Movie Info
Movie Name: The Muppet Christmas Carol
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures/Jim Henson Productions
Genre(s): Comedy/Musical/Family/Seasonal
Release Date(s): December 6, 1992 (Premiere)/December 11, 1992 (US)
MPAA Rating: G
Maybe we’ll sell your legs to the market, Tiny Tim
Charles Dickens aka Gonzo is out to tell his story of A Christmas Carol. Together with Rizzo the Rat, Dickens follows Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine) through the Muppet filled streets of London on the eve before Christmas. Scrooge however isn’t alone. He is visited by his partners the Marleys and learns that three ghosts…the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come are coming to visit Scrooge and warn him that his path is dangerous and the afterlife might be worse.
Directed by Brian Henson, The Muppet Christmas Carol is a family holiday musical. It is a telling of the often adapted A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (first published in 1843). Jim Henson died in 1990, and this was the first Muppets picture to be made after his death. The film was met with mostly positive reviews but so-so box office returns up against Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and Aladdin.
Long time, no see, guys
I always enjoy a Muppet movie, but this feels like A Christmas Carol with Muppets in it rather than a Muppet movie. In that sense, I wish that the Muppets had made the film their own by giving it more of a classic Muppet feel.
The casting of the Muppets as roles in the story is fun, and Gonzo and Rizo are necessary to keep the story “Muppet” based. I wish that like Mickey’s Christmas Carol, that regular Muppets had been cast as the ghosts (besides Statler and Waldorf as the Marleys). Maybe Janice as the Ghost of Christmas Past and Sweetums as the Ghost of Christmas Present, but the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come would have been hard to cast.
Scrooge is always the star of A Christmas Carol and who plays him is always a big deal. This is one of Michael Caine’s early trips into “old” Michael Caine. Before this film, Caine usually played the older, distinguished leading man. Caine plays Scrooge in a rather generic style, but gets into the spirit of the Muppets…rather like guests of the old Muppet Show.
Cratchet…I hate to tell you that this is coming out of your salary
The look and style is faithful to other A Christmas Carol adaptations. Instead of the classic snowy streets with people, they just happen to mostly be Muppets. There is that Muppet weirdness of some humans mixing with Muppets and no mention that they people and Muppets seem to be two different species.
The Muppet Christmas Carol is a fun addition to all the versions of A Christmas Carol. It is a good, rather tame version of the story and might serve as a nice introduction to A Christmas Carol for younger kids. If you don’t like it, you are probably just a Bah-Humbug!
Related Links:
A Christmas Carol (Scrooge) (1951)
Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol (1962)
An American Christmas Carol (1979)
Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983)
A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
Christmas Carol—The Musical (2001)
A Christmas Carol: The Movie (2004)
Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas (2006)
