The Muppet Movie (1979)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Absolutely Brilliant!

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Replacing moose and squirrel as the top non-human super couple of television, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy moved onto the movies in the late 1970's and never looked back. Miss Piggy, already a T.V. diva, even went as far as to protest on the Oscars as to why she was not nominated to which host Johnny Carson told her the only Oscar she was worthy of was Oscar Mayer. Kermit, of course, was much more humble, and coming from the swamp as opposed to a luxurious sty, that makes perfect sense to me. In fact, if it wasn't for Dom De Luise paddling through that swamp on a boat and finding Kermit strumming a banjo singing "The Rainbow Connection", he might still be there today! It is De Luise's suggestion that he get himself to Hollywood and present himself as their newest romantic star. After all, the last time frogs made an impression in Hollywood was those nasty ones who along with some snakes and other swamp creatures invaded Ray Milland's plantation in the horror epic "Frogs". The musical adventure follows Kermit's journey, his romance with beauty contestant winner Miss Piggy, and most nefariously, Charles Durning's desire to use Kermit for commercials for his chain of frog's legs restaurants which of course makes Kermit hopping mad. All of the muppet regulars join Kermit and Piggy for their journey to Hollywood and dreams of movie stardom. Even Big Bird makes an appearance, turning down Kermit's offer to join them, trying to find his way to public television rather than that dangerous world known as Hollywood.There's a dozen cameos by various celebrities of the era (and a few of the past) including Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy as judges in Miss Piggy's beauty contest, Bob Hope who makes jokes while selling Kermit ice cream, Richard Pryor as a sarcastic balloon salesman, Milton Berle as a shyster car salesman, Steve Martin as a sarcastic waiter who almost spoils Miss Piggy and Kermit's date, Cloris Leachman as an officious movie studio secretary (sneezing as she is surrounded by the furry creatures invading her office), and finally, Orson Welles as a very imperious seeming movie mogul who hides a huge heart of gold underneath his enormous girth."The Rainbow Connection", Kermit's theme song here, has almost surpassed "It's not easy being green" as his theme song. After many years of making the rounds on every variety show and of course "Sessame Street", the muppets moved onto a very popular syndicated show which lead to their transition into the movies. This was one of the biggest hits of the 1979 summer season and has stood the test of time, even if some of the cameos by the various older stars may not ring any bells of familiarity with today's younger audiences. As for the other songs in the film, they are vibrant and peppy, if shortened for the movie with lyric changes that were heard on the original soundtrack album. Miss Piggy really hams it up with her big solo, "Never Before, Never Again", but even that is really worth a Golden Apple. Seldom after has Hollywood given us entertainment that continues to appeal to practically everybody to this day.

The Muppets made their big screen debut in this 1979 film, which acts as a blue print for all the others that have followed it.Wisely showing how the Muppets came to be this film has all the charm, humour and cameos that we have come to expect. It also boasts the classic song 'The Rainbow Connection', which continues to be as profound today as it was then.I think the film is quite slow in places and obviously the big name cameos at the time are less impressive today for younger viewers.However it's fun and enjoyable enough viewing and is certainly one of the better outings for Kermit and the gang.

With the appearance of another Muppet film at the box office, it's time to go back and review the old ones. This is the original 1979 movie, not the 2012 relaunch. I believe this to still be the best of all the Muppet films, if for no other reason than it tells the story of the Muppets, not tell a story with Muppets IN it. It is a magnificent introduction to all of these great characters, or course focusing on Kermit, and I can't help but revert back to the seven-year-old me that fell in love with a frog and a bear and a pig and a dog and a....whatever, and feel the same excitement I had back then. The jokes remain as funny or corny as they were then and there's still all the heart and soul that Jim Henson and company breathed into them 35 years ago. And all the great songs! The only thing that is sadly aged is the cameo appearances of movie stars of the time, none of which my children recognize or have any idea who they are (okay, they know Steve Martin from the "Pink Panther" films and Mel Brooks as "Yogurt", but most are unknown to them). Always worth a repeat or reminder viewing. 9/10

Of course I love this movie! What's not to love about it? It's funny, it's musical, it's entertaining, it's emotional, it's everything that embodies the Muppets!In this movie we see how the Muppets got their start to stardom and fame; it's sort of a very loose parody of Jim Henson's start to fame, if I understand it right. Kermit the Frog enjoys his life in the swamp, but begins riding his bike to Hollywood after an agent tells him he should go and "make millions of people happy." From there, he runs into a number of characters who have the same dream of making it big in Hollywood: Fozzie Bear, The Electric Mayhem, Scooter, The Great Gonzo, Camilla the Chicken, Miss Piggy, Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Honeydew and Beaker, and others. Since this is the first Muppet movie, it began the tradition of including celebrity cameo appearances. We see Bob Hope, Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Madeline Kahn, Carol Kane, Orson Wells, Jim Henson's wife, Jane, Edgar Bergen - the man who inspired Jim Henson to go into puppetry - and many other celebrities. My favorite cameo, though, is Big Bird! Yes, Big Bird is in this movie! "I'm on my way to New York City to try to break into public television." I love that line!So, why does this movie work so well? I think it goes back to the fact that the Muppets are giving us their own style of entertainment, rather than them trying to conform to something else. There are a lot of scenes in this movie that take place that, to be fair, don't really need to happen. They don't really move the story forward, but Jim Henson and his writers and producers knew just how to make this stuff work. Take the scene where Gonzo flies in the sky with the balloons. It's a nice scene, but does it get the gang to Hollywood any quicker? Not really. How about when they all get to Hollywood just to have the lady at the front desk tell them they can't come in? It lasts less than 2 minutes, and they get in anyway. Was it really worth it to have that moment there? Probably not. And with that, the ending is something straight out of a fairy tale. The Muppets go to Lew Lord and tell him they want to be rich and famous, and Lew Lord just grants their request just like that? There's nothing realistic about that! Had any of these scenes been done in any other movie by any other group of people or any other production studio, I would really hate them! But this talented group of people knew what to do to make it entertaining, delightful, and great. That's the magic of Jim Henson and his Muppets: he gives us something that normally wouldn't work, and makes it work so well that we'd come to love it! That takes a lot of great talent and creativity! The songs are other elements that don't add much to the simple plot of the movie, but, again, they're done so well here that we come to love and remember all of them! "Moving Right Along," "Can You Picture That," "Never Before," "I Hope That Something Better Comes Along," "I'm Going to Go Back There Someday," "The Magic Store/Finale," but, of course, everybody loves and remembers the Oscar-nominated classic, "The Rainbow Connection." They're beautiful, they're fun, and they're so very touching. They stay with us, in our souls! That is powerful! Everyone always talks about how funny the Muppets are, and that shows in this movie! But very rarely do you hear about the heartfelt moments as well. The Muppets remind you through the emotions they experience that they feel just like we feel. Kermit's overall objective in this movie is probably the best example of this. He doesn't want to go to Hollywood simply to become rich and famous, it's not as superficial as that. He wants to go to Hollywood because it's his dream. What Kermit wants more than anything is for his dream to come true. You really feel for him during the scene when he talks to his conscience. He actually begins doubting himself, saying he never promised he'd make it. I love his last line in that scene: "I guess I was wrong when I said I never promised anyone. I promised me." Kermit begins to believe in himself again, and is determined to make his dream come true. That's pretty deep! Again, it's not something as superficial as just making a lot of money. The magic of his dream comes from, as he shares with Doc Hopper, the fact that he shared his dreams with others and they shared the dream with him.With that, sidebar, was I the only one asking what's wrong with Doc Hopper? You're really going to spend time and energy tracking down one frog all over the country? Why not get another frog? Why not do something that doesn't harm frogs at all? This man is stupid.Once again we have great Muppet tricks that make us stop and ask how did they do that. If you look up the facts about this movie either on this website or on Wikipedia, you'll learn how the Muppets were able to drive. Everyone went crazy when they saw Kermit riding a bicycle for the first time! There's a lost episode of "The Jim Henson Hour" that explains it if you're still curious. It's called "Secret of the Muppets," look it up on YouTube.Final thoughts: "The Muppet Movie" is a great, fantastic film! It has everything you want a Muppet movie to have. This movie has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid, and I still love it now! Check it out, you won't be disappointed, folks! BOOYIKA!