12 Days of Christmas 2015: The Muppet Christmas Carol

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Starring: Michael Caine, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz
Directed by: Brian Henson


And here we have ANOTHER Disney version of A Christmas Carol. No...I'm not doing that creepy looking Jim Carrey version. Anyways, onto The Muppet Christmas Carol. The Muppets are a great form of nostalgia and childhood for a lot of young children and families. Add a classic story and a warm environment like Christmastime, and you have a recipe for something that will be re-watched for years. If you're a Muppet fan, you're going to watch this movie. There's no question there. So what further selling point would you need? How about having a celebrated British actor like Michael Caine playing Ebenezer Scrooge? If you aren't intrigued by that point, then I don't know what else to tell you. Does the movie work? In many ways, yes it does. But it still has a couple of flaws that I'll bring up below. Again, if you like The Muppets, then it'll still probably be a part of your traditional Christmas movie playlist. But for now, let's look at the pros and cons that surround The Muppet Christmas Carol.

So Michael Caine plays Ebenezer Scrooge, and you'd expect that that would be a perfect fit. In many ways he is, but it's not a perfect portrayal. His singing, while spotty, feels genuine. And he's very good in the beginning when he's being the mean Scrooge. The part that's really unconvincing is when he's evolving into being a kinder Scrooge. Something about it seems a bit phoned and his character progression reflects by hitting plot points, but I don't feel like that particular Scrooge is being properly portrayed as we're hitting those points. I know Michael Caine is a great actor and has good moments as Scrooge, but it begs the question "Would you phone in the performance if you knew your co-stars were made of felt?"

Of course, you can't have a Muppets movie without The Muppets. Some of it feels pretty obvious with the casting. Kermit the Frog plays Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy is his wife, Fozzie Bear plays a version of Fezziwig named Fozziwig (never before has a Fozzie pun been used so well), you get the idea. My favorite Muppet portion is the stuff with Gonzo and Rizzo. Rizzo plays himself, but Gonzo claims to be a blue, furry Charles Dickens and the two serve as our narrators for the film. They work off each other well and provide a lot of jokes, from puns, to slapstick, and always with fantastic comedic timing. The Muppets were what you came for, and they do their job very well.

I will say that the one thing that doesn't stick out to me in The Muppet Christmas Carol is the songs. The Muppets are known for a lot of popular songs and musical numbers, but there wasn't anything that stood out to me here. I know there are some of you that are probably wondering "Hey, what about that scene when Scrooge sings a duet with his former love?" I remember that scene, but not the song. And even worse, the Blu-ray version that I have has that song cut out of the film to reflect how the film was originally shown in theaters. The sets are intricate and they go all out to forego too many jokes in order to properly do an actual movie about A Christmas Carol, but the songs, something The Muppets know how to do well, don't do much for me here.


Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Perfect? No. Enjoyable. Heck yes. The Muppet Christmas Carol delivers the characters you know and love from The Muppets, a beloved British actor in Michael Caine, and deliver a well-made take on the Charles Dickens classic. Just don't expect the songs to be stuck in your head.

The Muppet Christmas Special and movie images are copyrighted by Walt Disney Pictures