(review) by Jet-Poop Mon Dec 09 2024 at 22:15:35

Gonzo: "Hello! Welcome to the Muppet Christmas Carol! I am here to tell the story."
Rizzo: "And I am here for the food."

American Christmas comedy film, released in 1992. It was directed by Brian Henson -- the son of Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets -- with a screenplay by Jerry Juhl adapted from "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. 

Human actors included:

Muppet performers included: 

And some Muppets had their own significant roles to play within "A Christmas Carol." These included: 

The plot for the movie should be familiar to anyone who's read Dickens' novel or seen any adaptation of it. On a dark Christmas Eve, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of his former business partners, who tell him he'll be haunted by three spirits to help redeem his soul. Over the early hours of Christmas morning, he is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, and by Christmas morning, he's a reformed man who devotes himself to the joy of Christmas and to the betterment of his employees and all around him. 

It's a classic plot, and the filmmakers clearly felt there wasn't much need to meddle with a story that was so loved by millions. Having said that, this certainly is a pretty loose adaptation. There's a lot more comedy and singing, obviously, and there are a lot more Muppets than there were in Dickens' novel. It is nevertheless a very well-regarded and well-loved adaptation, and lots of people watch it every holiday season. 

So what makes this movie so special? Let's review some of its background...

First, this was the first Muppet production made after the deaths of Jim Henson and Richard Hunt, one of the original Muppet performers and the guy behind characters like Scooter, Beaker, Statler, and Janice. There had been some questions whether the Muppets would continue at all with Henson gone, and this film made it clear that his creations would live on. 

The Muppets certainly make this movie a lot of fun, but it wouldn't be anywhere near as great as it is without Michael Caine. He said his plan for the role was to play it entirely straight: "I'm going to play this movie like I'm working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I will never wink, I will never do anything Muppety. I am going to play Scrooge as if it is an utterly dramatic role and there are no puppets around me." This is often contrasted with the other great literary adaptation by the Muppets, "Muppet Treasure Island," where Tim Curry plays Long John Silver very much like he has felt skin and ping pong ball eyes. 

There were a couple controversies connected to this movie. (Controversies? It feels weird to consider minor little foofaraws like this to be controversies, but whatever.) First was the elimination of one of the songs from the film. "When Love Is Gone" (music and lyrics by Paul Williams) was sung by Meredith Braun, who played Belle, Scrooge's lost love. Jeffrey Katzenberg, the chairman of Walt Disney Studios, ordered the song removed because he thought it was too slow to appeal to kids. (It may have tested badly, but I've seen conflicting reports on how truthful that is.) Brian Henson objected, as a song at the end, "When Love Is Found," functioned as a reprise. The song was eventually included with the film's release on the streaming service Disney+. Was it bad to remove the song? Some people love it, some don't care for it. Personally, I have a hard time caring one way or another. There are nearly always songs cut from musicals. "When Love Is Gone" is a nice song, but losing it is no great tragedy. (Losing "Snuff Out the Light," the villain song by Eartha Kitt, from "The Emperor's New Groove"? Now that's a tragedy.)

There's also a minor controversy that, aside from Statler and Waldorf, none of the spirits in the story are played by established Muppet characters. In the early stages of pre-production, there were discussions of casting either Robin or Scooter as Christmas Past, Miss Piggy as Christmas Present, or Animal or Gonzo -- mostly for the visual of Gonzo's ridiculous beak sticking out of the hood -- as Christmas Yet to Come. In the end, the filmmakers decided to create all-new creations as the spirits to better underscore their unearthly and ominous natures. 

Now I do enjoy this movie. Its Victorian setting is nearly perfect, and its fidelity to the original novel is fantastic -- yes, it's got Muppets and songs and jokes, but big chunks of the dialogue are taken from the book, and the plot points don't miss a beat. The jokes are better than you'd expect, and the characterization and acting are top-notch. Having said that, this isn't my favorite adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" -- that goes to the 1984 version that starred George C. Scott. It's got David Warner, Roger Rees, Edward Woodward, and my very favorite Christmas Yet to Come of all time. But this version with the Muppets has one thing I've always loved, something I've never seen in any other adaptation. 

In every other adaptation of this story, the character of Mrs. Cratchit is a fairly bland and thankless role. She loves her husband and her kids, she dislikes Scrooge, she cooks a great feast out of a small goose. When she mourns Tiny Tim, she does so quietly and with a properly British stiff upper lip. In this adaptation, she is played by Miss Piggy, a character who does not do quiet British grace and reserve. Piggy is loud, she's excitable, she wears her emotions on her sleeves. Miss Piggy's Emily Cratchit mourns Tiny Tim like you'd expect of a desperate, horrified woman who is cracking under the emotional strain. She fully convinces you that this is a woman deeply mourning the death of one of her children. This is a powerhouse acting job by a pig puppet, being operated and voiced by a male puppeteer. I've never seen any production of this story that more perfectly impresses upon the viewer how great Mrs. Cratchit's depth of sorrow is. And this alone elevates the film into one of the very best versions of this story ever filmed. 

Jacob Marley: "Why do you doubt your senses?"
Ebenezer Scrooge: "Because a little thing can affect them. A slight disorder of the stomach can make them cheat. You may be a bit of undigested beef, a blob of mustard, a crumb of cheese. Yes, there's more of gravy than of grave about you!"
Robert Marley: "'More of gravy than of grave'?"
Jacob Marley: "What a terrible pun! Where do you get those jokes?"
Robert Marley: "Leave the comedy to the bears, Ebenezer!"

I like it! 3 C!s