A Muppet Christmas Carol Revisited

I broke one of my own cardinal rules recently and re-purchased The Muppet Christmas Carol. Even though I already owned a copy that was in good shape, I just had to have the new one simply because this one had a widescreen option. I watched it today amidst many good memories...

I have been a Muppets fan since a little girl on Sesame Street who had a shirt just like mine sang "A, B, C, Cookie Monster" with Kermit the Frog in the late 70's. I faithfully watched The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, and all the other Muppet movies and TV specials throughout my childhood and adolesence. I remember being shocked and devastated at the death of Jim Henson and being pleased to discover a fellow fan in my good friend Christina.

Needless to say, after a couple of years of silence from Henson & Co., we were very excited about the upcoming release of The Muppet Christmas Carol. Chris bought the soundtrack before the movie even came out and we listened to it faithfully on all excursions in her bitchin' Yugo from the time she bought it until the Friday the movie was released-oh yeah, we were at the theatre. By the end of opening weekend, we had seen it three times; so at this point I'm a little unclear over which time we took the two little boys I used to babysit, which time our buddy Marty was drunk and we spent most of the movie trying to keep him quiet (though it was in his nature drunk OR sober to turn all movies into audience participation events), and which of those times was the first time I saw it. I remember that some pretty big license was taken with Mr. Dickens original narrative, but that it was immediately forgiveable. I mean, was there any more perfect role for Statler and Waldorf than Marley AND Marley? And, to paraphrase them, it was good to see them doing anything again.

I loved the Ghost of Christmas Present and am still bummed they never made him into any kind of stuffed animal. I loved the line "Even the vegetables don't like him." I enjoyed Miss Piggy's turn as Emily Cratchit (and I'm not her #1 fan) and the classic Muppet scat between Kermit and Robin as Mr. Crachit and Tiny Tim. Mostly, I was just glad to see my favorite characters again after a two year hiatus singing Paul Williams songs and making me laugh and wipe my eyes simultaneously. And some 16 years later, those are still some of my favorite things. And having it in widescreen format was absolutely worth the re-purchase.