Film Review: The Muppet Movie (1979)

Origin stories are these days mostly associated with superhero films. However, in the old days they were associated with different genres and some rather unusual franchises. One of them was The Muppet Show, enormously popular piece of television which managed to combine superb puppetry, good music, humour into winning combination that worked for children and adult audience alike. Just like with many popular TV shows in the days before home video, it was inevitable that the show of such global stature would be immortalised with a feature film version. The result was The Muppet Movie, 1979 musical comedy directed by James Frawley, a film that became huge box office success and ultimately spawned film franchise of its own.

The plot begins in Hollywood studio projection room where Muppets sit and begin to watch film about them. Flashback shows how Kermit the Frog lived a simple and happy life in Florida swamp until he met a Hollywood agent who convinced him to start show business career in Hollywood. Kermit goes to a long and adventurous voyage and along the way picks up Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Miss Piggy, Rowlf the Dog and other characters that would ultimately become members of his troupe. He is, however, pursued by Doc Hopper (played by Charles Durning), evil businessman who sees singing frog Kermit as perfect mascot to advertise his French-fried frog legs restaurant. With a help of his friends Kermit foils his plans and finally reaches to Hollywood where he would triumphantly start new career.

Muppets creator Jim Henson met serious challenge while bringing his characters to the big screen. Unlike television shows, which allowed puppets to be manipulated with hands and shown until from the waist up in the studio, putting them in real world required more elaborate and improved techniques. Results were impressive and for fans of Kermit the Frog it was a big deal to see him ride bicycle. Henson’s efforts were helped by James Frawley, director whose main body of work had been on television and who was, unlike failed disaster parody The Big Bus, up to the task here. The plot goes smoothly, pacing is fast and catchy musical numbers by Kenneth Ascher and Paul Williams alternate with plenty of humorous scenes, some of them featuring famous Hollywood stars who used to be the guests of the television show. Although quality of humour varies and some of it won’t be understood by audience unfamiliar to 1970s popular culture, generally it is rather accessible to youngest audience. For Henson, film was sort of autobiography, because in Kermit the Frog’s path to Hollywood success he told the story of his own struggles to bring revolutionary puppet show to small screens. His dreams, perfectly described in film’s anthem “Rainbow Connection”, became true and helped the world look like at least slightly better place. Even the older and more cynical viewers can’t fail to appreciate the skill with which this film’s authors celebrated such romantic vision of show business.

RATING: 7/10 (++)

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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11176-the-muppet-movie
Critic: AA