Kermit's Swamp Years (2002)

Powerful

Lack of good storyline.

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

best movie i've ever seen.

There are some very cute things about this film (especially the 'out-takes') and the usual Muppet humor prevails overall. There were some good jokes for the grown-up's as well. (My husband loved the tire tracks on one of the frogs.) However, I was a bit disturbed with the fact that the frogs were going to be dissected. My 3-year-old loved the Muppets, and I think the exaggerated acting was appropriate for her. But the repeated posing above these friendly frogs with sharp knives gave me a chill and frightened her. We talked it through, and she was okay in the end, but couldn't there have been a better climax for what is obviously a young children's movie?

My 3 year old daughter loves this movie. We've seen it too many times. It was hard to watch the first time. The acting is horrible! The puppets out-act the humans. I'm only to guess that the message is don't dissect frogs in science class. Lame unless you're really little.There is also something deeply weird about this movie. It's like it keeps changing its character. At first it's one style and then the next style. I actually feel bad for the actors and actress in the movie. It's like they sold out any chance of doing a future movie for this horrible creation. The music is weird too. Bits of 80s pop, sad hard rock attempts and other forms that just don't sound right in a children's movie.I also don't like the fact that they keep saying "shut up" and insulting each other. It's just not a good example. The animals are loving, the humans are not. Bad.You may wonder why I gave it a five. Um... well. I'm not 3 years old.

Oddly, "The Swamp Years" is about Kermit's adventures away from the swamp. The plot takes its good-hearted turns rather abruptly, without much signalling in advance. There are some in-jokes like Kermit's first encounter with a pig-- the sort of joke more likely to inspire a knowing nod than a guffaw. There are some poop jokes, which I don't think Jim Henson would have put up with. Kermit's voice is pretty good, except for an occasional underpronounced vowel. The music is well chosen, but there isn't enough of it and some of the lyrics are lame. I think my favorite character was Kermit's mother, who is more obviously a human hand than today's Muppets usually are. For some reason, I found it rather touching that when you go back in Kermit's ancestry you find the human creator more thinly disguised.

although I couldn't put my finger on why. I could have picked it up at Wal-Mart for five bucks, and yet I didn't. There was something about the packaging and the ads I'd seen that made me think "This isn't a Muppet film. This is a kids' movie by people who think they know what kids like" and I didn't know what made me think that way.Until a few minutes ago, when the answer struck me like a lead brick: Color.In most, if not all, Muppet productions to date, it has been much easier to ignore the fact that the characters are fairly brightly colored, felt objects, because of the surrounding color. The Muppet Show took place in a dimly lit theater, with dark burgundy curtains serving as Kermit's introductory backdrop. Sesame Street is, for the most part, dark grey. Fairly subdued, real-type places. The Muppet Movie ranges the gamut, but it always takes place in real locations, with no bright colors added for the sake of bright colors. And that's what was missing from (at least the promotional portions of) this movie. It seemed like they were aiming for kids because nothing seemed real. Including the grass. Including the swamp. None of it seemed like it was even *attempting* to be real, and so it was difficult for me to take it seriously enough to even desire to watch it.It might be a good movie. I don't know. Maybe I'll learn different sometime.But for this Muppet fan, it was just asking for one unbelief-suspension too many.