The Muppet Movie

This news may have been lost in the holiday madness (reviews of DVD gifts to come; we received two great ones: Sport Goofy and 40 Years of Sesame Street). The Muppet Movie is being preserved forever by the Library of Congress. As it should be.

Jim Henson has been a central influence in my life. When asked the question, if you could talk to/have dinner with anyone in history, dead or alive, I always answer Jim Henson. I remember where I was when I heard that he had died (7th grade, lunch time, ecology classroom with my friend who were working on their class projects and the radio was on). I devoured Sesame Street and would only stop moving for The Muppet Show. Fraggle Rock was required family viewing and the only night of the week I was allowed to stay up past 7:00. Jim Henson, to me, was magic. I harbored a dream of becoming rich and famous, if only so I could either be on The Muppet Show or ask to appear on Sesame Street.

I grew up watching The Muppet Movie on video, taped one early Saturday afternoon. I know this because, while my Dad did his best to pause out the commercials, he sometimes missed the cheesy early 80s graphics. He also missed a classic Molson Golden commercial. But I digress. My brother and I wore out the video; the picture and sound quality are poor, at best. But it was one of the few videos I took with me when I went away for university. Whenever I had a bad day, or felt "despair" for any reason at all, I would put the movie in and, from the moment where the long helicopter shot pulls in to reveal Kermit the Frog playing the banjo and singing "The Rainbow Connection," I immediately felt better. Or at least a little bit of peace.

This movie is glorious for it's optimism, imagination and songs. Muppets riding bikes? Come on! "I Hope That Something Better"? Classic. But the movie was "meta" and self-aware before that became the hip thing to do in kids movies. They give the script of the movie to Dr. Teeth, so they wouldn't bore the audience. As a result, they know where to find them when they are stranded in the desert. The star cameos always served the story, not the other way around. Steve Martin's snarky waiter? Love it. Milton Berle as a used car salesman? Hysterical. Orson Welles as a larger than life movie mogul? He utters one line, but it is the line that allows for all of Kermit and his friends' dreams come true.

Back to the message of the movie. "Life's like a movie/Write your own endings/Keep pretending/Keep believing/We did just what we set out to do!" I get misty-eyed just thinking about the final scene of the "movie" (before we're reminded of the meta nature and return to the theater where the Muppets are watching the movie along with us) when the studio is destroyed and hundreds of Muppets are bathed in the light of a rainbow. "Thanks to the lovers/The Dreamers/And you!" This is a movie about dreams and working to make those dreams come true, no matter what. No matter if you're a frog from, literally, a backwater swamp, a bear who can't tell jokes, a pig who dreams of being a superstar, a whatever who loves chickens. Or a man who decides that he is going to make TV shows and movies featuring puppets. This is as much Jim Henson's story as much as it is Kermit's story. How a band of disparate people can come together behind one person's impossible dream and even more impossibly, make it come true.

It is about loss, but it is also about hope. It is a road trip movie, a buddy movie, a coming-of-age movie and a musical. It is everything a movie, for kids or otherwise, should be. If you have never seen this movie, or have dismissed it in your older age because it's a kids movie, rent it right now. Better yet, buy it. You won't be sorry, and you're kids will love you for it. "Fact is/There's nothing out there you can't do/Yeah, even Santa Clause believes in you!" That's right. Even Santa believes in you. Can you picture that?

Here's how much I love Jim Henson. It's Sunday afternoon, the kids are both asleep, it's the final weekend of the NFL, and I'm writing a blog post about The Muppet Movie.