The Muppets Take Manhattan
The Muppets always seemed to have it rough on the big screen. The variety show format of their TV show worked well because you didn’t have to have a narrative that could justify an 80-90 minute feature film. When they made their big screen debut in 1979, though, the magic came through beautifully by having them be underdogs trying to make it in the big world. When Jason Segel resurrected them in 2011, he was able to capture that feeling again, although with last year’s “Muppets Most Wanted,” it’s uncertain how long it may last. Still, I’m a Muppet fan for life, so even when it’s not so good, I’ll be appreciative to see the gang again.
From the Jim Henson-era of The Muppets, while the 1979 “Muppet Movie” is easily the best film the franchise has brought out, it’s their 1984 effort, “Muppets Take Manhattan,” that has been my favorite, and watching it again, I think I figured out why. By casting Kermit and the gang as a group of recent college graduates trying to sell a musical on Broadway, director Frank Oz and his co-writers (Tom Patchett and Jay Tarses) bring back that underdog sensibility to the characters that keeps us rooting for them when the rest of the world seems to be against them. Yeah, the film has a gratuitous plug for “Muppet Babies” during one of it’s musical numbers, but that moment comes at a time when Kermit and Miss Piggy, who have been apart after the gang runs out of money, are having a romantic carriage ride through Central Park, and Miss Piggy starts to day dream. Plus, it’s got an entertaining musical number (one of many in the film) that works with the setting, and the overall arc of Kermit and Piggy’s relationship in the film.
If you’re a Muppet fan, you pretty much know what you’re going to get out of this movie: all sorts of comedy, with humans taking a back seat to the characters made of felt, and comedy stars (like Art Carney, Dabney Coleman, and Joan Rivers, among others) making cameos to play off of the Muppets, and musical numbers. The numbers in this film are written by Jeff Moss, and they’re some of the best and most memorable in Muppet film history, with “Together Again,” “Somebody’s Getting Married” and “Saying Goodbye” standing out. The fact that a lot of the movie is about a transitional moment in the lives of the characters, whether you’re talking about graduating from college or moving to the big city or having to make your way in life without your friends makes it really work on an emotional level that the likes of “Muppet Treasure Island” or, shudders, “Muppets From Space” can’t. Of course, it also helped that the original muppeteers bringing the characters to life, starting with Henson and Oz, were still working with them. They knew these characters in a way few others could, and it comes through in every frame of the film. This is a film that understands its place as a silly, funny, sweet family movie that also has plenty of that great Muppets subversion for adults. It’s a lark more than it is art, and that’s all I really ask for from a movie featuring these characters. Sure, some emotional storytelling is important, but if it keeps me engaged, and plays with the concept of a dog, a bear, a chicken, a frog, a pig, and a whatever existing in the real world, and doesn’t hit you over the head with fourth wall winking at the audience, I’m fine with that, and “The Muppets Take Manhattan” does that well.
