in his hand throughout both TM'11 or MMW, talk about in character. Bill Barretta just seems to be doing Bobo when he performs Rowlf or Dr. Teeth, so they honestly do not sound like them. While the voices do not matter too much to me, I am just seeing that the voices are not all really that well.

I'll agree with you on Janice and Rowlf (although Bill does seem to be getting better at it), and I do agree with you a bit on Lew Zealand (the rubberiness is perfect, but it sounds a bit too gruff to me), but other than that, I think all the characters sound perfect as they are. In fact, I think characters like Scooter and Sam have never sounded better since their original performers left. And, there's something about Bill's Dr. Teeth that's really growing on me. It's not exactly like Jim's, but it...fits.

 

[Oscarfan]

As we have established, the writers can not exactly write too well for the characters. They practically ruined Rowlf for me in this film, and not to mention the last film. They just can not write for Rowlf. They gave him some of the most deadbeat lines like "The bad guy is Dominic Badguy". Really? Rowlf is supposed to be the calm cool, and collected keyboardist, and they have turned him into an almost unintelligent oaf who does nothing but say the most random stuff. He has not been in character for 30 years, and I am sick and tired of it. When I saw the teaser trailer for MMW, I saw that there was a good amount of Rowlf, but all he did in the film was say random stuff. Also, they have this illusion that Fozzie is a moron, because why? Did they watch MFS everyday, and lead to the conclusion that he was a dim wit? For goodness sake's, Fozzie does not even have a real character anymore, he is just that one stupid guy. I am sorry, but as much as I love MMW, I could not help but cringe at some parts like when Rowlf says something out of character or when Fozzie is portrayed like a four year old. Can someone not write for these characters well?

I'm sorry, but you're going to have to elaborate more on Rowlf. "Unintelligent oaf"? You got that from a single line?

And, oh yeah, Fozzie's never been dumb before. He never would have said a line like:

Kermit: "Great Britain! We're actually in Great Britain!"
Fozzie: "Oh no, we'll never make it to England now!"

except that he did, in 1981.

 

[CensoredAlso]

And, oh yeah, Fozzie's never been dumb before. He never would have said a line like:

Kermit: "Great Britain! We're actually in Great Britain!"
Fozzie: "Oh no, we'll never make it to England now!"

except that he did, in 1981.

As always, it's a question of execution. Fozzie's always been a bit innocent, but more recent projects took it into the realm of dumb. The joke turned from endearing to ridicule. Comedy is extremely brittle that way.

Agree to disagree.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

 

[Muppet Master]

I'll agree with you on Janice and Rowlf (although Bill does seem to be getting better at it), and I do agree with you a bit on Lew Zealand (the rubberiness is perfect, but it sounds a bit too gruff to me), but other than that, I think all the characters sound perfect as they are. In fact, I think characters like Scooter and Sam have never sounded better since their original performers left. And, there's something about Bill's Dr. Teeth that's really growing on me. It's not exactly like Jim's, but it...fits.

I think Bill Barretta was better with Lew, but that is simply the problem, the majority of a certain puppeteer's characters go to simply one performer, prior to Jim Henson's. They hardly expiremented, all the Frank Oz characters went to Eric Jacobson, all the Jerry Nelson characters went to Matt Vogel.

 

[jvcarroll]

I don't understand the criticism of "voice casting" so much because Muppets are about the over all performance. Puppeteers don't do voices.

That said, I think almost everyone has been pretty good. The Red and Green holiday album from a few years back seemed odd because it only contained the voices and most of them were recasts. Even though it won a Grammy (or at least I think it did) it was probably a bad strategy.

They've all come a long way since then.

 

[Mad Monty fan]

I don't really notice much of a difference with the current voices of the characters, for example, Matt Vogel's voice for Uncle Deadly sounds exactly like Jerry Nelson's voice for Uncle Deadly and Eric Jacobson's voices for Animal, Fozzie, Marvin Suggs, Miss Piggy, and Sam Eagle sounds exactly like Frank Oz's voices for Animal, Fozzie, Marvin Suggs, Miss Piggy, and Sam Eagle, Bill Barretta's voices for Dr. Teeth, Rowlf, The Swedish Chef, and Mahna Mahna sounds exactly like Jim Henson's voices for Dr. Teeth, Rowlf, The Swedish Chef, and Mahna Mahna, and David Rudman's voices for Scooter, Janice, Wayne, and Bobby Benson sounds exactly like Richard Hunt's voices for Scooter, Janice, Wayne, and Bobby Benson.