The Risks and Rewards for "The Muppets"

There’s a lot riding on the new Muppet movie, opening just in time for the holiday season on November 23.

Disney purchased the rights to the iconic characters and has spent several years trying to find a way to relaunch the Muppets to a new generation of fans.  They think they may have found it with the project that teams up Jason Siegel and Amy Adams along with Kermit, Fozzie and Miss Piggy.   With a budget of $40 million, the film is one of the most anticipated of the holiday season.  And while early buzz is solid, many are concerned the film may not be a big enough hit to bring back the Muppets or that those involved don’t really understand how Jim Henson’s most famous creations can and should work on-screen.

“A feature film can be a very powerful way to relaunch a brand,” says kids TV veteran Toper Taylor, president of Cookie Jar Entertainment. “Hopefully they’ll be able to bottle lightning once again.”

Taylor says, it’s crucial to make sure you “don’t disenchant their core audience.” That is where the path for the Muppets is challenging. The old Muppets guard — a group of writers and performers involved in creating the franchise — is eager for the neglected troupe to shine again, almost desperate in their longing for the film to work. But though they have not yet seen it, some wonder whether screenwriter and star Segel — an obsessed Muppets fan — has a true grasp of the characters they helped create.

The Muppets involves a new character, Walter, who is on vacation in Los Angeles with his friends from Smalltown, U.S.A. (Segel and Adams). After they discover a Texas oilman’s plot to raze the Muppet Theater, they reunite the Muppets, who have broken up. Fozzie is playing with a tribute band in Nevada, Miss Piggy has been working at Vogue Paris, and Gonzo is a plumbing magnate.

The concern among Muppets insiders is that Segel and director James Bobin (a writer on Da Ali G Show and Flight of the Conchords) didn’t have a complete understanding of the Muppets characters or were willing to sacrifice the characters’ integrity to land a joke. “They’re looking at the script on a joke-by-joke basis, rather than as a construction of character and story,” says one.

A small example is in one of the many trailers Disney has released, when Fozzie makes a fart joke. “We wouldn’t do that; it’s too cheap,” says another Muppets veteran. “It may not seem like much in this world of [Judd] Apatow humor, but the characters don’t go to that place.”

There is a list of similar concerns: Kermit would never live in a mansion, as he does in this movie. The Muppets, depicted in the script as jealous of Kermit’s wealth, would not have broken up in bitterness. The script “creates a false history that the characters were forced to act out for the sake of this movie,” says an old Muppets hand.

“I’m very hopeful the characters are as warm and loving to each other as they were when Jim was directing,” says Bonnie Erickson, executive director of the Jim Henson Legacy, dedicated to keeping his work in the public eye. Erickson, who designed and built the original Miss Piggy, says she’s “very excited” that Disney is putting so much energy into bringing the Muppets back but acknowledges that she’s nervous. “I’m hoping the standard of excellence that Jim set is maintained,” she says.

Frank Oz, the most famous living Muppets performer — known best as Miss Piggy — spoke more harshly in a recent interview with the British paper Metro. “I wasn’t happy with the script,” he said bluntly. “I don’t think they respected the characters. But I don’t want to go on about it like a sourpuss and hurt the movie.”

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