This humorous road picture tells the tale of how the Muppets got into show business. And along the way it skewers show business as well. Through wonderful songs, well timed gags and puns and cameos galore, this movie captures the Muppet spirit on a big scale and serves as one of the best examples of how to take a TV series and transform it into a big screen spectacle.
When the story begins, Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson) pines away on his lily pad about unfulfilled dreams and finding the rainbow connection to his pot of gold. Enter stage left in a rowboat is an agent (Dom DeLuise, CANNONBALL RUN), who tells him to head to Hollywood because he's got talent. And that's what Kermit does. Along the way he meets a menagerie of talented (and not-so-talented) animals and whatcha-call-its who share his dream.
As Kermit makes his way to Hollywood, each of the classic Muppet characters get their own moment to shine. Fozzie Bear (Frank Oz) joins him first after Kermit saves him from an angry crowd of bar patrons at the El Sleezo Café that can't "bear" any more of Fozzie's comedy stylings. Gonzo (Dave Goelz) is working as plumber with his chick Camilla. But what he really wants to do is direct… direct himself into dangerous feats of danger! When attending a county fair, Kermit is smitten by the prize pig. Miss Piggy is a beauty pageant winner, but what she really wants to do is act. And when she sees Kermie, she sees green.
Kermit and Miss Piggy's meeting is a great example of the film having fun with film conventions. Their love montage is so dead on that it makes any film with one seem silly. When Kermit and Fozzie meet Dr. Teeth (Henson) and the band, they get them up to speed on what has happened in a unique way, but practical way. In a down moment, Kermit shares a tender song with a bar pianist, who happens to be Rowlf the dog (Henson).
But Kermit isn't just trying to achieve his dreams and the dreams of his new friends. He's also trying to avoid the exploitation of Doc Hopper (Charles Durning, TOOTSIE), who runs a chain of frog leg restaurants. This brilliant plot point works wonderfully in two ways. It adds real tension; we certainly don't want the charming Kermit to become the main course at a twisted dinner theater. But also it comments on the lure of fame and fortune. Could Kermit endorse the murder of his own kind and sell out just to make it? Of course we know that the noble amphibian will do the right thing. This is why writers Jack Burns and Jerry Juhl didn't make Hopper selling pulled-pork sandwiches and offer a commercial to Miss Piggy. She needs to get her priorities straight first.
And then there are the cameos. Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Milton Berle, Mel Brooks, James Coburn, Elliot Gould, Bob Hope, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Richard Pryor, Telly Savalas and Orson Welles in a pitch perfect role. But of course the most memorial cameo comes from Steve Martin as an annoyed waiter to Kermit and Piggy. It's one of those comedy sequences that you can't forget and Martin sells every moment of it. When he asks Kermit if he wants to smell the bottle cap of his $.99 bottle of wine, the look on Martin's face is classic.
To close, director James Frawley gets a chance to spoof Westerns and monster movies at the same time. And in a final perfectly timed joke the close satirizes films about going to Hollywood to make it big brilliantly. THE MUPPET MOVIE is a joyous experience. Jim Henson was a genius in how he brought felt puppets to life through song, humor and satire that all ages could enjoy on different levels. His love for his art made dreamers of so many of us.
Buy "The Muppet Movie" on DVD Here!
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
