Review of The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) by Adam B — 06 Sep 2010

The Muppet version of Charles Dickens? story about taking the humbug out of the classic Christmas curmudgeon himself, Ebenezer Scrooge. Strengths: The film capably walks the fine line between Muppet-style farce and period classic. The Muppet Christmas Carol?s one remarkable accomplishment is making us believe an unbelievable premise - humans co-existing with frogs, pigs and rats in turn of the century London. Michael Caine is a marvelous Scrooge, adding sensitivity and heart to a character frequently played too stern. The use of the Muppets is very clever - how can one resist Scrooge?s boss, Fezzywig, being changed to FozzyWig, played by a wig-donned Fozzie Bear himself? Paul Williams? songs are marvelous - why haven?t we heard more of them since? Weaknesses: Since the deaths of Jim Henson and fellow Muppeteer Richard Hunt, the vocal variety of the Muppets isn?t the same. In addition, Frank Oz?s contributions as Miss Piggy and Fozzie are only cameos, leaving original muppeteers Dave Goelz and Jerry Nelson to do almost all of the other voices. (Statler and Waldorf, originally voiced by Henson and Hunt have suffered the most from this.) Final Cut: Only die-hard Muppet fans will probably know the difference in the voices. This is still a wonderful adaptation full of heart and warmth, and brings fresh, rollicking Muppet fun to an otherwise overdone classic.

[from The Watermark, 1994-12-03].