By Geno McGahee
It is hard to go wrong with Michael Caine. He’s such a tremendous actor and the role of Ebenezer Scrooge seems made for him, even if he’s in a family film with puppets.
We begin with Gonzo and Rizzo the rat introducing Scrooge (Caine) and describing how much of a dickhead he is. This film is very odd. It’s so strange to see humans interact with puppets and nobody says “this is fucked up.” It’s the same feelings I get when I see cartoon animation added to live action film.
To add to the strange nature of this film, it is also a musical, where animal puppets and human puppets and humans all sing together. Scrooge working with Kermit the Frog was fucked up. I know Kermit was playing Cratchitt, but there was never a time where I thought there’s Bob Cratchitt. That’s Kermit.
Immediately, Michael Caine owns this role. Had this been a serious attempt at this story, rather than a family film, Caine may be the best Scrooge, but the Muppets hurt him somewhat.
Scrooge, as in all other retellings of this story, is visited by Marley, his old business partner, but this time he has a brother that was also a partner. They tell Scrooge that he’s going to be in more pain and carry more chains then they do if he doesn’t clean up his act and that he will be visited by three ghosts. The Marley ghosts are the old guys that you see in the balcony at the Muppet Show.
The Ghost of Christmas Past is a really strange-looking female puppet that has very little animation. Her mouth moves strangely and it is difficult to even picture her there. She takes Scrooge to his past, including his missed opportunity to find love with Clara (Robin Weaver), where Caine really shines. Despite this film being a kid’s film, they do a good job here showing the emotion that Scrooge had over the course his life had taken and what could have been.
The Ghost of Christmas Present is sort of fun. He looks like the ogre from FRAGGLE ROCK and brings some fun to this film and Caine works well with him as Scrooge starts to warm up to the idea of being more loving and more open to the holiday. He learns that the Cratchitt family is very poor and that they have a sick son in Tiny Tim. Of course, Kermit’s wife in this is Mrs. Piggy and I fucking hate Mrs. Piggy. She is totally annoying and they give her two daughters that are equally annoying.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is your typical Grim Reaper and that’s how I like it. I hate when they change his look to something other than the Grim Reaper. Scrooge sees that he’s dead and so is Tiny Tim and that he has spent too much time chasing money and being cruel to the world. He begs for that one last chance and gets it and becomes a new man.
THE MUPPET’S CHRISTMAS CAROL isn’t a bad version of this story. It does a good job of bringing the drama of the story to life while keeping it light enough for children to enjoy. I wasn’t a big fan of Gonzo and the rat being the narrators for this film, but it wasn’t a huge deal either. Caine is the big sale of this film. He is a great Scrooge.
Despite how good Paul Williams is, the songwriter for this and other films, the songs here aren’t notable. They aren’t bad, but none of them are catchy or will stick in your head. They’re basic songs for a basic retelling of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
I do recommend this one, but there are definitely much better ones out there.
