The Muppets

[estefan]

I think the fart shoes are meant to be intentionally lame, hence Adams' reaction in the trailer.

Of course, this being a trailer, she could be reacting to something else for all we know. Not to mention, (and correct me if I'm wrong) isn't it a running joke with Fonzie that his props are on the lame side?

[Ben]

Fonzie!?

- "Good grief, the comedian's a bear!"

- "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyy..."

[EricJ]

Finally caught the "Fuzzy Pack" teaser at a captive theater audience--

"They've been called 'the Xanadu of Family Entertainment'"?
To paraphrase the MST3K-ism, oh, now I just want to hit this movie so hard...

(Seriously: It's so smugly baby-boomer clog-dancing over pop memories of better people's work, I literally keep expecting Steve Martin to show up in one of the trailers in his Looney Tunes: Back in Action wig...It's THAT convinced of its own condescendingly "hip" brilliance.
And regarding the new poster on the front page, who put Zoot the saxophonist in the Samuel L. Jackson hat?)

[Dacey]

But...it was just a parody. And a pretty funny parody at that. AND that trailer is like two months old, so this is a pretty belated rant.

But hey, if that's enough to convince you that this movie is going to suck months before anyone has actually seen it, then more power to you...I guess.

[Dacey]

*snickers*

http://impawards.com/2011/muppets_ver3.html

[EricJ]

(What's with all the parodies? What are they hiding? Is the movie in Swedish, or something?)

[Randall]

I'm loving the marketing so far--- fun and irreverent. Just about perfect.

And the full trailer gave me tingles. Great combination of laughs and heart. My expectations are running high for this one. I really hope they do Jim proud.

[Ben]

That is just ace!

Funny how Eric keeps going on about the Muppets doing parody work to promote their movie, isn't it?

I mean, it's funny because the Muppets have always done parody, right from the start, and especially when they transferred to the big screen. The Muppet Movie poster was a pastiche on Gone With The Wind, and by the time of The Great Muppet Caper, The Muppets Go To The Movies special made to promote it was full of Muppet recreations (and destructions) of classic movie scenes. And of course The Muppet Show sketches were often lampoons of popular culture, and in recent times the Muppet Parodies have become an almost sub-genre of their own, the Bohemian Rhapsody skit clear enough in why it was so popular.

So, yeah, it's CRAZY that the Muppets might be using a fun way of getting themselves noticed by a crowd of people that might not otherwise bother with going to see their movie instead of revealing all too early to a small bunch of "fans" who probably can't wait to tear it apart anyway.

[EricJ]

And I know I've whined about "Boomer-nostalgia-smitten Jason Segel doesn't seem to remember anything that's happened to the Muppets since 1981", from the poster, looks like I'd better downgrade that to 1978:
If it's "all about the Theater", just where the heck ARE Beauregarde and Pops anyway?...C'mon, Jason, they even showed up in "Caper", you remembered that one enough to cast Charles Grodin in the movie!

[Bill1978]

EricJ you have been quite vocal about her disappointment about the apparent direction this Muppet movie has taken. I personally think it feels like the Muppets of old and not tarnishing their image or anything. In fact everything I have seen has made me excited about the project, as opposed to how I was feeling when it was annoucned that they should just be rested.

My question (or challenge) to you EricJ is just what type of movie and plot would you have done for this movie. As you seem happy to voice your criticism about the movie made, but have not offered any solid alternate way to approach this movie.

[EricJ]

That's just it: I WOULDN'T make it.
Disney's only making the movie because it's literally their last chance to recoup the losses of Eisner's Folly (and even they don't know why he was so obsessed with it), and Kermit's future lives or dies on this movie.
(Reason #2 was that Disney's entire Muppet-movie division was now living or dying on this movie, as Kermit was a lot easier to sell to sentimental Boomer execs than their Dark Crystal and Fraggle movies that kept running out of production money, and this was the studio's last chance at a paying gig with a recognizable name, that actually got to theaters.)

"But that means we should save it, doesn't it?"--Uh, well, DOES it?
How about giving it a decent funeral, while there's still a good-looking corpse to remember? (And no, that's not a tasteless pun about Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl or Richard Hunt.)
We've got the Show on disk, we've got the movies on disk, and we've got the Rock on disk...What more do we need? More For More's Sake?
A Beatles reunion with two original members in their late 60's, and two new replacements?

But to indulge your question, if I made a movie at all, it would be directed by Brian Henson. Non-negotiable. At least he's still alive.
NOT some sniggering VH-1 pop-indulgent Boomer actor and his cable-comedy buddy, who's showing off what catchphrases he remembers from his TV childhood, and who's too rooted in the misdirected "humor" of his generation that he doesn't even know whether to play that for kitsch or loyalty.
Brian knew how to play his Dad's act for some degree of integrity and character, even in Treasure Island, Christmas Carol, the Storyteller, or even "Mother Goose Stories". (Yes, I Just started catching that one on Netflix, but only because I remembered the old Baum stories, which I suspected Brian discovered after "Return to Oz".)

I don't want Jason Segel's version, or the one with Lady Gaga jokes in it.
I want one made by someone who was THERE, or I don't want it made at all. Even if it is a "farewell concert", it deserves that much.
Disney's making this movie because they found out that nothing was selling for them except the original Show on DVD, and y'know, Disney?....GUESS WHAT.

[Bill1978]

So if this movie was directed by Brian Henson it would all be cool by you?

It might be a stinker - can't be any worse than Muppets In Space or the laborious Muppet Treasure Island - but the onething I will give the promotion team at the moment. The trailer is just that - a sequence of events that makes me anticipate the movie with only the basic plot revealed as opposed to what trailers have become where it's the movie in 2 minutes incuding how it will all end.

[EricJ]

So if this movie was directed by Brian Henson it would all be cool by you?
It might be a stinker - can't be any worse than Muppets In Space or the laborious Muppet Treasure Island -

Treasure was laborious, but it was BETTER. It at least lived in the moment (even if it did seem a little outdated), and not in the pop-culture past. It was their own movie, and not somebody else's, which was also the problem with Space.
(Which, to be fair, Brian didn't direct--We have another reason to hate the Alvin/Chipmunks guy.)

My point is, some people will watch a movie because "It's all we've got"...Others will patiently look at the Big Picture and say "If THIS is all we've got left, just ignore it and it'll go away soon before it stinks anything else up." (Sort of like we did with Pirates 4. )
Since I ignore Space, I've already lived with the Muppets not making movies for fifteen years now; I can settle in with my old disks and live comfortably with the prospect of them not making movies for at least another fifteen...I am in no particular hurry to defend the Alamo.

[LotsoA113]

The thing is Eric it looks, feels and acts like the old times. Frankly, instead of giving Brian yet another burden why not get someone who's like us Muppet fans? Jason and James are as dillusioned with Muppets Wizard of Oz as we were. They want something old timey and fun. As for those Lady Gaga gags? No worse than the ones about outdate actors/singers on The Muppet Show. Plus, like those cameos, they'll probably hold up solely due to their co-stars (The Muppets) always being so funny, so witty and so memorable. Put your prejudice aside Eric and open your heart. This isn't the funeral, this is the REBIRTH of the Muppets.

You can sit in the corner and wave your hand and cane in the air or join the rest of us, who hope and anticipate that The Muppets are finally getting the treatment they deserve.

[Ben]

Michael Eisner worked with Jim Henson at ABC. He liked what Henson did and followed his career. When he saw how the Muppets had never really had a solid home, he wanted to give them one, being that if the Muppets belong anyway, it's at Disney's.

Disney doesn't have anything to do with Fraggle Rock or Dark Crystal.

The Muppet Show is not entirely out on disc yet. And neither are several specials.

They're talking about Paul and Ringo reuniting for the London Olympics, actually. And don't forget Yellow Submarine, possibly soon to be back in production at Universal.

Brian Henson didn't direct Muppet Treasure Island. Take that from someone I know who was actually there. He was "off set" most of the time (doing what I'd rather not say). So take that however you want in your appraisal of the movie.

As said before, the Muppets have always referenced and lampooned pop-culture. 'Nuff said.

What I like about this is that, like Star Trek, it's returning to the roots in order for it to bloom and grow along a new path. It's not going to be like the Henson years. But hopefully it's going to be truer to that than the past few post-Space years, and it's looking good so far.

Eric, maybe you should go off and start campaigning for or against a Sesame Street movie? I hear they're open for a new Oscar The Grouch.