Review of The Muppet Movie (1979) by Kenneth L — 11 Nov 2011

Believe it or not, I had never seen this movie before. It's fantastic, of course. The only thing better than a Muppet is more Muppets, and this movie has a ton of them. It's quite a lot of goofy fun, not to mention postmodern and clever.

The movie illustrates how all of the Muppets came together in the first place. It's a road movie that begins with Kermit the Frog's decision to leave behind his home in the swamp to seek fame and fortune in Hollywood. Along the way, he is pursued by a wicked Col. Sanders-type (Charles Durning) who owns a fried-frog-legs chain of restaurants, and meets up with all of the other Muppets who would eventually become his friends, including Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Rowlf, and others.

The main point of the movie is just to see all the Muppets be their charming, wacky selves, and the movie provides that in abundance. Those wonderful puppets all just have tons of personality, thanks to the voices and physical performances of their puppeteers such as Jim Henson and Frank Oz. The movie also has a ton of cameos from some of the biggest comedy stars of the time: Mel Brooks, Richard Pryor, Madeline Kahn, Elliott Gould, Cloris Leachman, Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Dom DeLuise, and Orson Welles (hey, why not?) all appear somewhere or other in the movie. Brooks gets a particularly great part, and Welles only gets one line, but it's an excellent one.

The movie is well-directed by James Frawley, and features plenty of "How did they do that?" special effects involving the Muppets (such as when Kermit rides a bicycle). There are a bunch of fun musical numbers sprinkled throughout the film. The story seems kinda random and made up as it goes along, but that's in keeping with the spirit of the Muppets. There are some nice postmodern touches, as when characters explain the plot so far by giving other characters a copy of the film's screenplay. My only complaint about this movie is that it didn't have enough Statler and Waldorf. Otherwise, though, there's absolutely nothing not to like here.