The Muppet Christmas Carol Film Review

 

It's the time of year that alot of us love and where tradition reigns supreme and well there's a tradition here as well as every single year a certain movie will get re-watched and re-reviewed. With that movie being what many consider to be the best adaptation of the A Christmas Carol story and the darkest and most mature version of The Muppets ever put to film and so then join me as I review the film is a bonafide Christmas classic with the film in question being called simply just "The Muppet Christmas Carol" enjoy.

For once it's not really needed to describe the plot of this film as the plot of the book is so well known that it'd be pointless to do so. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt that about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film, was in all honesty really good with the films plot being alot better then what is really expected of what is basically a kids film with the films plot proving that if you treat your audience with respect and don't needlessly update things then you'll end up with magic with this really being helped by the fact that the plot of the film is also really entertaining and really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Dave Goelz as The Great Gonzo / Charles Dickens , Betina Cratchit , Waldorf / Robert Marley , Dr. Bunsen Honeydew / Charity collector and Whatnots and Steve Whitmire as Rizzo The Rat , Kermit The Frog / Bob Cratchit , Beaker / Charity Collector , Belinda Cratchit and Bean Bunny / Boy. Also starring in this film is this films executive producer Frank Oz as Miss Piggy / Emily Cratchit , Fozzie Bear / Fozziwig , Sam Eagle / The Schoolmaster , George The Janitor and Animal , Jerry Nelson as Robin The Frog / Tiny Tim Cratchit , Lew Zealand , Statler / Jacob Marley and Ma Bear / Ma Fozziwig , David Rudman as The Swedish Chef , Wander McMooch and The Voice Of The Ghost Of Christmas Present , Donald Austen as The Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come , Jessica Fox as The Voice Of Ghost Of Christmas Past , Steven Mackintosh as Fred , Meredith Braun as Belle , The Inbetweeners star Robin Weaver as Clara and The Dark Knight trilogy star Sir Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge.

Now the interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With all of this films cast members truly giving us some truly wonderful performances with the best performer in the whole entire film being Sir Micheal Caine who just simply kills it as Ebenezer Scrooge with alot of that coming down to the fact that he said that he'd only do the film if he could treat it as if he was acting for the Royal Shakespeare Company and that is something that really does show in the final cut of the film as while the rest of the cast Muppet performers included they just can't hold a candle to him despite them turning some really good performances themselves with the acting in this film in this film being helped by the fact that the films script is just so good that all the films cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performances really will come out of them naturally.

Jim Henson and The Muppets films in general were known for really pushing what they can do with The Muppets characters with this film being no different. With this film showing Kermit in a full body shot walking with Robin on his shoulder this kind of shot is something that the The Muppets had never done before and would never have tried to do as the technology just wasn't there and yet they did it in this film but we also get a complicated shot of Kermit ice skating and while the first shot was done with Kermit walking on a barrel it's hard to say just how they did the ice skating shot as there's no possible that a shot like that could have done and it just goes to show you that even after the death of Jim Henson The Muppets are still innovating and are still pushing the boundaries of just what it is that they can do with the puppets.

This film does feature songs that are written by The Muppet Movie songwriter and creator of the song "Rainbow Connection" Paul Williams. With the songs in this film for most part being really good as while we do get some really good songs like "When Love is Gone" and "It Feels Like Christmas" we do also get some rather pointless songs that add nothing to the overall plot of the film chief amongst which is "Bless Us All" which while it is a song that is rather well written and well sung it's also a song that serves no purpose to the film and it adds nothing to the overall plot of the film and could have very easily have been deleted from the final cut of the film and nothing that's actually important to the film would have been lost and while it would be tempting to say "When Love Is Gone" is the best song in the movie that honor goes to "Scrooge" which is just a fun opening song that sets the tone for the rest of the film.

There are so e firsts to be found in this film this film was of course the first Muppets film to produced after the deaths pf Jim Henson and Richard Hunt but it's also the first time that Steve Whitmire plays Kermit The Frog in a Muppets film and it's the first time that Gonzo and Rizzo share alot of screen time together. On top of that it's also the first time that the The Muppets characters don't play themselves with them taking on the roles of several side characters from the A Christmas Carol story something which would also continue in there very next film Muppet Treasure Island with all of these changes now becoming somewhat iconic to the world The Muppets as to many Gonzo was always paired with Rizzo as they really are a good team together with the two characters just bouncing of off each other beautifully.

While Ebenezer Scrooge will always be one of the greatest literary characters out there in this film he really isn't given much of a personality. Which you could very well argue is the point as we're meant to find out more about him as the film continues on but even with that mind we still don't get to fully know him as a character which means that while we do get to find out somethings about him it's not really enough to make him a fully formed character which is a shame as this character really is the best character in the movie with him going from this miserable old person who is basically a bully to those around him to him being this rather joyful person who is the life and soul of every single party that he attends is a great journey and is arguably the most well known character journey in all of fiction it's also one that would have worked better if he was a more well rounded character instead of being rather two dimensional.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and twenty five minuets and fifty seven seconds. While this film does have more then enough plot to cover that large amount of running time this is a film that could have benefited from being slightly longer as then more of the films characters be more fully developed with this being an issue when it comes to the Ghosts as alot of them were just very note granted it was a very good note but given just how cool and how creepy some of the Ghosts looked it would have worked to films advantage if they were more fully developed as characters but at the same time if the film was a bit longer even by as little as five to ten minuets it would make the film feel alot more like a chore to sit through rather then a joy to sit through as the film would get old and boring really quick but I will admit that this film really does gave some really good pacing to it tho. 

So now then as this is a comedy that means that I ave to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With Gonzo and Rizzo getting alot of this films biggest laughs as it's just the two of them still being themselves but at the same time trying to tell this deeply serious whilst getting into all of the usual mayhem that you'd expect from a Muppets production and while the film does rather rightfully not include any jokes when the third Ghost shows up sadly the film doesn't get any funnier when the third ghost leaves the story either but the jokes in this film are just as fun and really just as funny as you'd both expect and want from a Muppets production in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall this film and always will be the absolutely perfect film to help to get you into the Christmas spirit as it has all of the heart and humor that you'd expect from The Muppets whilst also giving you alot of Christmas cheer as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and a such that means that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 9 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official The Muppets fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images this film being the official The Muppets fandom wiki page this is because really all of the images that I really got and that are all really currently up and on the great the official The Muppets fandom wiki page  are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition and have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year everybody.