Your Thoughts: "The Muppets" Theatrical Film

[Drtooth]

I have wondered if the Muppets had a place in the modern world, or was it simply my own nostalgia that held them in such high regard. I think this new movie answers that question with a resounding "yes!!!". It's seems everyone has got it. It really would have been such an easy option for Disney to do a "Smurf's" and CGI the heck out of the Muppets, catering to what hollywood perceives as the must use tool these days, but Disney has showed faith and the global critical praise heaped on this film shows that there is a place, and a huge desire for the Muppets, in their original form, in this world and I simply cannot wait for the announcement of how they intend to follow this up, be it with a TV series or another theatrical outing!!

The Muppets have always fared well in modern culture without having to hip themselves up too much. There's really nothing much to add. They haven't been out of the public eye all that long, like Smurfs or Chipmunks (which for years basically survived on that Christmas novelty song that made them famous in the first place)... I don't think ANYONE would have wanted a CGI hybrid Muppet movie, even Disney. At worst, I'd think we'd probably see something MWO like if they wanted to hip something up.

Smurfs... something tells me that someone was spying on the production of the Fraggle Rock movie, which seems to be the ONLY reason they made them go in the real world... I'm sure of it. Corey Edwards even confirmed on his blog that everything he wanted to keep out of his Fraggle script was actually in the movie, right down to a random, and pointless Guitar Hero sequence. Only due to the timing of the release was that film a hit.

I think Disney realizes that kinda frantic gutter humor for 4 year olds type movies wore thin when G-Force and Underdog both bombed at the Box Office. They haven't made that kind of movie since. If they put the Muppets through that, they knew it would have failed on both the casual fans and die hards, as well as an audience that wouldn't really care that they just couldn't get. Luckily, it hit everyone in a positive way.

 

[frogboy4]

The Muppets have always fared well in modern culture without having to hip themselves up too much. There's really nothing much to add. They haven't been out of the public eye all that long, like Smurfs or Chipmunks (which for years basically survived on that Christmas novelty song that made them famous in the first place)... I don't think ANYONE would have wanted a CGI hybrid Muppet movie, even Disney. At worst, I'd think we'd probably see something MWO like if they wanted to hip something up.

Smurfs... something tells me that someone was spying on the production of the Fraggle Rock movie, which seems to be the ONLY reason they made them go in the real world... I'm sure of it. Corey Edwards even confirmed on his blog that everything he wanted to keep out of his Fraggle script was actually in the movie, right down to a random, and pointless Guitar Hero sequence. Only due to the timing of the release was that film a hit.

I think Disney realizes that kinda frantic gutter humor for 4 year olds type movies wore thin when G-Force and Underdog both bombed at the Box Office. They haven't made that kind of movie since. If they put the Muppets through that, they knew it would have failed on both the casual fans and die hards, as well as an audience that wouldn't really care that they just couldn't get. Luckily, it hit everyone in a positive way.

I noticed that with the Smurfs Movie too! Ugh, definitely a film created by committee. It was a cynical choice that ended up paying off to a tune of $563,749,323 worldwide.

It doesn't seem that Weinstein understood the Fraggles' appeal. But I'm not totally sold on Corey Edwards either after seeing Hoodwinked Too. I know he didn't direct the picture, but he did write it and there weren't any laughs whatsoever. There were definitely many problems that started with the written page. I was on board 100% before seeing that movie. It really concerned me and softened the blow of his Fraggle project being shelved. The Muppets proved that a film can be made for $45 milion and turn a handsome profit.

 

[Drtooth]

I noticed that with the Smurfs Movie too! Ugh, definitely a film created by committee. It was a cynical choice that ended up paying off to a tune of $563,749,323 worldwide.

I'll give the Smurfs one thing... it wasn't the Yogi Bear movie. That film had the opposite problem. It wasn't so much hipped up, but rather it was just Garfield'd... putting uninterested, poorly cast, generic actors in the human roles, making them the focus of the film, and just having the animal characters caper around while 2 generic humans have a generic love story, and slap a bunch of cliches together to form a plot.

If nothing else, Hank Azaria's Gargamel was refreshingly energetic. Much better than the "Why did I sign up for this" ness of Jason Lee in the Chipmunks movies.

Still, Nickelodeon/Paramount had a series of superior, character driven movies for the Smurfs that SHOULD have happened. Nope... Sony bought up the rights before anything went forward, and just grabbed a couple writers to do something banal before the license expired and someone else bought it under them.

It doesn't seem that Weinstein understood the Fraggles' appeal. But I'm not totally sold on Corey Edwards either after seeing Hoodwinked Too. I know he didn't direct the picture, but he did write it and there weren't any laughs whatsoever. There were definitely many problems that started with the written page. I was on board 100% before seeing that movie. It really concerned me and softened the blow of his Fraggle project being shelved. The Muppets proved that a film can be made for $45 milion and turn a handsome profit.

Corey may have wrote the film, but he didn't rewrite it. THAT was the problem. It's like blaming John K for the REALLY bad last season Games animation Ren and Stimpy's. The forced him off the project, and the script was given to a bunch of script doctors who preceded to ruin every aspect of the movie possible. I remember reading that the bridge ogre didn't even have a line let alone talk sassy black comedian style. And there really seemed like a LOT of cases of bad ADR'ing with just terrible jokes that shouldn't have been there (the line about Rachel Ray was so last minute, and you can tell). I want to see a Donner cut, or an original script for comparison sake. That movie was so screwed up by the idiots at Weinstine, who only care about making Oscar bait... I assume so they can hock the Oscar and blow all the money they'd get on it.

Suffice to say, Corey is NOT happy about how the film turned out at all, even siding completely with critics.

Still, the convictions Corey had for the Fraggle Film sounded solid. I can only assume how Weinstine would have screwed it up by firing him and hiring the next person they found in the phone book. Though Regency doesn't give me that much confidence. They made the Chipmunks movies... lord knows what they'd do with the Fraggles... if the film even happens.

It really makes me appreciate what Disney and Segal and Stoller did with this movie. Lemme just put it that way.

 

[frogboy4]

I'll give the Smurfs one thing... it wasn't the Yogi Bear movie. That film had the opposite problem. It wasn't so much hipped up, but rather it was just Garfield'd... putting uninterested, poorly cast, generic actors in the human roles, making them the focus of the film, and just having the animal characters caper around while 2 generic humans have a generic love story, and slap a bunch of cliches together to form a plot.

If nothing else, Hank Azaria's Gargamel was refreshingly energetic. Much better than the "Why did I sign up for this" ness of Jason Lee in the Chipmunks movies.

Still, Nickelodeon/Paramount had a series of superior, character driven movies for the Smurfs that SHOULD have happened. Nope... Sony bought up the rights before anything went forward, and just grabbed a couple writers to do something banal before the license expired and someone else bought it under them.

Corey may have wrote the film, but he didn't rewrite it. THAT was the problem. It's like blaming John K for the REALLY bad last season Games animation Ren and Stimpy's. The forced him off the project, and the script was given to a bunch of script doctors who preceded to ruin every aspect of the movie possible. I remember reading that the bridge ogre didn't even have a line let alone talk sassy black comedian style. And there really seemed like a LOT of cases of bad ADR'ing with just terrible jokes that shouldn't have been there (the line about Rachel Ray was so last minute, and you can tell). I want to see a Donner cut, or an original script for comparison sake. That movie was so screwed up by the idiots at Weinstine, who only care about making Oscar bait... I assume so they can hock the Oscar and blow all the money they'd get on it.

Suffice to say, Corey is NOT happy about how the film turned out at all, even siding completely with critics.

Still, the convictions Corey had for the Fraggle Film sounded solid. I can only assume how Weinstine would have screwed it up by firing him and hiring the next person they found in the phone book. Though Regency doesn't give me that much confidence. They made the Chipmunks movies... lord knows what they'd do with the Fraggles... if the film even happens.

It really makes me appreciate what Disney and Segal and Stoller did with this movie. Lemme just put it that way.

Yeah, I read some of Corey's take on it, but he didn't seem critical enough if that was the case. Maybe that's wise.

I'm not sure if you are aware, but the correct spelling is Weinstein not Weinstine. It makes for a more legitimate argument against a person or company when you spell their name correctly. Nonetheless, you were correct about the Fraggles' status at The Weinstein Company from the beginning. Just realy, really bad what they wanted to do.

The fraggles might work at New Regency. They don't have the best track record of quality movies, but that usually stems from poor properties (Epic Movie, Big Mama's House) and not poor production quality. We know the Fraggles are great so they'll probably permit them some freedom. By the way, it's Regency Enterprises under Fox ownership that put out the Chipmunks movies, not its subsidiary New Regency. The parent company seems to have more of Fox' corporate hand in their decisions. This could be a good thing for the Fraggles.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm not sure if you are aware, but the correct spelling is Weinstein not Weinstine. I'm not sure if that's an intentional misspelling, but it makes for a more legitimate argument against a person or company when you spell their name correctly. Nonetheless, you were correct about the Fraggles' status at The Weinstein Company from the beginning. Just realy, really bad what they wanted to do.

Those brothers aren't worthy of a spell correct.

That is, if spell correct even worked.. I either get Einstein or Intestine...but really... the stuff I heard about them... like how they paid a bunch of hush money so they wouldn't get bad press when King's Speech was nominated for an Oscar. Sigh... if only Henson made some noise when The Artist were nominated. They need money, and BAAAAAD!

The fraggles might work at New Regency. They don't have the best track record of movies, but that usually stems from poor properties and not poor production quality. We know the Fraggles are great. By the way, it's Regency Enterprises under Fox ownership that put out the Chipmunks movies, not its subsidiary New Regency. The parent company seems to have more of Fox' corporate hand in their decisions. This could be a good thing for the Fraggles.

Anything can be better than those other guys. I still don't think we're destined to see anything come out of it. Henson strongly wants to bring Fraggles up as a big brand, and they want the movie to happen in the worst way. Of course, wanting and doing are completely different things. We will need a new script, but I hope it's from someone who stands their ground on the integrity of the Fraggles, and not someone who'll toss everything out on a whim and claim it as their own.

 

[Mupp]

By the way, getting back to the Muppets movie for a minute, (I'm not sure if the following has been addressed yet, but I'm not about to read through this entire thread so here goes my thought)....

For those people who are complaining about certain Muppets not getting much screen time, or dialogue (or ANY screen time), I would kindly like to remind you all that in the case of Muppets Take Manhattan, Bunsen and Beaker were not really in that film, and neither was Robin the Frog. Heck, not very much of Sam either.

So its nothing new, even in the original Muppet movies some of the main characters didn't get big roles.

I do feel bad that Rizzo was not really in this film, but it seems to me that they wanted to focus more on the classic characters

The movie was a hit, and that's all that matters. Never-mind the nitpicking.

Nitpicking can be done with ANY movie, that's a fact.

(Incidentally, besides Pepe's big scene with Piggy, Pepe can also be spotted among the characters sleeping in the rafters during the scene where Kermit and Fozzie have a nighttime chat.)

 

[DannyRWW]

You know where they should have shown Pepe and Rizzo? In the montage scene. They could have been scamming people somehow. That would have been nice. I'll have to watch for Pepe in that scene where they are sleeping in the theater though..

 

[Beauregard]

You know where they should have shown Pepe and Rizzo? In the montage scene. They could have been scamming people somehow. That would have been nice. I'll have to watch for Pepe in that scene where they are sleeping in the theater though..

I read that there was going to be a scene with Pepe being served at the restaurant, but who knows whether that was just in the script, or whether it got anywhere.

I would have LOVED to see Rizzo doing the Pizza/Phoneline gag.

 

[Cal]

Just got back from seeing it for the first time. I absolutely adored it. It's really only topped by - no, it's EQUAL to the Muppet Movie in terms of sheer quality.
It's by no means perfect, of course; it takes about a quarter of an hour to get going, "Me Party" kinda grinds the movie down to a near halt, and the fan in me wishes we could have seen more of Gonzo, Pepe, Statler and Waldorf. But beyond that, it's just a joyous film which manages to celebrate everything the Muppets stand for, with some incredibly catchy new songs to add to a particularly large list from our friends of felt, and two great new additions to the Muppets roster in Walter and '80s Robot - I hope they both stick around.
I sincerely hope this leads to a Season 6 of the Muppet Show, and I hope Jason Segel, Nicholas Stoller and James Bobin all stay on board the Muppet team at least to some extent.
So overall, an utterly fantastic, sensational, inspirational, Muppetational film.

 

[Alvin]

I doubt a season 6 of the Muppet Show...it would definitely have to be something more than that...although it would be cool. I'm sure Jason is always on the lookout for new Muppet ideas...though some of his roles are kind of racy...wish he would be careful about doing those then doing the Muppets...just a personal thing for me. Nothing against him or his acting. Love he's one of us.