The Muppet Christmas Carol

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The Muppet Christmas Carol
File:Muppet christmas carol.jpg
Theatrical release poster
by Drew Struzan
Directed by Brian Henson
Produced by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Martin G. Baker
  • Brian Henson
Screenplay by Jerry Juhl
Based on A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
Starring <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Music by Miles Goodman
Cinematography John Fenner
Edited by Michael Jablow
Production
company
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Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates
 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • December 11, 1992 (1992-12-11)
Running time
 86 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $12 million
Box office $27.2 million (North America)[2]

The Muppet Christmas Carol is a 1992 American musical fantasy-comedy film and an adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1843 novel A Christmas Carol. It is the fourth in a series of live-action musical films featuring The Muppets, with Michael Caine starring as Ebenezer Scrooge. Although it is a comedic film with contemporary songs, The Muppet Christmas Carol otherwise follows Dickens's original story closely.[3] The film was produced and directed by Brian Henson for Jim Henson Productions, and released by Walt Disney Pictures.

The Muppet Christmas Carol was dedicated to Muppets creator Jim Henson and fellow puppeteer Richard Hunt, who died in 1990 and 1992, respectively. Principal photography began two years after Henson's death.

Plot

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. In this adaptation of the Christmas story narrated by Charles Dickens himself (The Great Gonzo) with the occasional commentary of Rizzo the Rat, it is Christmas Eve in 19th century London. The merriment is not shared by Ebenezer Scrooge, a surly money-lender who is more interested in profit than celebration. So cold to the season of giving is he that his bookkeeping staff, including loyal employee Bob Cratchit, have to plead with him just to have a day off work for Christmas by pointing out that Scrooge would have no customers on the holiday and that it would be a waste of coal to sit alone in the office. Scrooge's nephew Fred arrives to invite his uncle to Christmas dinner with him and two gentlemen also come to Scrooge's offices collecting money in the spirit of the season to provide a Christmas dinner for the poor. Scrooge declines and complains that it is not worth looking after the poor, as their deaths will decrease the surplus population. Fred is shocked at his uncle's ruthless nature, but repeats his invitation, makes his own donation, and departs. Bean Bunny shows up asking for a penny to hear his song, but Scrooge throws a wreath at him in response.

Later that evening, Scrooge finds himself face to face with the still mean-spirited ghosts of his former business partners, Jacob and Robert Marley (Statler and Waldorf) who have been condemned to shackles in the afterlife as punishment for the horrible deeds they committed in life. However, they warn him that he will share the same fate, only worse, if he does not change his ways, and foretell the arrival of three spirits throughout the night.

Scrooge is first visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, a childlike specter who takes Scrooge on a journey back through time to his youth. He recalls his early school days, during which he focused on his studies under the Schoolmaster (Sam Eagle). At a later life working at a rubber chicken factory called Fozziwig and Ma Ltd. owned by Fozziwig (Fozzie Bear) where he attends Fozziwig's party. Then Scrooge meets a young woman named Belle (Meredith Braun), with whom he would later fall in love and become engaged to. Eventually, Belle ends their relationship as she knows, despite Scrooge's protests that he would marry her as soon as he feels he has enough money to provide for them, he will most likely never have enough.

Scrooge then meets the Ghost of Christmas Present a large, festive spirit with a booming voice who lives only for the here and now. He gives Scrooge a glimpse into the holiday celebration of others. The Spirit shows Scrooge his nephew Fred's party where he, his wife Clara, and their guests are not above cracking jokes at Scrooge's expense. Then Scrooge is taken to the house of Bob Cratchit and his family, who, although poor, are enjoying Christmas together and reveling in the anticipation of the Christmas goose. He even sees young Tiny Tim who has an illness. When Scrooge asks if Tiny Tim will live, the Ghost of Christmas Present states that he will not survive to next Christmas as the Ghost of Christmas Present begins to expire.

Finally, Scrooge meets the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (while Dickens and Rizzo leave), a silent, faceless, cloaked entity. Scrooge is taken to observe four local pig businessmen who are talking about the funeral of a colleague, planning to attend only if lunch is provided. Scrooge then observes his charwoman Mrs. Dilber, his laundress, and the local undertaker selling the possessions of the deceased to a spider fence named Old Joe. Scrooge is next taken to the home of the Cratchits, where the grieving family discuss the passing of Tiny Tim, and the arrangements for his burial at a place where he could see his favorite ducks on the river. Upon seeing his headstone in the cemetery, and realizing that the deceased person is himself, Scrooge has an epiphany that convinces him to change his ways.

He returns to his bedroom on Christmas Day along with the narrators, and goes about the town spreading good deeds and charity. He enlists the help of Bean Bunny to buy a turkey, and the two travel around the town gathering items for a Christmas feast and giving a substantial gift to the charity collectors, in exchange for his first gift, a red scarf. Scrooge distributes gifts among the poor, gifts to Fred and makes a visit to the retirement home where Fozziwig and the Schoolmaster currently reside. Later arriving at the Cratchits' home, Scrooge tricks Bob by admonishing him for not being at work that morning, despite having reluctantly granted him leave the previous day. To the amazement and delight of Bob and his family, Scrooge then jovially announces that he is actually going to raise Bob's salary and pay their house's mortgage. He brings a feast for the family, and learns to adopt the spirit of Christmas throughout the year as he and the Cratchits are joined in the feast by the rest of the neighborhood.

Cast

Muppet performers

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Main article: List of Muppets

Production

The Muppet Christmas Carol was one of the ideas by Jim Henson shortly after the Muppets joined Disney. Following his death in 1990, talent agent Bill Haber approached his son Brian with the idea of filming an adaptation. Haber told Henson that "Christmas Carol is the greatest story of all time, you should do that" and later informed Henson that he sold the idea to ABC as a television movie.[4] Longtime Muppets writer Jerry Juhl was hired to write the script and decided to insert Charles Dickens as the stand-in narrator in order to remain faithful to the original prose of the written material.[5] Henson stated that Gonzo was chosen because he was the least likely choice to play Charles Dickens,[6] while Rizzo the Rat was added to inject some humor and serve as a Greek chorus.[7] Established Muppet characters were initially written to portray with various accounts stating Robin the Frog or Scooter was to be the Ghost of Christmas Past, Miss Piggy to be the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Gonzo (before he was written to portray Dickens) or Animal as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.[4][6] However, the idea was scrapped in favor of new Muppet characters that would better underline the ominous nature.[7] After the script was submitted for approval to ABC, the executives of Walt Disney Pictures offered to purchase the script for a feature film instead of a television movie.[6]

English actors David Hemmings, Ron Moody, and David Warner and comedian George Carlin were considered to portray Ebenezer Scrooge.[8] Henson later offered the role to Michael Caine, who agreed to the role on condition that "I'm going to play this movie like I’m working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I will never wink, I will never do anything Muppety. I am going to play Scrooge as if it is an utterly dramatic role and there are no puppets around me."[4] Production took place at the Shepperton Studios, England and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[9] During filming, in order to accommodate for the Muppets and the human actors to be in the shot, floors had to be removed and re-inserted, as well as Michael Caine having to walk across narrow planks between the Muppets and their performers.[10] Additionally, the buildings in the London street scenes were constructed by hand, but diminished in size in order to achieve the appearance that the streets were relatively longer. When the musical sequence "It Feels Like Christmas" ends with the crane shot, the short buildings became visibly seen in the background, in which Brian Henson explained on the DVD audio commentary that they were aware of the problem during shooting, but eventually decided that the closing shot was worth it as they believed not many people would notice the error.[10]

Release

Box office

Disney appeared to have high expectations for the film, being their widest-released film of the holiday season and the second widest release under the Walt Disney Pictures banner that year.[11] However, the film opened in sixth place initially reported to have collected $5.9 million in box office estimates,[12] which was later revised to have grossed $5 million.[13] Ultimately, The Muppet Christmas Carol grossed a total of $27,281,507 domestically.[2] Despite being a modest box office success, The Muppet Christmas Carol did not make much of an impact during its theatrical release, having to face competition from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and Disney's Aladdin.

Critical response

The film received mostly favorable reviews from critics. Janet Maslin, reviewing for The New York Times, summarized the film is not a "great show of wit or tunefulness here, and the ingenious cross-generational touches are fairly rare. But there is a lively kiddie version of the Dickens tale, one that very young viewers ought to understand."[14] Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, who gave the film three stars out of four, praised the technical achievements, but felt it "could have done with a few more songs than it has, and the merrymaking at the end might have been carried on a little longer, just to offset the gloom of most of Scrooge's tour through his lifetime spent spreading misery."[15] On the television program Siskel & Ebert, his partner Chicago Tribune film critic Gene Siskel gave the film a Thumbs Down although he was favorable towards Michael Caine's performance.[16] Also from The Chicago Tribune, Dave Kehr reviewed the film as "a talky, plodding film that seems likely to bore children and adults in equal measure." Nevertheless, Kehr praised Val Strazovec's production design and John Fenner's cinematography believing its "shadowy, naturalistic lighting creates a new look for a puppet film", but derided Paul Williams's songs as unmemorable.[17] Likewise, Variety praised the production design and criticized Williams's songs, writing Muppets Christmas Carol is "not as enchanting or amusing as the previous entries in the Muppet series. But nothing can really diminish the late Jim Henson's irresistibly appealing characters.[18] Giving the film three stars out of five, Almar Haflidason of BBC wrote the film is "liberal but fun adaptation of a classic" that "turns out to be quite touching as Muppet movies go. Less pleasing are the forgettable songs that offer both clumsy word construction and dire music that eats away at the aesthetic quality of the movie. But you'll be too busy looking out for the assorted Muppets to care much."[19] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Muppet Christmas Carol has a 69% approval rating, based on 36 reviews, with a rating average of 6.2 out of 10. The critical consensus states "It may not be the finest version of Charles Dickens' tale to grace the screen, but The Muppet Christmas Carol is funny and heartwarming, and serves as a good introduction to the story for young viewers."[20]

Home media

This is the first Muppet film co-produced and released by Walt Disney Pictures—and the rights to the Muppets featured in the film would later be purchased by the studio's parent company. Other than the film's theatrical releases, the film has also been made available on home video formats. It was released on VHS in the US on November 5, 1993, in the UK on November 19 and twice on DVD in Region 1. The first DVD release on October 8, 2002 was in a fullscreen-only format. Walt Disney Home Entertainment re-released the film on DVD on November 29, 2005 in conjunction with Kermit the Frog's 50th anniversary celebration; this time the DVD contained both full-screen and widescreen presentations. The film was also released in Region 2.

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released a "20th Anniversary Collector's Edition" on Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy on November 6, 2012.[21] The release did not include the film's extended cut or "When Love is Gone".[22]

Music

The film's original score was composed by Miles Goodman with songs written by Paul Williams. Williams previously worked with the Muppets on the soundtrack to The Muppet Movie in which he and Kenneth Ascher were nominated for an Academy Award for writing "Rainbow Connection". Goodman previously scored several films that were directed by Muppet performer Frank Oz.[23]

Soundtrack

The Muppet Christmas Carol: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
File:Muppets Christmas Carol Soundtrack.jpg
Soundtrack album by The Muppets
Released 1992
Genre Soundtrack
Label Jim Henson
Walt Disney (Re-release)
The Muppets chronology
The Muppets Take Manhattan: Original Soundtrack
(1984)The Muppets Take Manhattan: Original Soundtrack1984		 The Muppet Christmas Carol: Original Soundtrack
(1992)		 Muppet Treasure Island: Original Soundtrack
(1996)Muppet Treasure Island: Original Soundtrack1996
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
allmusic 4.5/5 stars [24]

The Muppet Christmas Carol: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack contains all of the songs from the film, which were written by Paul Williams, as well several cues from the score by Miles Goodman. The performances are by the Muppet characters as well as Caine, and the album also includes the songs "Room in Your Heart" and "Chairman of the Board" that were recorded but never filmed. As with all Muppet films (except Muppets from Space), The Muppet Christmas Carol was shot as a musical. The soundtrack album peaked at #189 on the Billboard 200 chart. The soundtrack also became available to purchase at the iTunes Store the same day as the film's Blu-ray release.

Track listing
  1. "Overture" – Miles Goodman
  2. "Scrooge" – Cast
  3. "Room in Your Heart" – Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker
  4. "Good King Wenceslas" – Muppet Brass Buskers
  5. "One More Sleep 'til Christmas" – Kermit
  6. "Marley and Marley" – Statler and Waldorf
  7. "Christmas Past" – Miles Goodman
  8. "Chairman of the Board" – Sam the Eagle
  9. "Fozziwig's Party" – Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem
  10. "When Love is Gone" – Belle (Meredith Braun)
  11. "It Feels Like Christmas" – Ghost of Christmas Present
  12. "Christmas Scat" – Kermit and Tiny Tim
  13. "Bless Us All" – Tiny Tim and Family
  14. "Christmas Future" – Miles Goodman
  15. "Christmas Morning" – Miles Goodman
  16. "Thankful Heart" – Scrooge and Cast
  17. "Finale: When Love Is Found/It Feels Like Christmas" – Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Ghost of Christmas Present, and Cast
  18. "When Love Is Gone" – Martina McBride

"When Love Is Gone"

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. "When Love Is Gone" was a song performed by the character Belle (Meredith Braun) as she laments that Scrooge's love for money has replaced his love for her. The song was cut from the original 1992 theatrical release by Jeffrey Katzenberg of Walt Disney Studios, who believed that the scene would not appeal to young children.[25] The film plays with an obvious, jarring edit when the film is played with the song missing. Henson objected to their decision, believing that the song was integral to the plot (the concluding song, "When Love Is Found", is a direct counterpoint to it),[10] and the song was subsequently restored to the fullscreen VHS and Letterboxed Laserdisc editions. This song was also cut from the 20th Anniversary Edition of the film released on DVD (widescreen only; however, the fullscreen version has the song). The song was also not included on the Blu-ray, or the DVD disc that is packaged with the Blu-ray combo pack released in 2012, and this version of the film on the HD release features new and different music editing to disguise the jarring edit. The song is also absent from the edition of the film featured on Netflix.

See also

References

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  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r183383
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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