Best, period.
We see it in the theater each Christmas season.
As if I don't watch this movie enough throughout the year already (I try to alternate between this one and Muppet Treasure Island)... Time to fire it up again. Merry Christmas, Lemmy! 🎄🎅⛄
Caine is the latest of many human actors (including the great Orson Welles) to fight for screen space with the Muppets, and he sensibly avoids any attempt to go for a laugh. He plays the role straight, and treats the Muppets as if they are real. It is not an easy assignment.
- Roger Ebert
I think we can all agree that, creatively, it worked perfectly.
Who's the one mofo who disagreed?! That better be a fat thumb, mister!
According to an interview with Brian Henson, the director, when he reached out to Michael Caine for the role, Caine responded, "I'm going to play this movie like I'm working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I will never wink, I will never do anything Muppety. I am going to play Scrooge as if it is an utterly dramatic role and there are no puppets around me."
God bless him, one and all.
Which was absolutely the right call. If I can borrow a line from Jay Bauman, Ebenezer Scrooge does not sanction this buffoonery. In his eyes (at the beginning of the story at least) hanging decorations and singing and playing and such make everyone looks ridiculous to him.
The whole goddamn story is about Scrooge being a man who takes himself too goddamn seriously.
Brilliant!!
Heard this once said: Caine played his character as a very straight human, while Tim Curry played his character in Muppet's Treasure Island like he's himself an unhinged muppet. To the credit of both of these actors, it works perfectly in their respective movies.
Someone described respectful ways of interacting with children similarly --- you can bring yourself down to their level, or you can bring them up to yours. Both are respectful, and there's no "talking down" to anyone.
The Jim Henson Company was excellent at that. They always approached young audiences with respect above all. That's how Sesame Street works.
Speaking of which, I saw that HBO was pulling out of their deal with Sesame Street. Should we organize like a fundraising drive for that? The idea of Big Bird being off the air...isn't okay.
Bringing yourself to their level is real neat.
Why would you give the child the curse of ripping them from childhood? Why rob yourself the opportunity to revisit the magic of childhood?
Hand them the Scout action figure, grab the Batman, because Rita Repulsa wants to blow up the sun, and only you two can stop her!
Bringing them up is real neat
Next thing you know they’re talking all smart!
I read a fun story about that movie the other day. When they test-marketed it for kids, they asked what the rats did wrong to get coal at the end. Brian Henson and the others hadn't even made that connection.
The great thing about the Muppet movies is that all the characters are treated as if they're human. It's like nobody realizes they're talking to a felt frog.
It's even better than that - they sometimes acknowledge they're talking to a frog, or a rat, or even a puppet. It's just normal.
There’s an exchange in The Great Muppet Caper that goes like:
Human: “You're a frog, and you’re a dog, and you’re a… um….”
Gonzo: “A whatever.”
I think they could muppetize most movies and come out with bangers
I'm waiting for the Kill Bill movies with Muppets. Imagine Miss Piggy as Beatrix Kiddo, Muppet version of the Crazy Eighty Eight, or Fozzy playing Buck?
Or, alternatively, a version with muppet versions of the actors, so you have muppetized versions of Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Lucy Liu, etc. Either way would be awesome.
Literally all movies in existence would be improved if there were Muppets in them
Lars Von Trier's Muppet Antichrist would certainly be something
they should just release muppet version of movies, like LEGO does with videogames
It is the only way I would accept a remake of my favorite, which is the Princess Bride.
Schindler's List.
I dunno, I can think of an entire genre where I wouldn’t want to see muppets. But then again, I’m sure there are “people” out there who would.
I’m still waiting for muppet princess bride
Oh, I just finally watched this for the first time. If your interested, I wrote my thoughts but you can skip that if your just looking for a good Christmas movie then do it. Out of six or so I have watched, this definitely was my favorite.
If you can, find the non-widescreen DVD version.
They left the most important, emotional scene of the film (along with the song they used a "pop" version of for the ending credits anyway) out of the theatrical cut of the film.
It's the scene where Scrooger gets dumped, and there's a beautiful duet of Michael Caine singing along with his ex-fiance as his heart breaks and he starts to become human.
Without that scene, he suddenly goes from being the man at the beginning of the film to the much friendlier Scrooge with the Giant.
This doctor saved my life! 4/5
What’s crazy is that this movie was hated when it came out. People had no taste back then
My favorite serious Christmas Carol - The one with Patrick Stewart in it
My favorite silly Christmas Carol - Musical with Kelsey Grammer and Jason Alexander
Have you seen Spirited? I liked Spirited.
great actor, mycocaine
