I enjoyed ‘The Muppets’ when I saw it last year, and the soundtrack has been fairly omnipresent in my house thanks to my sons, who at this point know every word of every song. When we have long trips in the car, I admit that it makes me happy to listen to them sing “Mah Nah Mah Nah” or “The Rainbow Connection.”
My parents introduced me to The Muppets in the ’70s via “Sesame Street” and their syndicated series, and I like the idea that they’ve endured as characters long enough now that I can pass that love along to my own kids. They are an institution, and it is genuinely encouraging to see that they’ve endured this long.
It seems long overdue for Walt Disney to have finally sponsored The Muppets for a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. I think it’s a very commercial honor, and I don’t think it’s particularly merit-based, but if anyone deserves one of those stars, it would be The Muppets. It looks like it was a very nice ceremony, and there’s something special about seeing news photos of Kermit The Frog and Miss Piggy and all the familiar characters. It makes them feel real.
The same is true of the behind-the-scenes features on the Blu-ray. They carefully shot everything to treat the Muppets as performers, and so you can watch the extras with your kids without worrying about something ruining the reality of the Muppets for them. There’s an extended blooper reel that is very funny, and the making-of documentary is nicely done but too brief. While I enjoyed seeing the deleted scenes that are on the disc, there’s an entire alternate ending that they did not include, and that’s a real shame. I would love to see that footage, and I’m not sure why they’d include deleted footage but not include that ending. Are they afraid people might second-guess their choice about how to end the film? It’s frustrating, but I guess they decided against it for a reason.
Picture and sound quality on the film itself is tremendous, and if you were a fan of the movie, it’s absolutely worth going Blu-ray. I’m looking forward to a viewing with the commentary soon, but for now, I can hear it playing in the other room, where the kids are singing and dancing along with the film. I’m sure this is the first of many, many plays the film’s going to get here in the McWeeny house.
And that’s just fine with me.
The rating here is for the overall Blu-ray edition, not for the film itself.
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