Your Thoughts: The Muppets' Wizard of Oz

[FISH'N'WOLFE]

For all of you wondering, Scooter was performed by Rickey Boyd.

 

[Vic Romano]

Hoooo-boy! Don't normally post on the weekends, but after carefully reading all yer' posts, I gotsta' chime my two cents.

Foistovall; I'll be honest and say I didn't care for it. I thought it was better then IAVMMC (but then again I think most everything was better then that), but my personal feelings are that the Muppets seem to be trying to be something they aren't. They seem to be trying to be very topical, and as a kid (and of course even still now as an adult) watching TMS, being topical, or trendy or hip didn't seem to be high on the list of priorities for the Muppets, nor their movies really either, so why start now? Being topical means this film will not be timeless. Maybe I'm old, but I (as many of you) found some of the adult humor to be offensive, not that I'm prude and snuff my nose at fart jokes, but I just don't associate that kind of humor with the Muppets. The Muppets are beloved and I have a problem associating "beloved" with "Girls Gone Wild" and nipple jokes.

I personally always thought the death of Jim was a very bad turn in the future events the Muppets would take, but I agree with Beau that Jerry Juhl was able to really capture a lot (not all) of that Muppet magic and as the legends slowly retire, that magic is going to slowly die, but I'd hate to see the Muppets lower the bar for themselves simply because they lose the fathers and mothers of their creation. So on the negative: I didn't care for it, I won't watch it again and because of it's weak performance, I don't think it's discussion value (outside of fans) will last the rest of the weekend.

I also need to talk about Steve's Kermit. While I've never been keen on Steve's Kerm, I always thought he was improving (at least on the voice, I personally think he's wrecked the personality), but in MWoO it sounded like when he first took him over. His body language was great, but I thought it a limp performance. Fozzie seemed to revert into Piggy's voice I thought as well.

On the plus side: Sam and Scooter were wonderful. I almost thought Frank was back for a second, is this the same guy who's been doing Sam since Frank left? If so, he's improved marvelously. I thought visually, it was very fun and colorful and the sets were beautiful.

For those of you who liked it: Excellent! It's great to see the Muppets can carry on to new generations and still appeal to some of us old farts as well and it's great to see fans unite in this way, and if you're new here because of this film; WELCOME to MC! We hope yer' here for a while! However; keep in mind we're all fans here, and while some of us are more old school and hold dear the days of Jim as the true height and only truly creative span of the Muppets; and others are more into the new edgier, one liner Muppet fan base: We all have the right to our opinions! And I am really put off by those of you who feel so passionate about telling off those who disagree with you (and some of you have been here a while and should know better!) especially one in particular so brazen to join the forums the day after this release and practically verbally attack such sacred and original members who've been here since before the begining of MC! Don't be an ignorant noob (as I sadly admit I once was) and think you only have the right of passage to admit your feelings and all who disagree are horrible people. We're all fans, you loved it: Great! I didn't: what're you gonna' do? Play nice everyone or evil penguins will kill you... I lost my left arm after I said Beau was smelly and wouldn't take it back! Repeeeent! Repeeeeennnnt!

 

[TomTKH]

I was incredibly dissapointed. My husband and I taped it because we were out for the evening, and we were really excited to watch it when we got home.

We made it through 15 minutes of the film before we were just too offended to go on. After we've had some time away from it, we will try and watch the rest, but after that we may tape over it and forget that it ever happened.

I have loved the Muppets from the time I was a toddler, but this was beyond what I can support. It was obvoiusly done as an attempt to widen the viewing adience (both in age and in background of the viewer) by making a gradual change in the style and humor of the Muppets and their programs, which I fear we could see continued over their next couple endevaours.

I was offended right away by Ashanti's comments about "getting out of Kansas to become someone". I am from the midwest, and I'm really sick of the entertainment industry treating us as a bunch of red neck losers who never leave their state because they have no ambition. Did you ever see that sitcom about the guy from the coast who married a farm girl and went to live with her family in Kansas? Another ABC productions, and I hated that one too.

I was also not impressed with their rewriting of the original story line. Neccessary? Not really. Just another example of Disney thinking that "creative" means messing around with a proven formula and making it crap. They made their own cable channel a skeleton of its former self, and now I fear they will do it to the Muppets.

Rizzo's "Girls Gone Wild" comment was what made us finally turn off the TV. Not appropriate, and not funny. It was just one more choice in poor taste than what we could handle. Needless to say, I will not buy the DVD or CD either.

I loved Muppet Treasure Island. I loved Muppets from Space (despite its noticable flaws). I have enjoyed their recent commericial and TV show appearances. But if this is the way that they are heading, I truely wish the franchise had died with Jim Henson. If he isn't here to lead it in the right direction, no one should try.

Especially not Disney.

Thank you so much for writing this about this AWFUL film. It is quite clear that ABC/Disney feels they have to be trashy in order to reach a certain youthful audience. The sad thing is, young people watch this and don't know how trashy it is. It's quite pathetic also that they try SO hard to be funny. And the burp...was just DISGUSTING. For some reason Hollywood idiots think that is funny. This movie should be written about in a book about movie-making, under the chapter "DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU". I feel sorry for the memory of L. Frank Baum and Jim Henson. This film, it's writers and especially Ashanti should all be wished in to the cornfield.

 

[TomTKH]

I notice the ones who are most racist are the ones that are compelled to say they aren't.

Fact is from the start there were people saying "we already had a black Oz" and "They are trying to get the black audience". Let's just say I think the cast is "coloring" too many people's view of the movie.

Don't ever take an IQ test MWoO....which sounds a lot like moooooo.

 

[TomTKH]

I voted that this was a good movie. It was a Friday night ABC special, not a multi-million dollar production that we had to pay 6 or 7 bucks to see.

The bright spots for me:
-Sam Eagle
-Johnny, Sal and Sweetums goin' good
-David Alan Grier
-Quentin Tarantino's over the top performance (can't have him any other way)
-Steve's Kermit
-Sam Eagle
-Dr. Teeth's line 2x (hey, it's the most we've heard from him since Jim's death, I'll take what I can get and look forward to more)
-The cast shot at the end, especially Rowlf
-Scooter (if they can resurrect him, surely other classic characters will follow)
-Sam Eagle (I really like it when Sam gets used. He gets more exposure in one recent movie and a TV special than in all three original movies combined)
-Crazy Harry

The low points:
-Ashanti (terrible acting, dorky, forced interaction with the Muppets)
-Someone's ignorance of tornadoes. If there's a touchdown just down your street and you're only just headed for the shelter you deserve a Darwin Award when they find your corpse.
-Not enough Rowlf
-The terrible CGI Wizard ploys. Ugh. The dragon could have been a large puppet (thinking "The Luck Child" from Storyteller), one head looked too much like the slobbering leader of Jar-Jar Binks' people in Phantom Menace (they could have used an enlarged Lurch), the chicken was waaaaaay too cartoonish (again, they could have used an enlarged Muppet chicken). Only the fire head looked anything near neat/interesting.
-Miss Piggy. She's gone from charming over-the-top to annoying over-the-top.
-No Lew Zealand. Why would you put Lew in MTI but not Crazy Harry and put Crazy Harry in MWoO but not Lew? Why couldn't we get rid of one of the dispensable pirates like the wolf or Old Tom and replace them with a classic fan favorite we would all be thrilled to see? If Lew Zealand and Crazy Harry are going to be used as bad guys, at least let them be baddies together.


I don't have a problem with Scarecrow Kermit and Tin-Thing Gonzo getting torn up, that's part of the story. It's morbid but hey, bad people do morbid things to good people in stories such as this one.

I agree about the freshman humor. Pepe's belching was not funny. Nor was the line that followed it. Gas jokes leave a bad taste in my mouth, pun intended. I would hate to see the Muppets lower themselves to this brand of humor, but it appears this is the trend (Miss Piggy announcing her need to urinate in MFS). The trend I am referring to is family friendly movies such as Scooby-Doo where the heroes waste their time and ours holding a belching and flatulance contest or defeating an enemy by flatuating in their face. This is not funny and I hate to think that this is the sort of stupidity kids are growing up watching. My guess is that Spongebob Squarepants and other shows employ similar brands of humor to make kids laugh. This is just depressing. It shows a complete lack of imagination and creativity in writers these days.

I think this is a learning process for Disney. They can use this project to discover what works and what doesn't and improve on mistakes. If the rumors are true and they're looking to release a feature film in 2007, they have plenty of time to get their formula right.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I am SO glad that finally someone else spoke out about how DISGUSTING burping jokes are in films. WHO are these writers anyway? Do they come from hillbilly upbringings or something? Every time I see a movie that has a burp joke -- I don't watch it. Unfortunately, I didn't see that coming in this film. And yes the joke after it was just as disgusting. I hope you all realize that Disney Corp. is also a terrible place to work. They are SO mean to their employees, who are overworked and underpaid. I shed a tear for Jim Henson regarding this "movie" -- and I give it a failing grade.

 

[Xerus]

Did it happen to be a tornado heading your way?!
Good thing you didn't have to head to the storm cellar!

No, it was just one of those big thunderstorms with lots of rain. Storms that sometimes interrupts great prime time shows with a boring weather report. That happened with one of the Jim Henson Hour episodes I was watching. A weather test pattern appeared during Jim's closing words.

 

[MWoO]

I was incredibly dissapointed. My husband and I taped it because we were out for the evening, and we were really excited to watch it when we got home.

We made it through 15 minutes of the film before we were just too offended to go on. After we've had some time away from it, we will try and watch the rest, but after that we may tape over it and forget that it ever happened.

I have loved the Muppets from the time I was a toddler, but this was beyond what I can support. It was obvoiusly done as an attempt to widen the viewing adience (both in age and in background of the viewer) by making a gradual change in the style and humor of the Muppets and their programs, which I fear we could see continued over their next couple endevaours.

I was offended right away by Ashanti's comments about "getting out of Kansas to become someone". I am from the midwest, and I'm really sick of the entertainment industry treating us as a bunch of red neck losers who never leave their state because they have no ambition. Did you ever see that sitcom about the guy from the coast who married a farm girl and went to live with her family in Kansas? Another ABC productions, and I hated that one too.

I was also not impressed with their rewriting of the original story line. Neccessary? Not really. Just another example of Disney thinking that "creative" means messing around with a proven formula and making it crap. They made their own cable channel a skeleton of its former self, and now I fear they will do it to the Muppets.

Rizzo's "Girls Gone Wild" comment was what made us finally turn off the TV. Not appropriate, and not funny. It was just one more choice in poor taste than what we could handle. Needless to say, I will not buy the DVD or CD either.

I loved Muppet Treasure Island. I loved Muppets from Space (despite its noticable flaws). I have enjoyed their recent commericial and TV show appearances. But if this is the way that they are heading, I truely wish the franchise had died with Jim Henson. If he isn't here to lead it in the right direction, no one should try.

Especially not Disney.

You are an adult who is far too sensative.

First off, if you actually watched the movie you would see that Dorothy learns that where you are does not matter and she decided that being in Kansas with her family is just fine. That is why she wished to gfo home in the end. Otheriwse she would have stayed in Oz. So, beforey ou tuirb off the freaking tape because you are so easily offended, why not wait to see how it unfolds.

Second, the girls gone wild reference is NOT totaly tasteless. it was a joke by a character who fits the joke. It's not like 2 girls with their tops off ran by. Again, you are way too easily offended.

Did you turn off GMC when Kermit had a GUN to his head? Did you turn off GMC when Janice said Hel l ? Did you turn off TMM when Doc Hopper hired a FROG KILLER? Did you turn off TMM when Kermit and Piggy were drinking and Piggy got tipsy? In MTI, when Piggy made reference to the size of Long John Silver's *****, did you leave the theater? When Piggy was pretty much made out to be someone that sleeps with any pirate she finds, were you offended? Seriously, you turn off a movie because someone wanted to leave Kansas at the start and because Rizzo said Girls Gone Wild, but all that other stuff is ok.

People who are easily offended offend me.

 

[MWoO]

Thank you so much for writing this about this AWFUL film. It is quite clear that ABC/Disney feels they have to be trashy in order to reach a certain youthful audience. The sad thing is, young people watch this and don't know how trashy it is. It's quite pathetic also that they try SO hard to be funny. And the burp...was just DISGUSTING. For some reason Hollywood idiots think that is funny. This movie should be written about in a book about movie-making, under the chapter "DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU". I feel sorry for the memory of L. Frank Baum and Jim Henson. This film, it's writers and especially Ashanti should all be wished in to the cornfield.

A burp...you are so offended by a burp....

Well, I guess you never burp. I guess you never watched Sesame Street because Cookie Monster always burps when he eats cookies. So, it's not just "hollywood idiots" it's Frank Oz and JIM Henson who thought a burp can be funny too.

Everyone thinks the Muppet have always been these clean non-sexual, non-violent plush toys. Well it isn't true. They always had a darker side and a sexy side.

 

[BlitzkriegBob]

it was great to see crazy harry speak again. hes been my favorite for as long as i can remember, and i havent seen him for more than two seconds in any film since jim died.
i really wish they could find someone who could do rowlf's voice. i miss seeing him. same goes for dr. teeth and the electric mayhem.


i did enjoy this movie, but it just doesnt compare to the older stuff at all. even MTI and MCC were good films, so it isnt just that jim isnt there. theyre just getting way off course. i know that it will never be the same as it was before he died, but they dont need to go in the opposite direction either. i think before the next movie, they should really watch all the older movies and compare them with the stuff theyve been cranking out lately. and then find someone who can do fozzie's voice without sounding like piggy.

 

[a_Mickey_Muppet]

We made it through 15 minutes of the film before we were just too offended to go on. After we've had some time away from it, we will try and watch the rest, but after that we may tape over it and forget that it ever happened..

I can never understand how people get offended of stuff, like what you just sayed!