How do you feel about the new Muppet movie? Did you know it was coming? It will be in theaters this November. The question I'm faced with is this: do I want new Muppet productions when the major players are gone? My feelings are mixed. I grew up with the Muppets. Both Kermit and his gang and the Sesame Street crew had a huge impact on me, like countless others from my generation.
Part of me is glad. I'm happy that this movie will expose a completely new audience to the Muppets. A whole new group of kids will meet Kermit and Gonzo and Animal and Rowlf for the first time. Projects like this keep the franchise alive. It keeps the characters alive. But, does it really?
I'd like to believe that as long as there are new movies and new shows, the Muppets aren't dead. ...But they are. Jim has been gone for twenty years now. Richard Hunt followed shortly after. And now Frank is retired. This is the first Muppet movie to be produced without Jim Henson or Frank Oz on board. Statler and Waldorf. Kermit and Fozzie. ...Burt and Ernie.
Jim Henson is about the closest thing I've ever had to an Earth-bound hero. The guy taught me how to read. He showed me and the rest of my generation a world with no racial or social divides. He didn't jam his thinking down our throats. Blacks and whites and monsters and latinos and chickens and pigs and gonzos all lived and loved together. That's just the way it was. And because it was so natural and unforced, it was natural for
us. Everything the Muppets did had an honesty, a humor, a sincerity, and a spark. And all with a message that was never overbearing or heavy-handed. You can't tell me that those characters are truly alive without Frank and Jim giving them life. Those guys were their soul. Without Jim's sense of humor, sensitivity, sensibilities, and moral compass... is Kermit really Kermit? The sad truth is no... he's not. Not the Kermit I knew.
The Muppets are still around because people like me don't want to let them go. Guys like Jason Segal want to make a movie and capture the magic we grew up with and share it with the kids of today. And I'm happy for him. I applaud the intent. But is it selfish in any way? I'm sure it's the realization of a dream. It would be for me. But I have to believe it's bittersweet. Someone asked Segal in an interview if it was magic to come to the set and work with Kermit. He said yes, but you could hear another answer in his voice and in the pause that preceded it. It's nice but... It's not what it could be. It's not what it should be. Look what's happened to the Muppets since Henson passed. Without that rudder, without his creativity and originality, they've languished. It's never been the same.
What if Harrison Ford passed away tomorrow and a scientist said, "Don't worry! I've made a Harrison Ford cyborg-clone. We operate him with controls. The clone will perpetually be 35 and we know a guy who can do a moderately tolerable imitation of Harrison's voice." Would that mean we could have Han Solo and Indiana Jones movies til the end of time? No, not really. Oh, they would still certainly make the movies. But that wouldn't really be Indiana Jones on the screen. So why does Kermit have to keep being trotted out just because he's cloth and foam. Should someone else's hand be inside that puppet just because it fits?
So it boils down to this: should we be making new Muppet material when the Muppets have lost their souls? Or, at best, have new ones? Just because Disney gobbled up the rights and the Muppets are a valuable property like any other? I've changed my answer to this question ten times. On one hand I want to say no, not if new material means the efforts of the originals will be cheapened or forgotten to any degree. But, ultimately, I have to say yes. Jim Henson handpicked Steve Whitmire to take his place as Kermit. For Henson, there was no question that the Muppets would go on without him. (Part of me wonders if he'd feel the same way if he knew Oz wasn't involved and if he could see the direction Sesame Street has gone and know that it's now just the Elmo show and Cookie Monster eats vegetables and there is literally an annual debate on whether or not Burt and Ernie should be gay.) I'm confident that the right team will be able to give the Muppets new life. It just won't be the life I remember. I do believe Segal and Nick Stoller can make a good Muppet movie because they're smart and funny and most importantly, they have a love for those characters.
Until now, Frank Oz had always been the anchor for me. He tied me to the memory of the way things used to be. Frank was the guy that made the Muppets still feel like the Muppets. Now he's stepped away and it's a completely new ballgame. I've read good things about the new movie. I've heard about the characters being in careful and loving hands. I've read about incredible, spot-on songs by Bret McKenzie (who I love). And I'm very much looking forward to taking my 8 year-old daughter to see it. But there is no doubt, it's going to be a weird and bittersweet experience for me in that theater this November.
