Your Thoughts: The Muppets' Wizard of Oz

[a_Mickey_Muppet]

I will try to organize as many people as I can to RIOT ABC. Ever since they bought Disney (I really DO feel sorry for the memory of Walt Disney)

Ummm ... it WAZ Disney who bought ABC, NOT abc buying Disney!

 

[somethingofafan]

The movie was okay. Not great, but okay. I liked how they took things from the book that weren't in the MGM movie (the separate north/south witches, the silver color of the shoes, the green glasses, the wizard's separate forms, and the hat to call the monkeys, for example) but changed them around to fit their twist.

The songs weren't that memorable, but at least they weren't overdone.

I think the nipple suit might have been a reference to Batman and Robin...
...Which reminds me: So the pop culture references are to present day pop culture instead of 1970s pop culture. Duh! You don't expect them to still be making Hare Krishna jokes, do you?

All in all, a worthy waste of a few hours, since I didn't have to pay for a ticket.

 

[Xerus]

I was thankful I got to see this entire movie. At first, I was worried if the power was gonna go off or get interrupted by a weather report, for there was a wild storm heading my way. But luckily the storm stopped early and I was able to watch and tape the whole thing. Thank You Lord!

And the movie, it was really fun to watch. I liked it because it stayed true to the original book than MGM ever did. It wasn't a dream Dorothy had. She really went to Oz in that movie. And I liked the modern day telling of it with everyone in Oz watching the Wizard's show on TV and The Tin Thing being computerized. Gonzo was really great in that movie, and it was great seeing him with Camilla again.

And I remember in the original book when Dorothy, Toto, and the Lion fell asleep in the flower field, a group of friendly mice appeared and helped them carry out the sleeping victims. Just like how Rizzo and the rats did.

And it was good hearing Kevin Clash do Clifford after all. I was worried Clifford would have a different actor. And I too was wondering who was doing Scooter. I guess Brian is still doing Sal, because I saw Brian's name in the Muppeteer credits.

I was hoping the Wizard would take on those forms like he did in the book and he did. But in the original book, Dorothy met the head, the Scarecrow met the woman, the Tin Man met the beast, and the Lion met the ball of fire. But still, it was great seeing how the Wizard liked to fool the people with different forms.

Miss Piggy playing all 4 witches was great. It was kind of out of character for Piggy when she was being nice and sweet to the rats. And how when Piggy as the Wicked Witch ordered her Kermie to be torn up. But after all, she is playing a different role in this movie.

I was really thankful I got to see this movie and I'm hoping to see more work from the Muppets in the future.

 

[That Announcer]

Now that almost every TV series/cartoon has been trashed by the film industry, it does not surprise me that greedy Disney Corporation (a.k.a., slave owners, ask their employees) would TRASH The Wizard of Oz. They cast a girl who clearly comes from a garbage heap herself. The opening sequence was nothing but a promotion for her CD (WHO would buy that garbage??) The writing was awful, full of urban trash jokes, and of course, they always have to throw in a burp. WHY is that funny? It is disgusting. People who burp are disgusting. I will try to organize as many people as I can to RIOT ABC. Ever since they bought Disney (I really DO feel sorry for the memory of Walt Disney) they have TRASHED every aspect of Walt Disney's vision. Because they are GREEDY and produce what they think young (future trash-heaps) want to see/hear. ABC/Disney: go in to the RAP business, where you belong, and take your Muppet Oz movie with you.

Jou confuse me, hokay?

 

[Johnboy]

Hey man! i adore the Wizard of Oz ( MGM movie) and i do enjoy the book series, they were the Harry Potter books of the old days, yeh those flying monkeys were creepy so was the Wicked Witch and i loved the movie when i was a small child yet still love it in my heart.

But anyone remembered another Oz flick from Disney called " Return to Oz"? very much underrated but very good sequel to the all time greatest fantasy besides LOTR, it does have a young Fairuza Balk in it as Dorothy whom is recooperating after months since the tornado as she must get special theropy but then she runs away but being in a flood, she wakes up back in Oz only to find it trashed by two new evil foes, she joins up with Jack Pumpkinhead, Tic Tok and Gump ( no relation to Forrest) to save Oz from the evil Nome King and Mombi.

It's produced by Dark Crystal's Gary Kurtz and stars Brian Henson in it, it's preety much dark but just as fun as the original with a good music score and good special effects for it's time, if you loved the original, Willy Wonka, Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Princess Bride and fantasy then i recommend this movie.

It's also a little better than Muppet Wizard of Oz.

 

[MWoO]

I remember seeing that return to Oz movie. I really liked it. Much darker and more serious. The muppet version has a similar feel. The witch seemed more evil and did eviler things and it really worked on a funny and also serious and scary level.

" I was hoping the Wizard would take on those forms like he did in the book and he did. But in the original book, Dorothy met the head, the Scarecrow met the woman, the Tin Man met the beast, and the Lion met the ball of fire. But still, it was great seeing how the Wizard liked to fool the people with different forms."

really? I thought it made a lot of sense to have Kermit meet the fire, Fozzie meet the monster, and Gonzo meet the woman/chicken. I wonder why they mixed it up like that for the book. Doesn't make much sense that way.

 

[MrsPepper]

Alright. I watched this last night with some friends, and again today, because I taped it and I could.

This is what I thought. I went it with very low expectations, from reading things on this forum, and you guys can definately be downers because I was not expecting much. I throughly enjoyed watching this movie. It wasn't fantastic, if you're going to compare it to other things, but really, if you were expecting gold, you'd be foolish. Alot of puppeteers have been changed lately, and with the whole Disney deal, we the fans are lucky we even have any new muppet films at all. For a tv movie, it's pretty good. It's not up to calibre of any of the feature films, obviously, what with it being shorter and having much less of a budget, but I went it to watch the movie and enjoy it on it's own, and I did.

Things that I particularily liked:
> Right at the beggining, the random joke about the tornado warning. Something along the lines of, "The twister had been upgraded form right foot green to right foot yellow". This made me smile because it's silly, and Twister is fun, and there are always little goofy moments in anything muppety, so I knew that there was going to be alot of fun.
> Gonzo was amazing. 'Nuff said
> I enjoyed watching Pepe. He almost crosses the line, which is alot of fun to watch, and he brought alot of fun to the picture. Did anyone catch him singing, "Cashmere is washable" in the song When I'm With you?
> Piggy as the four witches was very cool. I was all, "Nessa!!" when the house fell on her.
> I squealed when I saw Stadler and Waldorf! Other squealing moments were the Frank Oz nod, the scene when Kermit and Gonzo get torn apart (specifically Kermit's arms, I gasped), and Clifford (unlike most people, I like Clifford)
> The pirates as the monkeys, that was neat!

Things that caught me off-guard:
> Ashanti has a pretty voice, but I just didn't find her blending very well with the muppet style. But she is a relatively popular musician so I'm hoping the bright side is alot of people tuned in to see her
> I found in certain scenes that Fozzie sounded a bit too much like Piggy. In others though, the voice was excellent. Chances are it was just an off-moment
> I found it difficult watching Scooter. He seemed a bit out-of-place to me. I don't know what I was expecting, but I found it a bit unnerving.
> Rizzo should have had a larger part! He worked so well with Gonzo in MTI, but there wasn't really a chance for him in this one. He had a few good lines though.

Overall, I throughly enjoyed it, and from here, they can only go up! (Not to say that this is rock-bottom or anything, or that it's fantastic, but I liked it and it shows promise).

Oh and one more thing, forgive my ignorance, but who's Eisner? I watched MwoO on the CBC, and there was definately no-one named Eisner in the movie when I watched it.

 

[dan]

Again, how would you have done the Wizard scene with a tv special budget?

The poppy club was their version of the poppy fields from the book and the movie. Do you know nothing about the story? It's there to stop them from reaching the emerald city. It's like a test to make sure they don't make it. They made it a club to make it more modern and to give the EM a chance to get some screen time.

Yeah, I've seen the original millions of times and THAT worked because it was the witch setting up the poppy fields to make the gang not reach Emerald City. The Muppet version made no sense whatsoever because it had nothing to do with the witch or anyone trying to stop them! It was just a random night club where if you go there without a clothes pin on your nose, you'll fall asleep. It didn't make ANY sense! I mean, why would there be this nightclub in the middle of nowhere where if you go inside, you fall alseep against your will?? WHO WOULD GO THERE!?

All they had to do was make it so the witch set the trap. THEN it would have made sense.

 

[MWoO]

Well I would assume that in the book the witch did not set it up. It was just a natural trap in Oz to keep anyone from getting to Emerald city.

 

[Whatever]

Well I would assume that in the book the witch did not set it up. It was just a natural trap in Oz to keep anyone from getting to Emerald city.

I think the witch set it up in the book, but I could be wrong.