DVD Pick of the Week, 3-30-06

The main difference between The Muppet Show and Sesame Street was that the Sesame Street was intended solely for children. The Muppet Show had more jokes geared toward adults, especially with their guest stars.
Over the years, the Muppets have had their ups and downs. Their television show was popular. It branched out into movies and the popular Muppet Babies cartoon series. But in the 1990's, the movies weren't that funny. They had been reduced to a joke on The Simpsons with The Muppets go Medieval starring Troy McClure. The Muppets Tonight show wasn't that funny and Muppets in Space was a big let down.
And we can all forget about Kermit's Swamp Years.
However, It's a Very Merrry Muppet Christmas Movie returned to the dual exchange of slapstick for the kids and satire for the parents. It's worth watching just for the one scene in which Sam the Bald Eagle pops up as at a nightclub rave twirling glow sticks.
Recently released on DVD in celebration of 50 years of Kermit the Frog is The Great Muppet Caper, the second full length Muppet movie. Of all the Muppet movies, this is quite possibly the best at developing a plot. While other movies were loaded with cameos, it was rather a distraction. The Great Muppet Caper has John Cleese, Peter Ustinov, Peter Faulk, Jack Warden, and Robert Morley. As a kid, I didn't know who those guys were but I knew they were in the movie as part of the fun of the Muppets. What other movie has an Oscar winner like Ustinov sharing a scene with Oscar the Grouch.
Even some of the puppeteers pull Hitchcock like cameos. Jim Henson, who also directed this movie, pops up in a restaurant. Frank Oz has a cameo as a newsroom worker. Jerry Nelson (most well known as the voice of Emmet Otter in Emmet Otter's Jug-band Christmas) has a small scene in a park where he corrects his daughter when she thinks Kermit the Frog is a bear. You see Kermit and Fozzie are identical twins and a running joke is that people keep confusing them.
The plot of the movie is complicated for a children's movie. Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear are identical twins working as reporters on a newspaper for their editor (Warden.) Gonzo is the photographer. When a fashion designer, Lady Holiday (Diana Rigg) is robbed by her own brother, Nicky (Charles Grodin) in front of trio, who blow the story to take pictures of chickens, their boss goes nuts and fires them. To win back their job, they go to London in the cargo hold of a plane to interview Lady Holiday and track down her robber.
While in London, Kermit confuses Miss Piggy, an assistant of Lady Holiday, as the fashion designer herself. Fascinated by Kermit, she tries to keep the facade going and catches the eye of Nicky, who continues to rob his sister with the help of three models Lady Holiday berates without caution. The scene in which Nicky hits on Miss Piggy has the most cheesiest pick-up dialogue to which she responds, "Yuck!"
What makes The Great Muppet Caper enjoyable is that it finds room for all the memorable Muppet characters. Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo stay in the Happiness Hotel, a dilapidated building where Dr. Teeth and his band stay, along with Scooter, Rowlf, Doc, Lew Zealand, and the Swedish Chef. Rizzo the Rat works as a bellhop. Every now and again, Sam the Bald Eagle will pop his head out of a door to make a comment.
While some of the jokes went over my head as a child, I like them now. I liked how Lady Holiday goes into a monologue about how irresponsilbe Nicky is to Miss Piggy, who abruptly asks why she is being told all of this.
"It's plot explosion. It has to go somewhere," Lady Holiday says.
When Miss Piggy is framed for a robbery and arrested, a reporter asks Lady Holiday if she intends to hire any more pigs in the future.
When the newspaper editor talks about how well the bold type headline is on a rival newspaper, Kermit sarcastically answers, "Yes, it's very easy to read."
The musical numbers are a homage to old movies, especially a fantasy in which Miss Piggy sees herself as the top model in the world and does a water ballet.
One well respected critic said that Kermit had been reduced to a supporting character and accused the filmmakers of slimming down Miss Piggy.
But the joys of The Great Muppet Caper is that it gives all the Muppets something to do. I always thought Rowlf and Scooter didn't get much attention in any of the movies until the Muppet Babies show. It still focuses on the main characters of Kermit, Gonzo, Miss Piggy, and Fozzie.
The DVD does offer much except the movie in both full screen and widescreen. I recommend watching the movie in widescreen because there are things that have been missing for years from the full screen version. You finally see the jar of hot mustard Floyd has that he suggests might eat through iron bars at the Mallory Gallery.