It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)

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

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

While the Muppets have been known to parody well known popular culture, in this movie they reach almost Abrahams, Zucker and Zucker levels of referencing as they plough through Christmas themed movies and TV Specials Before I really start I'm going to 'fess up. It's very hard for me to write a non-biased review of this film. I enjoy it far more than I really should. For some reason a part of me just adores this movie. I think it's probably because it's this film that made me fall in love with Peppe and rediscover The Muppets.So, let's talk about the plot. What we have here is, in essence, Frank Capras 'It's a Wonderful Life'. The Muppet theatre is in trouble as the bank is set to foreclose midnight on December the 24th. That's right, Christmas Eve! (As the villain says, it's funny how one day can mean so many things.) Despite working their socks off, pulling together and being one big family, the Muppets fail, due mainly to Ms. Bitterman (Joan Cusack) altering the contract. Despairing Kermit leaves, regretting he ever met the Muppets and wishing he had never been born. And so the angel Daniel from accounting (David Arquette) shows Kermit what the world would be like without him. And yes, in the end it's all OK.With a surprisingly mature piece of storytelling involving a non chronological story arc and multiple realities this is a far more ambitious story than many made for TV movies. And it works, holding together well in a way that doesn't confuse. And the references just come thick and fast. Obviously there is 'It's a Wonderful Life', but we also see 'Moulin Rough', 'Star Wars', 'The Grinch', and 'A Christmas Story' as well as various references to other holiday specials. It also nicely references past Muppet movies, one great scene showing a branch of Doc Hoppers that Kermit had never been around to stop becoming so popular.Though this film does have cameos it relies on them far less than some other Muppet features, instead letting the fun plot and fantastic Muppet performers entertain. Which is all to the good if you ask me.Unlike many Muppet Movies this one isn't really a musical. It has a couple of numbers in, one during the Moulin Scrooge scene and one sung by Kermit and Gonzo. This second song, "Wonderful Christmas", is actually pretty good, and I feel that it's slightly underused here. Were this a bigger budget general release I believe that this song would have become something special. Never mind.So, in summery I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable movie, showing the potential the Muppets still had to amuse and entertain. It's only a pity it took almost ten more years before they were finally given the money to make a proper film.

The Muppets are always great, I have loved them ever since I was a kid when we would watch all the muppet movies again and again that my mom would show us, probably to keep us from fighting or tearing the whole house apart when she was trying to do something :) I didn't even see the TV show the muppets did until the last couple of years and it is great too, it obviously holds up well because the characters and jokes are so good but also now that I am an adult I still enjoy it and not just because of nostalgia from watching it as a kid, I still think these shows are good! They maybe aren't quite as good as they used to be, I guess that's expected when the creator Jim Henson passed away so long ago, but still awesome and worth buying!

I am a big fan of the Muppets, I love their show and with exception of Muppet Wizard of Oz, I like/love their movies. It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie is not brilliant and could have been much better, but it is not bad at all. Some of the innuendo is smutty, Eric Jacobson lacks the vibrancy and charm that Frank Oz brought Fozzie and Miss Piggy to life with(he wasn't awful just bland), the pacing is rather slow and some of the Muppets are underused and out of character for my liking. However, the set design is great, the song EveryOne Matters is very touching, the Moulin Scrooge send-up is very inspired, colourful and amusing and the music is good. Plus the take on It's a Wonderful Life is a nice touch, Joan Cusack seems to be having fun as the Scrooge who threatens to close the Muppet theatre and the cameos from Matthew Lillard, William H Macy and Whoopi Goldberg are fine. Out of the Muppets, Kermit, Pepe and Fozzie especially acquit themselves well and David Arquette is good as the angel. So overall, could have been better but not bad. For a better seasonal offering though, see Muppet Christmas Carol, Scrooge, Miracle on 34th Street, Home Alones 1 and 2 and the granddaddy of them all It's a Wonderful Life. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Given the fact that The Muppets had already tackled the Yuletide perennial "A Christmas Carol" in 1992, this would seem like a redundant effort (even if we stick to a contemporary setting now, with the various popular characters playing themselves rather than re-incarnated as literary figures) – which may also explain its relegation to video. Incidentally, the star cast (including David Arquette as an angel and Whoopi Goldberg as God!) roped in for this venture is perhaps the least impressive ever, with only Joan Cusack as a Scrooge-like tycoon entering into the spirit of the thing (since she gets the sole substantial role here). The premise, as can be gathered from the above description, is a variation on that other Christmas classic IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946), so that we have Kermit The Frog being shown what life would have been like without him after wishing he had never been born; as would be the case with THE MUPPETS' WIZARD OF OZ (2005), which I watched recently, the climax involves a duel between the villainess and Miss Piggy (where she was actually the baddie) – and, once again, the one to get the most screen-time is Pepe the playboy-ish and laid-back King Prawn (which is not in itself a bad thing). Tolerable enough as a kiddie film, then, but a long way from the best Muppet movies out there.