The Muppet Movie (1979)

Touches You

That was an excellent one.

Best movie ever!

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

The Muppet Movie (1979) was a very innovative film for its time. The life-like portrayal of puppets interacting with humans was a very fun and entertaining dynamic. The story is about Kermit, voiced by Jim Henson" traveling from the swamp to Hollywood in pursuit of fame, fortune and the ability to make the world a happier place. Through his travels he meets what would become his family.James Frawley is a very versatile director who has a heavy focus in television, but I think his work on The Muppet Movie is some of his best. The deliberate camera angles to accentuate the puppets as real people rather than dolls enhanced the story. The audio in this film was spot on as it needed to be due to the limited facial expressions of the puppets. There were no major hiccups that detracted from the story and the self-perceived over acting from that puppets were a welcomed necessity.I enjoyed this film as a child and caught myself singing along to every song upon my review as an adult. This movie has an incredible amount of enjoyable slap stick comedy and the cameos from the likes of famous comedians like Richard Prior, Bob Hope, Steve Martin and Charles McCarthy pushed the film over the top. The music helped push every scene right along helping to exclude any stagnant scenes. Overall, I loved this film as a child and I love it even more as an adult.

With the appearance of another Muppet film at the box office, it's time to go back and review the old ones. This is the original 1979 movie, not the 2012 relaunch. I believe this to still be the best of all the Muppet films, if for no other reason than it tells the story of the Muppets, not tell a story with Muppets IN it. It is a magnificent introduction to all of these great characters, or course focusing on Kermit, and I can't help but revert back to the seven-year-old me that fell in love with a frog and a bear and a pig and a dog and a....whatever, and feel the same excitement I had back then. The jokes remain as funny or corny as they were then and there's still all the heart and soul that Jim Henson and company breathed into them 35 years ago. And all the great songs! The only thing that is sadly aged is the cameo appearances of movie stars of the time, none of which my children recognize or have any idea who they are (okay, they know Steve Martin from the "Pink Panther" films and Mel Brooks as "Yogurt", but most are unknown to them). Always worth a repeat or reminder viewing. 9/10

Kermit and his new found friends trek across America to find success in Hollywood, but a frog-legs merchant (Charles Durning) is after Kermit.I am not quite sure on how to rate this film... it has many great cameos, particularly of stars of that era (some of whom have since been largely forgotten, I fear). Mel Brooks is great, Orson Welles is great (despite his short appearance)... Bob Hope, Steve Martin, and more...And yet, I just feel like it never hits the highest notes. Sure, the puppetry was amazing and I much prefer it to CGI. But the Miss Piggy romance song? Terrible, terrible song and should probably have been cut -- it drags the pace down and is hard on the ears. And the plot is so simple, it is not much to speak of. So we have a good technical achievement here, but as far as a story goes, it is not much. The same film with actors instead of Muppets and this would have been forgotten.It has been a while since I have seen "Great Muppet Caper" or "Muppets Take Manhattan", but I feel like they were better films... even the new (2011) film may be a better film...

An inspired combination of slapstick, music, vaudeville and charm, The Muppet Movie takes all the now familiar characters away from the Muppet Theatre where humans were the minority, and plonks them right among the (almost) real world.We meet Kermit alone in his swamp singing beautifully to himself, and after a chance meeting with the frog, a crocodile and a movie agent – yes it's that kind of film – Kermit is inspired to try to forge his own path in showbusiness.Along his journey to Hollywood he meets aspiring stand up comedian Fozzie, amateur stunt man Gonzo and a group of zany musos known as The Electric Mayhem. He also finds that romantic sparks fly when he meets a diva pig with delusions of grandeur.That's the core part of the initial Muppet group identified, the slightly awry element arrives in the form of a fat, sweaty guy in a white suit named Doc Hopper, who just happens to sell frog's legs as cuisine. He takes a shine to Kermit's pins and decides that he simply must have them to promote his wares, whether Kermit agrees or not.The remainder of the film is essentially an extended chase sequence as Kermit and the gang hightail it towards Hollywood with Doc Hopper and his toadying (no pun intended) assistant close behind.And this to me is the problem with the initial Muppet Movie, the best parts are the simple times, Kermit sitting on the log singing Rainbow Connection without a care in the world, the awkward but undeniable chemistry between pig and frog, the stoner-ish hep dialogue between the members of the Electric Mayhem, the stand-up bear who is terrible at stand up.They kinda lost me when the film veered into 'eating the primary character's legs' territory. They definitely lost my four year old in the looming torture scene, and nearly killed the poor boy when the Frog assassin clad all in black and looking decidedly evil showed up. (I really didn't remember these things from my previous viewings.) Despite these depressing and out of place sequences there is still a lot to love about the first Muppet Movie, the constant breaking of the fourth wall is already obvious, the general funkiness of the Electric Mayhem and the timelessness of Kermit's tunes, the cheesy jokes that are so bad that you can't help but smile – especially when delivered with such innocence and charm by a handpuppet… the inclusion of several big name cameos, none of whom for a moment let on that they are conversing with a sock, yet some of whom still manage to out-ham the very same talking puppets.The Muppet Movie finds a bunch of frogs, pigs, bears and whatevers coming to terms with their own existence, growing into their own skin and fur. Over the years some peripheral characters became more central, and others stepped back to spout occasional quips when required.Most of all this film showed that there was entertainment value to be found in these talking socks, and that people of all ages could enjoy their shenanigans guilt free.Final Rating – 7 / 10. 'Mature thematic elements' aside, this is a fine intro to the Muppetational world.