I’ve been watching all the Muppet movies over the past week or so. I am a big fan of The Muppets, and felt it was time to revisit them + see the ones I never saw before.
The Muppet Movie - nearly perfect, absolutely lovely, with probably the best soundtrack of all of them, I love the set-up, the plot movement, and fantastic final sequence, but I really love how the film proper (not the set-up) starts so calmly with Kermit performing all of the Rainbow Connection sitting on a log - and that's it - so un-flashy
The Great Muppet Caper - kind of a step down from from the original, but it has some brilliant moments, however it's a little shoddier and not quite as fun as the chaos of the original
The Muppets Take Manhattan - my favorite of the bunch, just incredible jokes, a great simple premise, and pretty much every muppet gets a chance to shine - plus the technical achievement of many of these shots is amazing (as is the case with all these first three films)
The Muppet Christmas Carol - I have not re-watched this one yet as it's probably the one most familiar to me because I've re-watched it a lot, I think it's great, albeit because it's an adaptation I do miss the entertainment angle / in-jokes from the original Muppet stuff
Muppet Treasure Island - the most nostalgic of them all for me as it came out at a pretty perfect time in my life growing up, I remember seeing it in the theater, I still think it holds up well, probably just as good as Carol but it doesn't overtake the original or Manhattan
Muppets From Space - weirdly tonally different from all the ones before (and I realized it's cause even Brian Henson wasn't really involved in it from a director or writing standpoint), it's dialed up in a wackier mode and sidelines a lot of the core characters, also no musical numbers - which I missed
Now I am on to watch the revival films. I have seen The Muppets, but not Most Wanted. I don't remember much of The Muppets, but having now gone through basically all of the ones before, I wonder if I actually will like it less than I did
Also been going through the Muppet Show for the first time straight through
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