Fun
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Dear Ann,
I’m guessing a lot of people have the DVD (or VHS) of this 1992 gem. Guess what? Until this year, I’d never seen it! In 1992 I was an overwhelmed trial lawyer. The only kids in my life lived half a continent away. None of the beloved Muppet movies made a ripple on my pond.
What made me watch it? A tweet that said that the thing that makes The Muppet Christmas Carol work is that Michael Caine never winks. He’s Ebenezer Scrooge. These are not muppets. Or if they are muppets, he takes no notice. That intrigued me.
My cupboard being bare of copies of this fine movie, I rented it for $4 on Amazon Prime, and enjoyed the heck out of it.
Love,
Kay
OMG, isn’t it fun?? I planned a Christmas Carol unit for my high school English classes for the sole purpose of showing them this movie! Most hadn’t seen this version and they loved it!!
The Muppets Christmas Carol has been part of our Christmas tradition since it came out. They also had a Christmas album with John Denver.
We had the Muppets Christmas Carol on vhs and now on dvd. We’re also on our 2nd John Denver cd. Original was on tape.
When my kids were little (they are adults now), we always decorated the Christmas tree to the Muppets and John Denver’s Christmas album. I need to go dig it out.
Oh joy! Every Thanksgiving after dinner and washing all the dishes we sat down to enjoy this fun and touching movie. My children are in their 20’s now and still want to watch it. My daughter was in school choir and their Holiday concert wasn’t complete without the opening song. I must go watch immediately!!
Oh, I love the Muppet Christmas Carol…Michael Caine is marvelous, and I love that the Cratchit children are both frogs (boys) and pigs (girls)!
We just finished reading the original CC aloud with the kids, and I can’t wait to watch the Muppet one to compare and contrast. It’s so well done, and it’s been a couple years since I watched it.
I also never saw it until…5-ish years ago? (FWIW, it’s also on HBO Go) I do enjoy it, but tbh, I’m not a huge fan of anything Muppet that was produced after Jim Henson passed away.
My personal favorite adaptation, the one I tend to think of as more Christmas Carol than the actual Dickens’ novel, is Mickey’s Christmas Carol.
I love all versions of A Christmas Carol. Can’t believe I’ve never seen this one, and I think it’s my choice for today. I highly recommend Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol. It’s heartbreaking and has great music by Jule Styne. You can catch it on YouTube.
The Mr. Magoo version was the first time I heard the story! Always my favorite, an incredibly astute rendering of the story.
I haven’t seen this, either, but won’t be able to say that again after tonight!
My two favorite versions of the book are the 1951 movie with Alastair Sim (love that man!) and The Muppets’ Christmas Carol.
It’s so close to the book! I love it.
This will always and forever be my favorite version of A Christmas Carol! “Hoity-toity, Mr. God-like Smarty-Pants!” is a permanent part of my vocabulary. And anyone who doesn’t cry to “When Love Is Gone” has no heart.
They took When Love is Gone out of the online version and it just isn’t the same. 🙁
I have the 20th anniversary remastered DVD–the widescreen theatrical version doesn’t have the song, but the extended full-frame version does. I’ve watched them both, and there’s also a song “Room in your Heart” done by Bunsen and Beaker (I love Beaker!!!) in that one.
Haven’t seen this version yet. Yesterday. my favorite version was on TV, the 1938 movie in which Gene Lockhart played Bob Cratchet. His real life wife played Mrs C., and their daughter, June, made her movie debut (I think), playing one of the Cratchet kids. That was, of course before she was lost in space…
We saw this on a date before we married, and we had the Blessing Song (that Bob Cratchit sings) at our wedding!
My all time favorite Christmas movie!!
I have a VERY soft spot in my heart for this movie. It was part of every Christmas season when our kids were little. Glad you have finally seen the light! “Light the lamp, not the rat!”
I LOVE this movie. I saw it in the theater with my family, and my brother and I always watched it for Christmas since. I haven’t seen it in years, but was just thinking about going to Target so I can buy it on DVD to watch with my son. 🙂
Perhaps my favorite of all Christmas movies and for sure all the Muppet movies (although Muppets Most Wanted is also recommended)- it gets a viewing every year. Henson bless us every one!
It’s not Christmas until we watch The Muppet Christmas Carol! I bought the DVD for my siblings a few years ago because every household needs to have this version! My husband enjoys it, but he prefers the Patrick Stewart version.
Patrick Stewart’s my 2nd or 3rd favorite (depends when I’m watching, but the Alastair Sim one’s grown on me, too).