"The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992) Lobby Cards

Before the lobby card train leaves the station, we have another theatrical adaptation to check out" "The Muppet Christmas Carol" from 1992!

Here are some:

Good fun!

The Muppet Christmas Carol - Part 5 - The Deleted Scene

Aficionados of "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992) know that there was a scene deleted shortly before its theatrical release.

The scene is noteworthy because it contains a song by Meredith Braun as Belle ("When Love is Gone") in which she explains the reasons for breaking up with Ebenezer. The older Scrooge even sings with Belle for a bit.

The scene is very powerful and adds a lot of emotional heft to the film (or so I think), but apparently the "suits" thought it slowed down the action too much for what was viewed as essentially a kids' movie.

Things get cut from movies all the time and the world keeps turning, but what happened here is a bit different. When the movie was originally released on home video, the song was added back in! I got the VHS version way back then and just assumed it had always been there.

Flash-forward to the new wave of home video, and most DVD versions did not include that song and neither did the subsequent  Blu-ray releases.

Since people had been watching the movie on VHS (and laser disc) for so long, it seemed as if the movie had been newly edited to remove the song, but it was actually going back to the original theatrical cut.

So, now you get debates over which is the "real" version of the movie and so on.

Personally, I don't like films being altered later, with the exception of restoring it to what the original creators wanted at the time. As something of a purist, I can understand the original theatrical cut needing to exist, but I would like it if currently available releases of the movie had the extended version, as I think it's a great song and scene.

The scene explains why Scrooge is still so upset over that breakup, which is important to his conversion. Also, it balances neatly with the "When Love is Found" reprise at the end of the movie.

It also explains why "When Love is Gone" is included in a studio version by Martina McBride during the end credits.

You can watch the scene here and judge for yourself if the suits got it right:

 

Here's some fascinating footage of the recording of the song. Michael Caine seems to have really liked it. More's the pity that it was cut. 

 

Oh, well...

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) - Part 4

"The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992) is actually a pretty straightforward retelling of the story. It's certainly Muppetized, but stays grounded.

Since they went with a human Scrooge, the producers wisely had some additional human characters in the film, including Scrooge's nephew Fred and his wife, named Clara here, as well as Belle and some assorted extras.

The biggest Muppetization here is having the Great Gonzo appear as Charles Dickens (sort of) while narrating the story, although his pal Rizzo the Rat knows he's not Charles Dickens. It's all very meta as the story appears to have happened already, yet Gonzo and Rizzo are watching it happen and interact a bit with other characters. It's all good fun.

The opening scenes have a few changes that don't disrupt the story, but add some more fun. I don't know if there's another version that gives Bob Cratchit an accounting staff to work with. This staff consists of a whole bunch of rats who provide comic relief.

Scrooge's nephew is still in the office when the charity solicitors come in, so he gets to interact with them a bit. They're played by Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker. This is interesting, as in the book, only one of the gentlemen talks. Beaker doesn't really talk, he squeaks, so is this an homage?

As mentioned previously, Scrooge was partners with the Marley Brothers, Jacob and Robert. Scrooge only sees Jacob's face in the door knocker, but they both come to haunt him. Scrooge says that they always criticized him, but they maintain they were heckling him!

The other three spirits are original Muppet creations for this movie and are effective overall.

The Ghost of Christmas Past looks like a youngish girl floating around. She has a haunting female voice.

The spirit brings Scrooge back to his childhood school and Charles/Gonzo and Rizzo hitch a ride. Rizzo gets mixed up with a cat in the past, which is wacky.

They have a progression of young Ebenezers, which is an effective way of showing him grow up.

Fan never shows up, so the final young Ebenezer gets a pep talk from Sam the Eagle as his headmaster before becoming an apprentice at the rubber chicken factory of Fozziwig and Mom!

The older Scrooge is excited to see Fozziwig's party. The younger Marleys are there to heckle everyone from an upper box.

As so often, Belle is at this party, and Fozziwig introduces her to the young adult Scrooge. I do think this version of young Scrooge here does look like he could grow up to be old Scrooge, which is not often the case!

Then the inevitable breakup scene follows.

The Ghost of Christmas Present appears next and he is definitely how you would expect a Muppet version of this spirit to look. He's quite absent-minded here, which provides some humor and also reminds me of Willie the Giant from "Mickey's Christmas Carol" (1983).

He brings Scrooge to Bob Cratchit's and Fred's houses for their Christmas celebrations and Scrooge is getting the message. The ghost ages as the night goes by and he leaves Scrooge behind.

The mood becomes so ominous that Gonzo and Rizzo leave as the next spirit appears because they're too scared. They should be, as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is pretty scary. I like this representation. The Muppetness works well as for once, it's not just some guy in a cloak!

They see the indifferent businessmen and Old Joe's place as well as finding out that Tiny Tim died.

Scrooge seeing his own tombstone is enough for Scrooge to realize he needs to mend his ways.

After waking up on Christmas morning, Scrooge spreads a lot of joy. It's a lot of fun. He even gets to pat Gonzo and Rizzo on their heads and wish them "Merry Christmas!" Also really fun is that he visits Sam and Fozziwig at the old folks' home!

A novel twist that I don't think I've seen before is that the "boy" (played by Bean Bunny) whom Scrooge engages to get the turkey is the same one who was singing a Christmas carol outside of his office door. I like it!

He distributes quite a few presents, including a big stack to Fred and his wife. As he goes along, he gathers quite a crowd and they all go to Bob Cratchit's house with the turkey and have a big dinner/party. Scrooge does wind up at Bob's house on Christmas Day in a lot of versions, doesn't he?

This whole sequence reminds me most of "Scrooge" (1970), as Albert Finney also bought and gave out lots of presents.

So, we have a solid version of the story with a lot of humor that is actually funny and doesn't distract, as well as some songs that don't bring things to a halt.

They did their job to create a version of "A Christmas Carol" that everyone can enjoy!And Michael Caine stakes his claim as great Scrooge!

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) - Part 3

So, we have a great Scrooge in Michael Caine for "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992), but since we have "Muppet" in the title, we must have Muppets!

Kermit the Frog co-stars as Bob Cratchit. This befits his status as the de facto head Muppet, similar to Mickey Mouse in "Mickey's Christmas Carol," although Kermit couldn't get his name in the title!

Miss Piggy gets her dream role as Mrs Cratchit and is given the first name of Emily here. Both Miss Piggy and Kermit do a good job and act as you may expect.

Kermit has one of those convenient nephews, in this case Robin, and he plays Tiny Tim. No joke when I say that he's one of the best TTs ever! He's actually tiny for a change!

An unbilled member of the Frog family plays Peter and twin pigs play the Cratchit daughters, Belinda and Betina. Good casting!

This version is perhaps unique in that Scrooge's former partners are brothers - the Marleys, Jacob and Robert (get it?). They're played by Statler and Waldorf, the master hecklers, who are in good form. Interestingly, we see rare younger versions of them in the Christmas Past sequence.

The other spirits that visit Scrooge are not traditional members of the Muppet family, but are effective. We'll talk about them more when we go over the plot.

The Christmas Past sequence also feature Sam the Eagle as young Ebenezer's headmaster and Fozzie Bear plays Fozziwig, along with his mother as Fozziwig's mom.

The most, um, interesting casting is the Great Gonzo as Charles Dickens. He narrates the story and is pretty funny exchanging banter with his sidekick Rizzo the Rat.

Various other Muppets pop up here and there to add to the fun!

So, we have a solid Scrooge and supporting cast. Did they stick to the original story?

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) - Part 2

The producers of "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992) hit a home run when they hired Michael Caine to play Ebenezer Scrooge!

The key to this being an enjoyable movie and not just a parody is having a strong Scrooge at the heart of it. Michael Caine nails it because he plays the role straight. He never seems as if he's acting with Muppets rather than humans. I think that's probably harder than it looks, but he's a total pro that can play anything.

Back in 1992, it seemed like Michael Caine was in every other movie, some of which were not as prestigious as others, but he never acted like he was above the material and he certainly does not here.

He has a pretty good Scrooge look here, but it's mainly just the hairdo and costuming. Nothing over the top. And as usual for him, he uses his regular voice and doesn't try to speak in a more Scroogey manner. His natural Cockney accent is British enough for American audiences, whether or not that would likely have been Scrooge's accent.

I always thought Michael Caine kind of looks and talks the same in very movie, yet is totally convincing due strictly to acting. And he delivers the goods here!

Next, we take a look at the wacky Muppet supporting cast!

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) - Part 1

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Director: Brian Henson
Scrooge: Michael Caine


Now we set our sights on 1992's "The Muppet Christmas Carol!"

I've always been a big Muppet fan. I think the "Sesame Street" ones are fun, but I really like the group from "The Muppet Show" back in the 1970s. So, when this came out, I was wondering how they would blend with "A Christmas Carol." Would it be two great tastes that taste great together?

Yes, we have a peanut butter cup!

The whole thing seems kind of like a no-brainer 25+ years later, but at the time, there were a lot of firsts. This was the first Muppet theatrical release since 1984's "The Muppets Take Manhattan." It was also the first feature produced after Jim Henson's death in 1990 and he first to be released by Disney, years before they eventually acquired the franchise.

What makes this project work is that the creators respect the original Dickens story, but add some Muppet trimmings. It's pretty faithful on the whole.

It's most reminiscent to me of "Mickey's Christmas Carol" (1983) in that you have familiar characters playing the various roles.

But the Mickeyverse, and by extension the Duckverse, had a resident Scrooge in the form of one Scrooge McDuck. The Muppets do not, so they had to go outside for their Scrooge. They landed a brilliant one in Michael Caine!

Next, we take a closer look at this Scrooge...