Review of The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) by John S — 19 Dec 2012

I don't believe that a real "definitive" version of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" has been made yet, even as it might just be the most adapted of any non-horror story (I don't know that for a fact, I'm just guessing), in the Muppets' favor, they are not at all interested in being the definitive version.

It's a different kind of Muppet feature (though it has a sort of brother movie in MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND four years later) wherein the well-established characters are cast in the Dickens roles. Their Muppet personalities are dominant, but in most cases they match up pretty well, such as the nebbish Kermit as Cratchit, the aggressively corny Robin as Tiny Tim and so on.

Some of them, such as Miss Piggy as Mrs. Cratchit, just play the Dickens characters as themselves. A few Muppets make original appearances, like the Christmas spirits, and Michael Caine, though arguably shown up by his Muppet co-stars is serviceable and even great in some of his moments.

The major pitfall for nearly all Christmas Carol adaptations is the tendency to roll through the motions ineffectually, relying too heavily on the familiarity of the story and never really investing. Now, the Muppets don't strive for big emotional investment, and here the story is mostly a showcase for their antics, so it's already immune to my common Christmas Carol criticism.

Overall, it's very entertaining, with good songs, humor, and just enough pathos. It slows a bit in the Christmas Past sequence, but it survives. Stick with the original theatrical version though, because as the DVD and Blu-Ray contain the theatrical and an extended cut, the extended is only different by one musical number, one that slows things to a dead halt for 4 minutes.