What is your least favorite Muppet Movie?

[jvcarroll]

Of all the movies, I enjoyed The Muppets the least. And please spare me a repeat of the "Popular movies you hate" thread experience, because I think my criticisms of it are legitimate:

• The songs were mostly forgettable;
• The human actors ranged from so sugar-sweet-they-give-you-diabetes-cutesy to wooden and uninteresting;
• It was EXTREMELY emotionally manipulative (look, to want people to enjoy the Muppet characters is fine [I'm all for that], but a lot of the scenes in the movie seemed like guilt trips for non-fans and fans who may have fallen out of the loop). It didn't have any subtly at all, something the films before and even after Jim's death at least had SOME semblance of;
• It did seem like an ascended fan fiction. And don't get me wrong, that can work, but not with so many problems;
• The ending resolution seemed like a cop-out. There, I said it.

I didn't care for Letters to Santa either. Too many out of character moments (Gonzo being emo, for one, and since when would the gang turn their backs on each other when they need help? Whatever happened to them being "a family?") I'm surprised this special didn't annoy more people than it did me.

Well, one song isn't forgettable because it won an Oscar! While I disagree with a lot of your assessment, that's the only legitimate point of contention because rest is a matter of personal taste. I must admit to not being as excited as I should have been upon leaving the theater, but I really did dig the movie.

Letters to Santa was a missed opportunity. Everyone showed up to play and the story was there, but the screenwriting never fell into place. In fact, I've been somewhat unsatisfied with the Muppets writing since MFS. Some projects get it better than others (I actually liked a lot of VMX), but there's still a little something missing.

 

[AquaGGR]

• The songs were mostly forgettable;
• The human actors ranged from so sugar-sweet-they-give-you-diabetes-cutesy to wooden and uninteresting;
• It was EXTREMELY emotionally manipulative (look, to want people to enjoy the Muppet characters is fine [I'm all for that], but a lot of the scenes in the movie seemed like guilt trips for non-fans and fans who may have fallen out of the loop). It didn't have any subtly at all, something the films before and even after Jim's death at least had SOME semblance of;
• It did seem like an ascended fan fiction. And don't get me wrong, that can work, but not with so many problems;
• The ending resolution seemed like a cop-out. There, I said it.

Despite loving The Muppets, I agree with you on all those points. The ending was kinda forced, I liked the original "Statler and Waldorf-giving-the-last-dollar" ending. The only song in movie I truly liked was "The Whistling Caruso". *prepares for the flaming*

 

[Princeton]

The reason why pop-culture references are not good foundation for jokes is because they can become horribly outdated. (e.g. Miss Piggy's Napster line at the beginning of the movie) That's one of the things that made MWoZ near-unwatchable,

Muppets From Space and Muppets Take Manhattan are also guilty of this.

 

[snichols1973]

Despite loving The Muppets, I agree with you on all those points. The ending was kinda forced, I liked the original "Statler and Waldorf-giving-the-last-dollar" ending. The only song in movie I truly liked was "The Whistling Caruso". *prepares for the flaming*

Was this alternate ending something that was filmed as part of the deleted/alternate scenes, or just a script idea the writers were tossing around that ultimately never made the final draft?

 

[AquaGGR]

Was this alternate ending something that was filmed as part of the deleted/alternate scenes, or just a script idea the writers were tossing around that ultimately never made the final draft?

The latter. I think one draft of the movie had that ending, from what I've heard on here.

 

[Oscarfan]

They they had kept the S&W ending, they wouldn't have learned anything. Them losing the theater showed them they didn't need it, they had each other. S&W just giving them the dollar wouldn't have made for an interesting climax at all, unless they did what the junior novel did (at least, I think it was that) and have it blow away.

 

[Drtooth]

They they had kept the S&W ending, they wouldn't have learned anything. Them losing the theater showed them they didn't need it, they had each other. S&W just giving them the dollar wouldn't have made for an interesting climax at all, unless they did what the junior novel did (at least, I think it was that) and have it blow away.

I'm really glad they didn't use the Statler and Waldorf ending. First of all, that was exactly the same as the Stars and Street special, where Oscar saves the street. Statler and Waldorf saving the theater should have happened in VMX. It would have worked better there.

While I'd love to rip all the negativity about The Muppets up (I mean, really? The previous films before that are far worse.... let's not forget everyone really hates KSY) and basically accuse people of being ungrateful fans... okay... You're pretty freaking ungrateful. If we didn't get that movie, we'd probably get another lame book based film or something with F-list celebrities doing pop culture references every 2 minutes. I said it. I'm not saying we all have to love it, but to call it "the worst" is a bit much. These guys made a movie they thought the fans would like, rather than a cynical cash grab like every single revival franchise for kids ever. That's basically like ripping up a kid's drawing and saying "You call that a cow? Start over!"

I mean, "forgettable songs." At least we got songs. Let's not forget that. Yeah, Me Party sucked and just reinforced a very obvious plot point, I'll give you that. Amy Adams pretty much begged not to cut it.

Anyway, the only problem I have with The Muppets is the pacing and editing. The ending is a cop out? NOT if they kept the full Let's Talk About Me in tact. The ending came too fast into the credits? Yeah. I agree with that. The run time of the film should have been 100 minutes. A few bits of breathing room, scenes that actually explained stuff being in tact... that would have fleshed the movie out. It begged for an extended Donner cut on home video, but Disney didn't want to.

Now, the Worst Muppet movie I've already bludgeoned into everyone's heads. We know what it is. It was dark, cynical, poorly cast, and all around a pointless misfire. It was a seizure inducing embarrassment with extremely forgettable songs that really suck. One song is actually quite disturbing when you hear the lyrics... and the film almost sunk Disney's building Muppet Franchise. Every big plan they had that year? Died with that film getting poor reviews and not getting good ratings. Probably dysmal DVD sales too And THAT got a Donner cut extended version. Proof life is Unfair.

Why certain fans decide to pick on The Muppets instead of such an embarrassing, shameful demographic based depression fuel like that is far beyond me.

 

[rexcrk]

I don't think there's been a Muppet movie that I've truly disliked (except Kermit's Swamp Years, but I don't count that as a Muppet movie), but I think the one I've liked the least was Muppets Wizard of Oz.

I definitely don't HATE it, but it's the one I've probably watched the least on DVD. It did have some great moments though.

 

[Drtooth]

You know... I'm the only one here who didn't see KSY.

Because you all painted a very dire portrait of it, I was way too put off to actually see it.

 

[Mr Sweetums]

I support everything The Muppets do and I wouldn't say anything they've ever done has been bad but let's just say if it wasn't written by Jerry Juhl, Jim Henson or Frank Oz then I'm not a big fan.