Your Thoughts: The Muppets' Wizard of Oz

[Fozzie Bear]

I LOVED the movie! They stayed with the book and still had that Muppet humor in it. Gonzo's "Oh, those are my nipples" was the funniest thing I have heard in a LONG time! I cracked up. Pepe has great one-liners, and Bill Baretta gives a great delivery!!

There were obviously some things I would have done differently:
West Witch: (To Angel Marie while Sal (with camera) and Johnny stand there): Would you mind killing someone for me?
Angel Marie: Sure!
At this point, he takes after our heroes.
What I would have done would have been to knock the camera out of Sal's hands and grab the monkey and start banging him on the table where Dorothy was.
West Witch: Not HIM, you dingbat; THEM! (Pointing at the group).

More straw and springs would have flown thru the air as they tore Scarecrow and Tin Thing up.

BTW: Gonzo's nose as his celphone was great! I wish he would have gotten a call during their trip, though.

Scooter's voice was basically dead-spot-on! I wish his sentences hadn't all sounded like questions, though.

Was good to hear Crazy Harry in the crowd, too! Plus, to see so many great characters come back.

Where was Rowlf in the final scenes?? That was disappointing to me not to see him.
Also, when are we going to hear the EM Band SING again? We already know they play funky music!

I think I also missed the fact that Jerry wasn't involved. Since he's retired from performing his TMS characters, I hope they get someone soon.

On another note, folks have mentioned to me that the characters don't sound right anymore or could be done better by the original performers. I think the performers are doing a great job! Those of us who were around since the 70's obviously are going to have 'purist' thoughts about the character voices, but even though I'm a 70's brat, and grew up with the Muppets, I realize that change happens. I think the new folks are doing a superb job, and I applaud them for it. I hope to heck Ricky Boyd gets a full-time job playing Scooter, and gets to be Janice now! He's awesome!

 

[GonzoLeaper]

hmmm....well, I just finished watching The Muppets' Wizard of Oz and I have to say I thought it was pretty good. There are quite a few good points I can mention. For one thing, I thought the movie stayed pretty close to the book and the 1939 movie. (from what I understand, even the Judy Garland movie wasn't totally true to the book either. And I have read the book- but it's been many years.) I actually thought this movie was a lot truer to the book than Muppet Treasure Island was- but that's okay because Muppet Treasure Island was still hilariously funny and at least partly based on the book.
Another good thing was the abundance of Muppet characters! It was awesome seeing the Electric Mayhem again and actually hearing them at least sing. Also, I'm glad characters like Sweetums and Crazy Harry got to show up as part of the Flying Monkeys. Scooter and Sam the American Eagle were there, and they even worked in Statler and Waldorf. (no Muppet movie would be complete without them! ) The IMDB listing says Bobo and Lew Zealand were there, but I must have missed them because I don't remember seeing them. But I did see Johnny Fiama and Sal Manilla, as well as Clifford and one of the video programming control guys from Muppets Tonight. Incidentally, there were also a few MTI guys there too. And of course, I initially didn't like the idea of Pepe as Toto but it was really funny the way they worked it in. "I've got to save Toto."-Dorothy "Forget the shrimp."- Aunt Em "He's a king prawn!"- Dorothy (loved that line)
And Rizzo and some of the rats from The Muppets Take Manhattan as the Munchkins was great too.
So I definitely liked that. I really thought Queen Latifah and David Alan Griers (both of whom have a good bit of acting experience) did a fine job as Aunty Em and Uncle Henry. And Ashanti made for a great Dorothy. I don't think there was any kind of racial stereotype being perpetuated either. The movie would have worked just as well with a white cast for those 3 main characters, or an Asian cast, or whatever. It was fine.
I also thought most of the new songs were really good too. I liked the "When I'm With You" song. I'll probably definitely want to get the soundtrack not only for the new songs, but also the inclusion of "Halfway Down the Stairs" by Kermit and Robin. Cool!
The only bad things were the obvious innuendos, such as Rizzo commenting about a "witch slap". Yes, I know he technically didn't say anything bad, but you know what he meant. That's called a really obvious euphemism and it's still just as bad as actually saying the word. And the whole line with Pepe and Gonzo about Pepe touching Gonzo's nipples was pretty bad too. I didn't think it was very funny and it was not needed. I don't think I caught too many other risque scenes, except perhaps when Beaker and Bunsen looked pretty chummy with the arms on each other's backs during Dorothy's song for the Wizard. But I'm not going to say anything about that because good friends can do that and there doesn't have to be anything wrong with it.
But anyway, it probably wasn't even quite as good as "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie", but it was still a pretty worthy Muppet venture. I enjoyed it for the most part and look forward to getting it on video in August.

 

[muppet_fan_1]

A lot of folks seem dissappointed by this movie, but honstley, what did you expect? You cant possibly think that they're latest movies will be as good as the originals. I mean, that's why they're CALLED originals.
Personally I'm just glad they're doing something with them at all. I know most of us were skeptical about Disney, but hey, they're trying!

As for the movie, I agree with some of the comments about how Fozzie sounded an aweful lot like Piggy for a long time. And Ashanti....not so much of a family film actress. Love her singing, but leave the Muppets be. No energy! You have to LOVE the Muppets in order to perform well with them! Anywho...

I think Pepe as ToDo was perfect. As soon as I saw what was in her fish bowl I knew it. It's perfect because if Rowlf was ToDo, well that would just be to predictable. And Pepe's one liners is what kept the kiddies laughing. Rowlfs dry humor would have been great in there somewhere. Being a parody as it was, I realzie they couldn't do much with more characters, but for what they could pull off, they did a great job of it.
It was nice to see some of the characters from MTI, and refrences to some previous work.
More celebrity cameos!

There I'm done.

 

[Frogster]

When Kermit asked Oz if he was related to Frank Oz, his next sentence should have been "...if so, could you give him a hollar for us? Because us Muppets are not doing so hot these days; we could really use his help again."
To me, the Muppets are no more. They're just puppets with familiar faces, but with strangers performing them. The best thing on there was Scooter. He was not a dissapointment. And the only line I laughed at is when Pepe asked Gonzo, "What in the name of all that is holy are you, okay?" Ashanti's acting stunk to high heaven. Eric Jacobson's Fozzie Bear couldn't have been further from the real bear comedian, and same goes to Piggy. Kermit's still such a juvinille character; he's not far from the ranks of Barney or Lamb Chop. Steve Whitmire will never achieve the assertiveness and leadership Kermit once had. I've said that so, many times before, and I think this should be my last time. Like the two remaining Jedi in Revenge Of The Sith, the Muppets should go into exile until there are a new group of people who know what they're doing, and bring the Muppets back to the likeliness they once were.

 

[TidusEstar]

Diden't like it...

Ok I recorded it, and fast fowarded through the begining, I only watched it because of the muppets...and that wasen't even enough to make me sit through ...I hope whatever projects Disney has for the future, I hope it's better than this one.

 

[sugarbritchez]

On another note, folks have mentioned to me that the characters don't sound right anymore or could be done better by the original performers. I think the performers are doing a great job! Those of us who were around since the 70's obviously are going to have 'purist' thoughts about the character voices, but even though I'm a 70's brat, and grew up with the Muppets, I realize that change happens. I think the new folks are doing a superb job, and I applaud them for it.

I agree with you here..........things can't always be the way they were....I'm just glad to see Muppets on TV again. I can overlook the fact that some of the voice don't sound dead on....big deal..........I love the Muppets not the voices!

I loved it!!!!!!!

 

[That Announcer]

Why are people so angry about this film? I thought although it was not as good as some previous Muppet films, it was still very good. Is it Pepe? Is it the one fart joke? Is it the lack of Rowlf?

 

[MWoO]

Is it now a running gag in the new movies that Kermit gets goosed? If so, I think that's kind of funny.

So is it official that Brian did not voice Scooter? I know he voiced Sal, but do we know he didn't voice Scooter? It sounded like it was dubbed later to me.

 

[BigTeacherMan]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

The movie had a lot of the charm of older Muppets outings. The writing was excellent, in comparison to some of the other releases in recent history. The reference to "Girls Gone Wild" was a bit much. The reference to Frank Oz was as much a in-joke as a tribute. What a treat to see some old Muppet favorites like Mayhem, Sweedums, and Crazy Harry. I miss Rowlf , but with him being such a part of Jim, I do find it fitting to keep him from the limelight... =)

Did anyone else catch the Mona Lisa "Piggy" with the one eye in the Witch's castle? How cool!

Overall, an excellent movie--better than I could have ever hoped. Sure there's room for improvement, and nothing will ever compare to the old classics, but for what it is, the team did a superb job. There were in-jokes, humor, lightheartedness, adventure.

I still have it in mind to write a script, especially in the wake of last year's movie, as a take off on Phantom of the Opera. Piggy is the Diva. Statler and Waldorff are the owners. Kermit is Rolf, the Diva's beloved. Gonzo is the Phantom. Mayhem plays in the pit. It could work, and be hilarious!

Take care all!

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Pictures on the walls of the castle were from the Kermitage Collection.