It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie

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It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie is an NBC television film released by Jim Henson Television and Metro Goldwyn Mayer in 2002, starring Jim Henson's Muppets.

[edit] Plot

The plot of the movie revolves around the old Muppet Theater going through financial hardship, and the entire Muppet cast looking towards Kermit the Frog for guidance. Kermit eventually feels he's not useful to anyone, and an angel (David Arquette) is sent to help him out. The movie then follows the formula of It's a Wonderful Life, as Kermit is shown what would have happened to his friends if he had not existed.

In the world without Kermit, the evil NBC producer Rachel Bitterman (Joan Cusack) has changed the park near the Muppet Theatre into a shopping center. Gonzo is now homeless, and Rizzo the Rat stars in an episode of Fear Factor where a woman has to eat him alive. Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem perform Irish stepdance. The biggest change is the Muppet Theatre, which has become a dreadful nightclub called Club Dot. Dr. Honeydew became a rapper, Beaker became a nightclub bouncer, Scooter and Sam are club-dancing ravers, and Fozzie is now a pickpocket living on the streets. Miss Piggy is a spinster who lives in an apartment with a series of cats, working from home as a phone psychic with a fake Jamaican accent.

Prior to the parody of It's a Wonderful Life, the film parodies several other elements of pop culture, including the movie Moulin Rouge! (the Muppet Theater's Christmas "Spectacular Spectacular" opens with a number set at the "Moulin Scrooge," which climaxes as Miss Piggy dons the role of Saltine and performs "Santa Baby"), the Cirque du Soleil (feebly adapted by a pathetic choreographer as the "Cirque du So Lame"), A Beautiful Mind (when Dr. Honeydew works out the money needed to save the theater's finances by doodling on a window, and, after listening to Beaker squeak, responds, "Why, thank you, Beaky, I think you have a beautiful mind, too"), and the old Gift of the Magi comedy routine (coming to a crashing halt in this film when one of the participants forgot to sell or buy anything). Trying to get the money to deposit, Fozzie also has to face a crazed nature-show host (a clear parody of the Crocodile Hunter), a laser array (from such spy films as Mission Impossible) and, after being dyed green at a Christmas tree lot, a gang of Whos (from the live-action version of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas).

A small sub-plot also features Pepe the King Prawn, who leaves the Muppets (and gives up on his plans to spend the winter in the beach, "shaking my bon-bons with Ricky Martin, okay?") because he has fallen in love with Miss Rachel Bitterman, the banker and real estate agent trying to foreclose on the Muppet Theatre. When he sees her with another boy-toy, however, he leaves her and eventually get his revenge, ultimately saving the Muppet Theatre by getting it declared a historical landmark.

The film contains an original song, Everyone Matters, performed by Kermit and Gonzo as part of Kermit's dream, and then reprised at the end. The film also makes reference to the Muppet classic song The Rainbow Connection, featuring a statue of Kermit in a park, erected in dedication "for the lovers, the dreamers and you."

[edit] Cast

• The Muppets
• David Arquette as Daniel
• Joan Cusack as Rachel Bitterman
• Matthew Lillard as Luc Fromage
• Whoopi Goldberg as God
• William H. Macy as Glenn
• Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog as Himself
• Mel Brooks as Voice of Mel Snow

[edit] Themselves

• Carson Daly
• Kelly Ripa
• Molly Shannon
• Neil Flynn
• Zach Braff
• Sarah Chalke
• Judy Reyes
• John C. McGinley
• Jon Stewart (deleted scenes)

[edit] Trivia

• When Kermit is visiting the Electric Mayhem at an Irish gig, there is a sign in the place called "Doc Hopper's frog legs". Doc Hopper is the name of a character that wants Kermit to advertise his frog legs in The Muppet Movie.
• This film marks the first time that Janice speaks since the death of Richard Hunt.
• In the scene where Daniel (David Arquette) is sitting at his cubicle in heaven, there's a photo in a frame on his desk. The photo is of Courtney Cox, David Arquette's wife.

[edit] Goofs

• Continuity: Kermit's hand shifts on and off the back of the bench between shots during Gonzo's song in the alternate universe.
• Continuity: When Miss Bitterman is showing Pepe her Club Dot, her head changes position in front of the window between shots.

[edit] Pop culture references

• Moulin Rouge! - Miss Piggy stars in a parody "Moulin Scrooge".
• Crocodile Hunter - A Crocodile Hunter-wannabe chases Fozzie with a blow dart.
• Fear Factor - In the dark universe, Rizzo appears on the show.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie

• Official site
• It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie at the Internet Movie Database