A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008)

Lack of good storyline.

A lot of fun.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The Muppets are no strangers to the Holidays. They have had many a film produced incorporating Christmas related themes. The best and most popular of them all was The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). But that hasn't stopped the Henson Company. Before Kermit and his friends came back with their return film The Muppets (2011), they were still doing productions for the small screen. Prior to this, another holiday made for TV production was released - It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002). Other than that, this is the Muppet's latest outing at the holiday season. Is really good? Mmmmm,..not unanimously but it is decent enough to be seen.This time, viewers follow their favorite characters at the post office waiting to send their holiday mail. When Gonzo forgets to put his in the mail, it's up to Kermit and friends to find a way to get them to Santa on time. Here's what does work. First and foremost, The Muppets (and voice-actors) themselves. They are always key and the fact that they were of main focus all the time was great. The humor also works because of the certain situations Kermit and his friends get into. The gags range from bad jokes, silly puns and goofy reactions the Muppets make. Thankfully, these eye-inducing moments aren't as bad they could be because it's the Muppets. Another element that will have viewers happy to see is the tone of this movie. Unlike It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie(2002) which had a very mean spirited tone, this feature has a much more upbeat feel and that's especially good.Another good component was the cameos of various actors. This ranges from Whoopi Goldberg, Uma Thurman, Nathan Lane and even Michael Bloomberg. Camera-work by Luke Geissbuhler (the DP of Borat (2006)) was appropriate as was Chris Caswell's musical score. However, this is where things don't work. For one, the running time is too short. Yes it is a TV movie, but so was It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002) and was well over an hour. The problem with this is that it cuts everything down to an unnecessary length. This goes for cast cameos and even the Muppet characters. That can be a bit frustrating if this is a Muppet Movie and you only see a few of the Muppets instead of the whole bunch for more than five minutes.Along with that is issue of writing. The story for this movie is cute but again, with a shortened running time, everything must fall in place quickly or it won't work. With this comes cliché and convenient contrivances that either defy logic or are impossible to begin with. It's not to say it isn't funny or doesn't work but the story almost had a finale that would've seemed more mature and realistic than what was chosen. There can always be a happy ending but that doesn't mean it has to be exactly the way the audience expects it to be. Adding to the bit of blandness are the songs that the Muppets sing composed by Paul Williams. It's not that they bore but they're not as memorable as other Paul Williams pieces. It certainly won't be an hour wasted but it could've been better.It has all of the basic components to make a really good Muppet Christmas movie but it instead comes off as fairly generic. The main problem is its running time, which trims down several parts that make up a good Muppet film.

To be fair, this special was a lot better than "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz," but it's still not that good. There aren't any adult jokes that'll make your kids embarrassed to watch it with you or vice versa, but there are some other things that make this film pretty weak.Following the classic Muppet Christmas special tradition: the premise is pretty simple: after an event at the post office Christmas Eve morning, Gonzo accidentally doesn't mail a letter to Santa Claus for one of his friends. He, Kermit, Fozzie, Rizzo, and...Pepe (I will pay someone to step on him) fly to the North Pole to give the letter to Santa...Yeah, that's it.What's good about this special? Well, it has a lot of nice, tender, heartfelt moments. Gonzo sings the intro to a song in the film; he sings "What's in your heart?" I don't care for the rest of the song, but that part is very nice; I still find myself singing that sometimes. There's another song he shares with Fozzie later called "I Wish I Could Be Santa Claus." To be honest, it really doesn't fit with the scene, but it's a very lovely song. The special ends with all the Muppets gathering together for Christmas; that's rather nice. Also, there are a few funny moments. My favorite part is Nathan Lane's cameo! Not only is he funny, but his interaction with Bobo is funny as well (this is probably the first film I found myself fully enjoying Bobo without him being annoying)!So what doesn't work? Well, for starters, it's slow. Some scenes feel like filer; like the scene where Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo are on the roof, or where Pepe talks to the gentlemen in the restaurant. Besides the musical numbers I mentioned earlier, I can't name any other song; they're either annoying or forgettable. Also, why are the Muppets in an urban New York setting here? It seems too weird. Finally, I think it goes back to one of the problems "Kermit Swamp Years" had: it's very childish. There's one adult joke I noticed (of course it came up, Pepe's here!), but other than that I can't really think of any material here that will get adults invested. I will say, though, kudos to this film for having Santa Claus be in this movie without saying Christmas is about Santa! Christmas specials today often do that, and it's really annoying, irritating, and, well, just untrue. Especially with the Muppets conforming their entertainment in their past productions, they could have easily taken that route. I'm glad they didn't.I think this special is cute. It's a nice special kids will enjoy OK; but I don't think adults will enjoy it too much aside from a couple of heartfelt moments and a few jokes. To be honest, this special is kind of forgettable aside from those things. It's cute, but it's not what I want to see from the Muppets. I'd say give this one a pass. BOOYIKA!

Synopsis: Kermit, Pepe, Miss. Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzy, and the rest of the Muppet crew go to the post office to deliver letters to Santa. While there, some mishaps occur and Gonzo forgets to deliver 3 letters. The gang has to find a way to get the letters to Santa and help him fulfill the Christmas wishes. The film has appearances from Jane Krakowski, Uma Thurman, Whoopi Goldberg, Jesse Martin, and Nathan Lane.Review: I am a big fan of the Muppets, but this film was more boring than magical. The sad thing is that the concept has potential: letters to Santa are accidentally left out of the mail and the Muppet gang has to first deliver them to Santa and then help Santa fulfill the wishes.The problem is this: the film wastes time in the letter delivery process. At the 30 minute mark of the 44 minute feature, Kermit, Gonzo, Fozzy, and Pepe are just arriving at the North Pole. The film spends less than a minute there-- with a beautiful exterior that goes to waste. We meet 1 elf, and never venture inside. Then, it's back to delivering the letters again, and the viewers finally see Santa 10 minutes before the film ends-- rushing the meat of the story: giving Santa the letters and making wishes come true.If the writers had been more intelligent, they would have spent only 10 minutes on delivery and the journey to the North Pole. The other 34 minutes then could have been spent in hijinks at Santa's Workshop (instead of the Post Office) and going from house to house making 3 or 4 special children's wishes come true.You might be better off re-watching The Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Family Christmas, or even It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas (which parodies It's a Wonderful Life). All 3 are gems.

I was so psyched to see a new Muppets special. There's been such slim pickings after Muppets From Space. A Very Merry, 2002, was a wee cluttered but is palpable for multiple viewings. The wholly unwatchable Muppets Wizard of Oz, however, was a stinking turd of a movie. Even this fan, who is a hardcore Muppet freak, couldn't make it through the whole thing. So I was crossing my fingers for this one. Sigh. It was better, in the fact that I made it through the entire thing. Of course, it was only an hour, and they took so many commercial breaks that the darn thing was probably only about 35 minutes total. Many things could have helped what felt like a half-assed hack job. "Ooh, let's make up some random crap and make the Muppets do it, never taking into consideration how the characters should really behave," the writers said, I imagine. First, who the heck is Claire? And why should we care? What is the point of introducing two new characters that no one knows and no one cares about, for a measly one-hour special? Look, I get it. You want humans. Whoopie. Do like with Nathan Lane and Uma Thurman and give them bit roles. I'm sorry, but when it's the Muppets Anything, it should be them starring. And Jane Krakowski was completely wasted here. How sad. What would have been much more believable would be if one of the letters was Robin's, Kermit's nephew. And Kermit feels compelled to get to Santa. Which brings me to my next point—why the hell is GONZO the focus? He, while an interesting character, is not the main driver in the Muppets. Kermit is. He is the main character in the Muppets. That's how it is; that's the natural way of this franchise. It's just like Jerry is the main character of Seinfeld, like Carrie is the main of Sex and the City. Sure, we learn about the other three; sure, there are other bit ones introduced. But, the core remains the same, and the leader does as well. The four main Muppets are Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, and Piggy. Those are the four that everyone thinks of, and those are the four who are at the center of each story, with Kermit as the lead. Not that I have a problem with Gonzo, oh no. I like Gonzo. He's just the second best friend in this situation, not the star. Now some may say, "But hey, wait, Gonzo was the focus of Muppets From Space. He can carry a picture!" It worked there—because it was a plausible storyline. You couldn't do aliens with any of the other main Muppets, except maybe some of the band. Also, Gonzo was his normal self in Space—strange, out of the box, running around like crazy. Just as he should be. In Letters, though, it's like someone gave him too much Paxil. He's got no zip, no spunk, none of his usual quirkiness. He's just slightly depressed and much too mellow for his character. Speaking of wrong characters, we now come to my biggest sticking point—Piggy. Now, my disclosure is that Miss Piggy has been my favorite Muppet and even personal hero since I was about 2 years old. I've always seen her as a confident woman who knows what she wants and doesn't let anyone hold her back. Who, for instance, hit Kermit and brought back his memory in Muppets Take Manhattan? Who stood by her frog in A Very Merry Muppet Christmas? Who was the co-star for Kermit in the Christmas Carol? She is a strong woman, in more ways than one, and when the chips are down, she sticks by her friends. But this Piggy? Despicable. They made her a selfish brat, as they did in Oz. If this were the real Piggy, she would've stuck by her friends, especially her frog. I could picture her perfectly being jealous when Joy showed up, which would've been more natural than to just write her out in the first five minutes. Was it because her eyes look so darn funny? Was I the only one who noticed that? What, did they lose her original prototype, or something?In fact, not just Piggy, but the whole crowd would stick by the main characters and help out. That's what Muppets always do—they support each other like a team. They carpool to California in the Muppet Movie to break into the movies. They put on each Muppet Show together. They saved their Theatre in A Very Merry by sticking by each other. It's completely wrong to think that anyone of them would walk out on each other. Sure, some tried to punk out in the Great Muppet Caper, but eventually they all came together to save the day. Besides, returning letters versus possibly getting killed? Please. One can hardly compare the two, and really fault their hesitation. And speaking of the other characters, Family Guy was right. Wrong-sounding Muppets is the worst. Waldorf sounded so weird, Janice wasn't right, and the friend I watched with said, "Hey, wasn't Beaker's voice higher?" I understand that many of the originals have moved on, either to different projects or to that great Muppetland in the sky. I'm just surprised that these talented voice people can't bend their vocal chords a little further to sound a little more like the characters they're playing. I know it's hard. But it's disheartening to hear a character's voice come out strange, when you thought you knew that voice perfectly. To sum up, it was OK to watch once, making it better than Oz. But I wouldn't want to see it again, making it only slightly better than Oz and not on par with what the Muppets should be putting out.