Top 11 Weirdest Things in The Muppet Movie

I had the fortune of growing up loving the Muppets as a kid. They were always fun, creative, original, entertaining, and best of all, they always put on movies & shows that people could watch as a family. (Well, almost always. Cough.) Jim Henson released The Muppet Movie in 1979, and it has become a classic hit even to this day, starting off their strong movie career for future decades. The story consisted of Kermit the Frog seeking out for a shot in Hollywood, and along the way meeting new friends to join him on the road to this dream, including Fozzie Bear, The Great Gonzo, Miss Piggy, the Electric Mayhem, Rowlf the Dog, and many, many others. Along the roadtrip, Kermit is continually hunted down by Doc Hopper, a madman who wants Kermit to serve as the mascot for his new frog legs restaurant. The story has heart, the characters are lovable, there are tons of cameos of then-big names (Steve Martin, Edgar Bergen, Richard Pryor, Dom DeLuise, Bob Hope, Mel Brooks, etc.) and enough one-liners to last a lifetime.

As wonderfully nostalgic as this movie is…I finally realized upon re-watch the very few (but eyebrow-raising obvious!) things in this movie that either don’t make sense or are just plain weird. Some of these might just be the fun of the story…but I don’t know. Some of these need answers! Haha. So join me as I count the Top 10 Weirdest Things in The Muppet Movie!

1. Dr. Honeydew is a jerk to Muppets.
   Fozzie: I’m so nervous…if no one likes this movie, I’ll have to move away forever.
   Honeydew: Yeah you’ll have to get a new apartment, won’t you?
   
   
2. Dom DeLuise’s newspaper ad specifically says “Hollywood: now looking for frogs looking to be famous.” That’s…freaking convenient.
   
3. Doc Hopper spies on Kermit’s legs from afar and stalks him for the entire film around the country. That’s weird. Also…the girls in Hopper’s TV commercial did not want to be there – they’re just bouncing around.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_I4KDExIsk
4. The “myth” running gag. Twice, Kermit claims something is a myth, a woman shows up and says “yes?” I don’t get it…?
   (The joke may be that she has a lisp and think Kermit is saying ‘miss’, calling her…might be the weakest joke in the movie just because it took me 20 years and an in-depth internet study to discover meaning of said joke.)
   
5. The Electric Mayhem disguised Fozzie’s car in the oddest array of bright colors. How is it that literally as soon as Kermit & Fozzie leave, Doc & Max find them anyway? And being right behind them, how do they miss their car driving right up on a billboard?! And why is the billboard the exact same colors as their car? (Okay, that part is funny…but what. Lol.)
   
6. Piggy’s song that takes place out of nowhere when she sees Kermit for the first time…right as she’s winning a beauty pageant.
   
7. Richard Pryor starts to propose which balloon colors Gonzo should take, and he doesn’t say black. You’re going soft, Richard Pryor.
   
8. Doc Hopper calls a German mad scientist Mel Brooks to fix his problems. First mistake.
   
9. How in the world did Piggy’s agent find her at the restaurant…and ESPECIALLY at the mad scientist’s lab after she had been kidnapped there?!
   
10. Doc Hopper puts a hit out for Kermit over the radio they they happen to hear…but why didn’t someone else hear that & call this guy in to have him committed?
    
11. Piggy’s face when she’s beating up German Mel Brooks and his crew. And she does keep it the entire fight scene…why so scary?!?
    

Sharing the dream,
-BB2

P.S. Somebody please get Sweetums a friend.

Muppet Treasure Island: The Real Treasure is the Adventure

Muppet Treasure Island (1996)

SUMMARY

The Muppets take on a classic retelling/adaptation Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, sticking to the adventure for the most part, adding some things, and doing plenty of things differently to add their own spin on it to make it their own. The central conceit deals with a young boy, Jim Hawkins, fleeing his home after his caretakers are victims of a dark pirate curse. He and his buddies (Gonzo & Rizzo) take the treasure map leftover, teams up with Captain Smollett (Kermit) and a crew of odd shipmates, and they all go on an epic quest of the treasure. Along the way, they encounter near-death experiences, mass weaponry, crazy musical number antics, and a scheming Tim Curry pirate. Recipe for success, no? Let’s dive in!

WHAT WORKS

1. Jim Hawkins (played by Kevin Bishop) – No idea who this kid is or what the rest of his acting career looks like, but he did a fine job here. He played the role of innocent very well, and not a bad job singing (though, he looked a few years too old to still have a 6th grade boy’s treble voice).
2. Long John Silver (Tim Curry) – Good ol’ Tim Curry! When you have him in your movie, it’s going to be a delight – delightfully grand, delightfully interesting, delightfully weird or funny…but never sub-par or uninteresting. Tim Curry makes this movie in my opinion. I have no idea who else could have played the back-stabbing, sneaky, diabolical pirate who yet makes you buy into his heart of gold. You know he’s the bad guy as soon as you meet him, yet he has so much charm to him that you can’t help but be interested in what he has to say. And he really does have a nice chemistry with Jim Hawkins, even if he is basically using him to find his way to the treasure. (My favorite moment between them is at the end when Jim catches Silver sneaking out with the gold, and Silver struggles to shoot him while Jim struggles to blow the whistle on him – they both know this is what needs to be done, but they still for some reason like each other too much to off each other.) This is a good example of a bad guy you’ll enjoy – enjoy liking or maybe enjoy hating because he’s such a crook.
   
3. Use of the Muppets – It can be tricky to implement childhood characters into a classic story, but the Muppets usually do a great job of doing this. They’re great at making it interesting for kids: staying true enough to the story to get the kids’ interest in the material, but also adding in enough humor around it as the bait. It’s a combination that results in plenty of charm overall! Also, the characters the Muppets don in this flick are just about perfect. Kermit as Captain Smollett is a pretty obvious choice, but the buildup going into his reveal is great. Sam the Eagle as his pencil-pushing right-hand man is perfect. Gonzo & Rizzo as Jim’s two buddies works very well – he certainly doesn’t need two of them, but this gives them room to do some fun commentary while supporting Jim throughout the movie. (They had just been paired together for Muppet Christmas Carol right before this movie, and that worked great.)
4. Changes to the Story – There are a few obvious changes made for the kiddies here that had to be made. For example, in the original story, Long John Silver tosses Captain Arrow overboard after he gets very drunk, which is also how he gets his keys to get to the treasure map. Instead, the Muppets have Sam the Eagle’s Captain Arrow get deceived by Tim Curry’s Long John Silver into checking one of the life boats for safety, holding his keys & hat for him just in case things go south. Silver then lies to everyone, saying he died out at sea. This is a fine change that still works out with the story. Plus, we do get the return of Arrow later on at the right moment.
5. The Music – Hans Zimmer is a genius. Period. He did the score, and it’s just plain gorgeous! It really plays up the adventurous moments throughout the entire flick. Songs with the cast such as Professional Pirate, Sailing for Adventure, and of course the zany Cabin Fever are my favorites – SO well done and so much fun. (And it’s always great to see the Electric Mayhem, even if they have nothing to do with the proceedings of this movie. Lol.)
6. Jokes – I do enjoy a lot of the humor in this movie – especially in the latter third. Statler & Waldorf hang out on the front edge of the ship for a few good one-liners as always. Captain Arrow pretending to be a ghost to scare the pirates has always been a classic for me. Smollett’s intense struggle to hold Benjamina (Piggy) when dangling off the cliff is PRICELESS. Even more so, Smollett’s brief sword fight/showmanship again Long John Silver as he jumps around & chops pieces of his outfit off are hilarious – especially with Tim Curry’s look of “is this guy serious? Is this really happening…what movie am I in?”
   

WHAT DOESN’T WORK

1. Modern Cultural References – There are a few of these, and it takes you out of the moment since this thing it supposed to be set in the 18th century. Gonzo makes a reference to the NBA out of nowhere. That won’t exist for a long time…but it’s “funny” in 1996 because it exists. Great. Much of this is done by the rats on vacation throughout the movie, acting like they’re on a cruise. I usually wasn’t bothered by this, but even given how often the Muppets usually make 4th-wall jokes, I was taken out of the moment when the rats walked by the opening of a scene, saying “to your right, you’ll see the set of the the movie Muppet Treasure Island.”
2. Kermit & Piggy’s Romance – Okay. I had to think very carefully about this one before putting it in the ‘What Doesn’t Work’ category. Here’s my thought: We don’t get Piggy in 2/3 of the movie, but it’s not like they were going to do the movie without Piggy, one of the main Muppet characters, and Kermit’s consistent love interest. It makes sense that Kermit is the captain, and it makes sense that Piggy is Benjamina, his long-long love interest. The good thing is, this adds further development and dimension for Kermit’s Smollett as a character. He’s not only a strong-minded captain trying to keep everything together; he also has this in his past, and it ends up being a strong motivator for him in the last act. HOWEVER. Piggy really doesn’t add to things that much. Yes, she is the one who knows where the treasure, but as far as being a character, a big chunk of her role is being the damsel-in-distress. Also, I just feel like it was thrown in because they ‘needed a romance.’ I’m not sure, maybe it was in the book but given more time. However here, it comes off as “a way to have Piggy involved doing what she usually does…Kermit’s romantic interest.” Lastly, I really did not like the cheap “love led us here” song they had being the montage to the pirates finding the gold as well as the “we love each other and junk” tune. It just didn’t fit, and we could have done without it.
3. Blabbermouth Jim – Not gonna lie, I was appropriately irritated when he blabbed to Tim Curry about where the treasure map was. However, this is partially Kermit’s fault – he should have taken the map from Jim, sent him away, and then had Sam the Eagle lock it up for safekeeping, without Jim knowing where it is. It’s not totally the kid’s fault – it’s usually tough for kids to keep secrets, especially when they have someone dauntingly charming like Tim Curry trying to befriend them. But then again, we wouldn’t have a movie if this didn’t happen, so it’s not really a problem…it’s just me being appropriately irritated. Dismissible point.

CONCLUSION

I have fond memories of this movie and enjoyed watching it again for a review. It’s a great adventure flick for kids, and gives them a good taste of a “swashbuckling pirate adventure” based on the original content of a classic novel. The adventure is well-done and a great hook for both kids and their family to watch with them, the music is great, the songs are pretty catchy & fun, but there is the questionably pointless romance subplots & drive-by pop-culture references. But the charm of the Muppets is the main glue that holds this together – as well as our good friend Tim Curry! It’s not one of the Muppet films that’s talked about as much, which is kind of a shame – I mean come on, you have Tim Curry as a pirate! What more do you need? I’d say definitely give this one a look for some adventurous nostalgia.

BLACKOMETER: 8/10

Let me know what you think!

-BB2