Rotten Tomatoes score: 69%
I love this movie.
A Christmas Carol is justly regarded as the mother of all Christmas classics, and it's been made into hundreds of millions of movie versions. So how could you improve on it? Simple. You put the Muppets in it.
This movie is a pretty straightforward adaptation of the book. Allegedly it's one of the more faithful film versions, but I'm not really an expert. It does take a lot of scenes and dialogue directly out of the book. Of course, one significant difference is that Bob Cratchit is a frog in this version.
Michael Caine, as Scrooge, is the only human being in most scenes, but it's surprising how little you notice that. Of course, it's a long-standing Muppet tradition that the human actors interact with the Muppets, but it is sort of puzzling if you ever take the time to wonder why Victorian London is filled with anthropomorphic pigs and cats and... whatever Gonzo is. (Actually, the Great Gonzo plays Charles Dickens, who appears from time to time to narrate the scene. He's accompanied by Rizzo the Rat, who was Gonzo's sidekick throughout the 90s. They're two of my favorite characters, but I have to admit, they don't add much to this movie.)
Most of the role assignments are obvious. As I alluded to above, Kermit plays Bob Cratchit, and so of course Miss Piggy plays Emily Cratchit. Robin the Frog, who occasionally appeared on the show as Kermit's nephew, is Tiny Tim, and the other Cratchit children are indistinguishable pig and frog Muppets. (It's kind of weird that Kermit and Miss Piggy's daughters are pigs and their sons are frogs, but on the other hand, what else were they supposed to do?) Mr. Fezziwig's name was changed to Fozziwig just so Fozzie Bear could play him, and Sam Eagle even makes an appearance as Scrooge's old schoolmaster.
The Ghosts of Christmas are all original characters designed specially for this movie. I liked the Ghost of Christmas Present, who is just a guy in a costume with a huge Muppet head. But the real show-stealers, as always, are Statler and Waldorf. They play the Marley brothers (Jacob Marley has a brother in this version, in order to give both Statler and Waldorf a part). They heckle Scrooge in addition to haunting him, and they bring the house down with the movie's best number, "Marley and Marley."
The other songs are also excellent, including an ensemble song introducing Scrooge, and a memorable song by the Ghost of Christmas Present that by all rights deserves to be as overplayed as "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" or that horrible song by Wham. Even Scrooge gets to sing, which was a first for Michael Caine.
This was the first Muppet adaptation of a classic work of literature. Sadly, they only made one other like it, the equally outstanding Muppet Treasure Island. I think they should have continued. There are so many other literary standards. I'd like to see Muppet Back to the Future.
Anyway, this movie was well-received, but 69% is nowhere near good enough. Even if the score had been 100%, I'd still say this one is
1. It's never too late to turn your life around.
But if you're a wicked miser in a partnership with another wicked miser, make sure you're the last to die, so your dead partner's ghost can show up to warn you.
2. Every story is better with Statler and Waldorf.
See what they think of this review.
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