Mahna Mahna

You're awesome if you just sang "do doo do do do" after reading the title of this blog post. (You're almost as awesome if you sang just now.)

I love the Muppets. And by love I mean I would hang out with them every day if I could, you know, without the hand up their backs.

When I was a kid, I LOVED the Muppet Babies. When Cinemax or HBO aired The Muppets Take Manhattan (cause it was still the newest movie), it would make my day. I loved that movie so much, whenever I saw this image

I would think The Muppets Take Manhattan was about to air. When The Muppet Show reruns aired I was excited. I was even more excited when Muppets Tonight started (REALLY ANGRY when it was canceled, by the way.)

Today, I'm going to countdown all the Muppets films from least favorite to favorite. Now, when I say film, I mean you had to go to a movie theater and pay money to be able to watch them. So Muppets Wizard of Oz and the Very Merry Muppet Christmas and all others along those lines are not on this list. There seven in all.

#7 Muppet Treasure Island

This is the only Muppet movie that I ever fell asleep during the first time of watching it. (More on that later.) I mean, this movie did have Tim Curry and "we've got cabin fever." Maybe if I was more intrigued by Robert Louis Stevenson's story, I would have enjoyed it more. Sadly, this just disappointed me.

#6 The Muppets

Don't get me wrong. I love this movie. It's classic tale of trying to make it big..again, echoing on the original Muppet movie from the 1970s. The human characters of Jason Segal and Amy Adams were a nice addition. Of course having Jim Parsons (or Dr. Sheldon Cooper as I usually refer to him) as a cameo made it more awesome.

#5 Muppets From Space

How could I possibly like what many call the "worst" Muppet movie this much more than the previous two? It had a unique story, is the first time we see the awesome Pepe, Clifford has a role in this film, and Bobo the Bear shows how he's a great anti-villain. Jeffrey Tambor as the main villain was also awesome.

The references to things that were popular in the 1990s, including an awesome Shawshank Redemption reference. I like Gonzo's story of finding a place, Piggy's tour as a newsanchor, and Kermit's ability to pull everyone together to rescue their friend.

Also, this is the ONLY Muppet movie I saw in theaters. I was too young for the first 3 (read non-existent for the first two.) My family didn't go to movies often in the early-mid 90s. At least, not for Muppets. I had to take my girlfriend at the time to see Muppets From Space. We may have even seen it twice in the theater, can't recall.


#4 The Muppet Movie

I put this on in the middle because in a way, I felt like it deserved this spot. Personally, for the first few movies, I thought they got better each time they made one.

There is something both nostalgic and classic about this film. Its humor is much more subtle than the other movies (maybe it's just old.)

The Muppets to me are about hope and dreams, and this film is what starts that thought and feeling. Both hoping and dreaming and connecting the rainbow is what this film is about.

#3 The Great Muppet Caper

It's just plain funny. Someone is trying to steal the Baseball Diamond (cause that's the name someone wants to give a valuable jewel). Miss Piggy gets framed. And everyone else steps in to rescue her and the diamond.

This has a "battle" scene, something that is so humerous and entertaining. Piggy escapes prison and rides a motorcycle to safety.

And of course, one of my favorite lines ever: "We're gonna catch these thieves redhanded." "Uh-what color are their hands now?"

#2 The Muppets Take Manhattan

This movie came out when I was really young. But I remember it airing on Cinemax or HBO for a few years leading up to 1990. It was my favorite movie at the time: the only thing I wanted to watch.

You have Piggy and Kermie getting married on stage (and for real). You have bears and pigs and chickens and rats and frogs and whatever else there was.

This movie builds off the storyline concepts in the Muppet Movie, but adds a few twists and turns as the Muppets try to get their Broadway show.

You've got a great chase scene when this moron steals Piggy's purse and she roller skates her way to getting it back. (For those who don't know, roller skates were what we used before roller blades.)

It's a "cute" movie. But it was still well done, a great story, and one of my favorites.

#1 The Muppet Christmas Carol

       
Yeah, I doubt people will see things my way here, but I don't care. This movie is AWESOME! Even the sappy song that Belle sings to Ebenezer that used to make me cringe, fast forward, or fall asleep. I can watch this movie a million times and I still could watch it one more.

Honestly, I think I have. I used to watch a movie when I was going to sleep. I cannot count how many times that movie was The Muppet Christmas Carol. I would try to hold off as long as I could during the year on when I'd start watching it. But that didn't work. I watched it whenever I wanted to.

Michael Caine does an awesome job as the old miser. The Muppets fulfill their roles in one of history's greatest Christmas stories. It's awesome to have an actor/muppeteer play a muppet who's playing a character. Where I felt like Muppet Treasure Island did a lot of things wrong, this previous installment did it perfect.

It helps that I'm a huge fan of Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. Combining Christmas and Muppets, it was just a match made for me.

Well, that's my review of the Muppet films.

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