The ideal holiday movie has three basic characteristics. It should be held during the season (obviously), convey the importance of unity and generosity, and be easy and fun to watch for viewers of all ages. One benefit is if the movie has music that is festive but not sweet. There is one movie that fits the bill and I rewatch it every year: The Muppet Christmas Carol. Released in 1992, the same year my grandmother gave me the VHS, director Brian Henson adapted Charles Dickens’ 1843 novella, and this Muppet version retains the original’s The plot and themes are, at the same time, perfectly suitable for children and full of quirky fun for adults. This is a perfect Christmas movie.
The film stars McCain as Ebenezer Scrooge and Gonzo (voiced by Dave Gautz) as Charles Dickens, who also narrates the kid-friendly author’s classic tale of greed and redemption. If you don’t think a blue Muppet known for his love of chicks and daring sports can credibly deliver lines like: “Old Scrooge, he’s an iron fist on the grindstone! A squeeze, a twist, a scratch Even if your kids don’t quite understand the exact meaning of all the original lines, the following scenes make their intentions pretty obvious.
The film is set in a snowy market place among the winding lanes of early Victorian London. A turkey seller warns one of his escaped goods is back in the box. The turkey’s name is Martin, and he and the vendor are both puppets. Gonzo, the apple seller, introduces himself as Charles Dickens. The story begins when Rizzo the Rat introduces himself in a thick New Jersey accent and challenges Gonzo to prove that he is indeed a 19th-century author. The Mouse’s suspicion never abates, even though Gonzo Dickens correctly predicted plot points before they occurred.
Dickens has no time to argue with his rodent companions, though, because it’s Christmas Eve and Scrooge is about to arrive, followed by a dark chill. The loathed moneylender credibly hired a rat as a bookkeeper, underpaid his kindly right-hand man Bob Cratchit (played by Kermit the Frog), and wanted to force all of his employees to pay their bills on Christmas Day section work. The windows in his dreary office are dirty, which Gonzo points out (having Rizzo clean one), one of the film’s many obvious little nods to the realities of the era.
But first, a song – we know who Scrooge is because various creatures (a pig, a rat, a vegetable cart, a difficult-to-place monster, and a few humans, all dressed in hats, top hats, coats, and petticoats) Gathering behind Kane, they joyfully celebrate Scrooge’s mean, mean nature and the fortune he built by charging vast fortunes to cold, drafty houses. Worst of all, he was unrepentant. “Scrooge loved his money, ’cause he thought it gave him power,” sang the Market Man. Yes, particularly sensitive children may find their own parallels between Scrooge and the current political climate.
Scrooge returns to his dark, cold mansion. As he eats dinner alone by the fire, his late business partners Jacob and Robert Marley appear to warn him that he will be visited by three spirits who will show him a better way before he In the end, like the Marleys, the ghosts were draped in rags and dragged down by chains and lockboxes. The scene might be scary for little kids, but it’s so silly, with famous Muppet hecklers Statler and Waldorf playing two dead old guys, it’s more of a satire on ghosts— — as they sang there were a lot of people saying “woo woo woo” how horrible it was to be them – even more horrible than acting like a damn person who actually made a quick escape from hell.
The Ghost of Christmas Past appears, an adorable, spirited red-haired child dressed in flowing white gauze. She and Scrooge sail across the snowy rooftops of London, with Gonzo and Rizzo tethered to a rope, crashing into trees and landing covered in chickens. Everyone visits Scrooge’s old boarding school, where we learn the first source of Scrooge’s current unhappiness. As a child, he stayed here alone for the holidays while other students went home to be with their families. Soon after, he started his first job at Fozziwig’s Rubber Chicken Factory (Fozzi Bear was Scrooge’s first boss), where he attended the annual Christmas party without the other guests. Dance together to the rhythm of animals beating drums and instead complain about how much the event costs. He also meets his first and only love, Belle (Meredith Braun).
The spirit returns to Christmases past when Bella leaves Ebenezer because she took too long to marry him. He insists he doesn’t make enough money to get married. Speaking of non-saccharine singing, this scene is now short and to the point. But as a kid, I remember a song that was a bit bland, which was a weakness of the movie. Disney+ streaming brass must have agreed, because that number appears to have been slashed. The absence of singing makes the scene sadder, causing both Belle and Ebenezer to cry. No wonder Scrooge hates Christmas. He spent his childhood alone and was abandoned as an adult.
The spirit of the past leaves and the Ghost of Christmas Present appears, a giant jolly puppet reminiscent of Santa Claus who sings and tells you that it will feel like Christmas wherever you find love.
He shows Scrooge all the loving Christmas he currently misses. At the home of his nephew Fred, Fred and his wife Clara are playing guessing games with guests. The answer to the “undesirable creature” suggestion is Scrooge, who seems genuinely hurt to hear the news in an otherwise happy scene. In the background, Rizzo is eating some wax fruit. At Bob Cratchit’s house, Bob adds Scrooge to his Christmas dinner toast, but his wife Emily Cratchit (Miss Piggy) isn’t impressed. She calls Scrooge hateful, evil, and sloppily dressed, while her two identical twin daughters angrily agree. Scrooge is shocked, but more concerned about the Cratchit family’s sickly young son, Tiny Tim (a little stuffed frog with a cane and a newsboy hat). Rizzo fell down Cratchit’s chimney and fell on the roasted Christmas goose, burning his feet.
The snowy churchyard was dark. As Gonzo Dickens continues, Rizzo swings wildly and rings the church bells. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come appears in a puff of fog. This scene takes place about an hour into the movie and is the only one that kids might find scary, but if your kids have watched Harry Potter’s Dementors and behaved well, this ghost shouldn’t bother them They – it’s kind of like the original dementor, a dementor. But just in case, our narrator and his assistant offer an easy way out. Rizzo sticks his head out of the church door and announces that it’s too scary, and Gonzo Dickens tells the camera, “I’ll see you at the end.” They leave the scene, and Scrooge, now softened by the lessons of the first two ghosts, tells The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who is ready to listen and learn.
The two landed near Scrooge. The weather is gloomy and rainy, and three pigs dressed in 19th-century business attire joke about attending the funeral of some unpopular villain just for a free lunch. Apparently, they were talking about Scrooge. The ghost lures Scrooge indoors, where the scavengers are happily teasing a dead man from whom they are sorting the newest items. Led by a giant spider, the scene is as grimy and creepy as the Muppets allow. Scrooge needs a break and asks to meet some Tenderness, so they head to the Cratchits.
Mrs. Cratchit was crying, and Mr. Cratchit came home without Tiny Tim on his shoulder. The couple discussed where to place their son’s grave. Scrooge looks shocked, but Kermit the Frog, who plays Bob Cratchit, is resignedly philosophical. “Life is made up of meetings and partings. That’s just the way it is,” he told his three remaining children over a melancholy Christmas dinner. The camera pans to a chair by the fire, holding Tiny Tim’s cane and hat.
Scrooge and the spirit reappear in the cemetery, and Scrooge demands to know whose death made the Pig and the Scavenger so happy. Your kids probably already get it. When Scrooge wakes up in his bedroom, alone and in the present, he is filled with joy. Gonzo and Rizzo are back too, sitting outside the window. Scrooge opens up the snow and invites a little Rabbit to buy a prize turkey from a street store, only to send them flying into the snow. Everyone sings to the Cratchit family in their own way, and Scrooge delivers the turkey to his employee and offers him a raise. Michael Caine is ebullient and condescending as the cold-mouthed landlord in “The Muppets,” and the movie ends on a rollicking musical note with everyone huddled together in the Cratchit family’s crooked little house.
My kids never watch anything longer than the occasional five minutes TrottoBut a few years later, I’m looking forward to showing him this movie, which so effortlessly uses the madness of the Muppets to convey the moral lessons of Dickens’s enduring work. Greed will make you miserable. If you love someone, care about them. It’s never too late to change for the better. By the end of the film, Rizzo finally becomes a believer, praising Gonzo as being like a Mr. Dickens story. In the final lesson, Gonzo thanks him, saying, “If you liked the movie, you should read the book!”
