Your Thoughts: The Muppets' Wizard of Oz

[Frogpuppeteer]

let me clarify i am not agaisnt peoples opinions, but i feel like we never gave this movie a chance. the same thing happened when Eric Jacobsin officially took over for Frank Oz most of us were so appaled by the use of his characters by someone else that we hated him.so does that mean that jerry nelsons replacement will get our hate as well and what of the day of dave goelz.i mean what if when Frank retired they kept his characters in the background and slowly had them dissapear,like sadly rowlf one of my fav muppets and he isnt in as much as i wish he would be.i think Eric was dead on with fozzie in this film,it was great.also what if some muppeteers came on here to see what we thought of them thik about how you would feel if you just started and people hate because your not the original...again im sorry if your mad and if you cant execpt this as positive criticism towards the way we think then perhaps we arnt the muppet family we say we are

 

[MWoO]

Exactly. Most of the same people that hated this idea from the start still hated it. So they were against it from the start. And I don't care what anyone says, Eric is spot on with every character he's taken over. Is it a little different? Sure it is. Is it the worst voice ever? Heck no. I think he keeps getting better and better. Piggy especially was great thing time around, though I think part of that was the look of the puppet. She looks much better with regular soft hair that moves instead of straight cut hair.

Eric is he best possible replacement for Frank. The characters have a new life to them and can be used full time again. The reason they weren't used in the 90's much was that Frank wasn't there to use them. That is why we barely saw Fozzie on MT and why Piggy was just a special guest when she was on. If Eric had started back then we owuld have had a whole different kind of show.

 

[Mike Hambrook]

Muppet Wizard of Oz

The Wizard said "I am the Wizard of Oz". Kermit said "Are you related to Frank Oz?"

I think the whole reason for making this film was to use that silly joke. It was good to a point, but I didn't care much for it. I enjoy the muppets, and liked the Wizard of Oz movie. The original Wizard of Oz never had a black Dorothy. But if you are to do an updated version of the Wizard of Oz, why not do it with the Muppets? One of the few things I liked about this movie was that the voice of Eric Jacobson with Miss Piggy and Fozzie was probably the best impersonation I have ever heard. I didn't care for the rest because it was too informal.

 

[GelflingWaldo]

The original Wizard of Oz never had a black Dorothy.

The original Wizard of Oz never specified Dorothy's skin color. The story is not a story of race or ethnicity; whether Dorothy is black or white (or green) it should not matter - they story is still the same. What's wrong with a black Dorothy?

 

[MWoO]

The original story also never has a frog for a scarecrow, pigs for witches, or rats for munchkins. I don't see why a black Dorothy is even something to question with all the other stuff.

 

[Beauregard]

They made too big of a deal that they were following the book.

I see your point, and I agree 100.00%, HOWEVER, they were forced to do this because of the other movie, rather than doing it not to be like the other movie. Apparently (as has been said) the original script was funny, whitty, etc, and had plenty of references, but they all had to be cut about two weeks before filming...which explains a lot.

 

[tyrion]

My wife and I are HUGE Muppet fans, and have been for decades. We sparingly pop in our videotapes of the original Muppet Show in from time to time (no, never bothered with the "best of" compilations) hoping that these aging and fading videotapes will continue to hold up. We could not have been more thrilled when we saw ads for the MWoO and planned our whole night around the show.

I only give that little blurb as a response to some people who said that people never gave this movie a chance. We did. We were thrilled to see the Muppets in a new movie, regardless of problems we knew would pop up with different voices and puppeteers.

However, i do not believe that we could have been more disappointed in a movie. It actually had nothing to do with voices or characterizations, but had everything to do with the vulgar, base and drastically unfunny script. If I had wanted to see burp and nipple "humor" mixed in with wildly anachronistic pop-culture references, I'd go rent Shrek. I was disgusted at this movie, not because I am offended at bodily functions or references, but because the Muppets were reduced to the lowest common denominator to get a few cheap and ugly laughs.

What music there was, was at best, forgettable. Ashanti's "acting" was hideous. (Although I do give kudos to Queen latifah and Greer for their worthy performances.) The visual effects were pretty revolting and the story line was ridiculous.

Apparently the true story of MWoO is: that if you don't like Kansas and want to leave because your life will never amount to anything there, and you want to become a trashy R&B starlett, you should go to Oz, kill a witch, pluck out her eye, and then when you get back home, your legal guardians will let you leave Kansas and become a trashy R&B starlett. Nice.

Few other nice touches:
1) Miss Piggy lifts the house that has fallen on her, loses her grip and then dies when it comes crashing down on her. So kids gets to see Miss Piggy talk a while before she dies, instead of just seeing her legs under the house. Im sure no child had a bad reaction to that one.

2) Dorothy doesn't like the slippers, until she finds out they are from a ridiculously expensive designer. "Check the tag." Pepe says. Another nice message.....you should judge things by their label.

3) The wicked "witch" uses a buzz saw in an attempt to cut Dorothy's feet off, and when that fails gets in a fistfight with her. Did she actually have any powers?

4)The wicked witch is melting out of existence and stops to quip, "at least I'm thin." This one was too nauseating to even comment on.

These were only some of my favorite moments. Apparently Sam the Eagle can be threatened into forgetting his principles. And what was with the Statler and Waldorf scene? Here they are, hecklers at the end of a log bridge but when Fozzie is crossing, their "Jokes" are "Hey...don't slip!", "Don't look down!" Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Clever quiping there. Who wrote this script anyway? I suddenly had a greater appreciation of Bob Saget's commentary during America's Funniest Home Nad Shots.

We weren't looking for the next great movie classic, but my wife and I were hoping that this movie would at least have the same fun, energy, good-natured blend of kid and adult humor that made the Muppet's famous. Instead we were served an insulting, juvenile and inappropriate mish-mash of junk which was passed off as the Muppets.

Well, If they ever release the individual seasons of the Muppet Show Ill be the first in line to buy them. Because otherwise, the Muppets are officially dead to me.

 

[MWoO]

You have no sense of humor. it was all in jest. It wasn't about sending messages to kids, it was about joking around. Piggy's skinny line will not turn young girls into ridiculously skinny super models. Clam down. And why are you calling Ashanti trashy? I didn't see anything trashy about her. Is she trashy because she is attractive?

Anyway, try buying the new Muppet Show Box Set DVDS coming out starting August 9th.

 

[BigTeacherMan]

ok ive had this on my mind and on my heart for so long and i never said beacuse i felt it wasnt nessecary.this isnt meant for everyone but only for certain people,i apologize if this shouldnt go here but its just seems to be the forum eveyone is going too so if it should be moved i ask to plase move it for me well here goes:

why does it seem that everytime a new muppet movie comes out we tear at it and find all the flaws instead of being happy that our childhood "friends" are back.i read the forums ,all we want is new Muppets movie, but when one comes out we hate it because "they arnt themselves" or thats not the way Jim would do it, look i love Jim he has been my hero, my mentor and my inspiration.but sadly he is no longer here. he lives in kermit no matter what hand munipulates him. Steve witmire is doing a great job and that goes for all replacement Muppeteers. back to what i was saying. the Muppets always have been themselves whether the have the name in the movie or not.the muppet show was a show they played different characters at times as well at them selves. as for MWoO they werent playing other chraters it was a "fantasy" like in the books or even the original WoO.i love the muppets as much as the next muppet fan. but i dont rip apart the movies i have enjoyed all the movies some of the new ones more than the old not because of story or quality but because they are coming back. now please elts be the muppet fans we claim to be and enjoy what is giving to us. as if missing Jim you think we are the only ones who miss him what about the people who worked with him for all those years,bet you anythink they think of him when writing a new movie, my fav part in Kermits swap years is the scene with the young Jim henson. so im done and im sorry but its been bugging me for a while if you have any problem with this post talk to me personally please and thank you

Beautiful point. Of course there will be things that aren't as good as we had hoped. Like me--I dsidn't care for Muppets from Space at all, but nit was a new Muppet turn. Kudos for that. Thank you for the insight, frog!

 

[Beauregard]

Apparently the true story of MWoO is: that if you don't like Kansas and want to leave because your life will never amount to anything there, and you want to become a trashy R&B starlett, you should go to Oz, kill a witch, pluck out her eye, and then when you get back home, your legal guardians will let you leave Kansas and become a trashy R&B starlett. Nice.

Few other nice touches:
1) Miss Piggy lifts the house that has fallen on her, loses her grip and then dies when it comes crashing down on her. So kids gets to see Miss Piggy talk a while before she dies, instead of just seeing her legs under the house. Im sure no child had a bad reaction to that one.

2) Dorothy doesn't like the slippers, until she finds out they are from a ridiculously expensive designer. "Check the tag." Pepe says. Another nice message.....you should judge things by their label.

The Muppets were not primeraly, nor have ever, been created to teach moral guidelines for life. If you want that try Fragge Rock, or Sesame Street. the Muppets were created for comedy.

P.S. Mwoo, Ashanti is attractive. I can see why that would make people jealous of her.