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As proved by the recent Disney+ special The Muppet Show, Jim Henson and Frank Oz’s group of felt puppet performers work best on the stage. Their mix of personalities, their wacky bits, and their absolute love of show business suits the variety format that made them famous. Yet like every true showbiz player, the Muppets truly long to be on the big screen, which is why they’ve starred in 11(!) feature films together.
Moreover, most of the Muppet movies are good to great! But they’re not all equal, so let’s look at the eight theatrical releases and three direct-to-TV and video features starring Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and the rest of the Muppet gang.
11. The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz (2005)
While they definitely vary in quality, none of the Muppet movies are bad. None, except one: The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz. On the surface, the movie is exactly what one would want from the Muppet movies of its era. Instead of trying to replicate the madcap nature of The Muppet Show or any of its successors, the movies treat the cast as actors staging a production, just like Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island. But here’s the thing: The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz is tonally off and deeply unfunny.
Ashanti stars as Dorothy Gale, who gets taken away from her Auntie Em (Queen Latifah) and Uncle Henry (David Alan Grier) in Kansas and lands in the world of Oz. There she and Toto (Pepe the Prawn) must find the Wizard (Jeffrey Tambor) with the help of her new friends the Scarecrow (Kermit), the Tin Thing (Gonzo), and the Cowardly Lion (Fozzie). Helping or harming her progress are the four witch sisters, two good and two bad, all played by Miss Piggy. Pleasing as that premise sounds, director Kirk R. Thatcher and his team of screenwriter include far too many edgy, bland gags, including a bit about Fozzie accidentally tweaking Gonzo’s nipple.
10. Kermit’s Swamp Years (2002)
From this point on, none of the Muppet movies are bad. But Kermit’s Swamp Years isn’t particularly good either, at least not to anyone who isn’t in the film’s very young target audience. Directed by David Gumpel and written by Jim Lewis and Joey Mazzarino, Kermit’s Swamp Years is exactly what it sounds like: the story of young Kermit leaving the swamp and making his way into the world of humans.
One would think that Kermit would be drawn from the swamp by the bright lights of Broadway and Hollywood. Instead this movie suggests that Kermit leaves his home when his froggy best friend Goggles (Joey Mazzarino) and the bully toad Croaker (Bill Barretta) get captured by pet store owners who sell them to science teacher Dr. Hugo Krassman (John Hostetter). With the help of stray dog Pilgrim (Cree Summer), Kermit saves his friends from dissection and learns how to speak with humans… all of which is fine for a kid’s story, but barely feels like a Muppet story.
9. It’s a Very Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)
Whatever one thinks of Disney’s stewardship of the Muppets, It’s a Very Muppet Christmas Movie illustrates exactly why a change in leadership seemed necessary. This made-for-TV movie does feel like a proper Muppet film, and the characters are all deployed well and consistently, but It’s a Very Muppet Christmas Movie, written by Tom Martin and Jim Lewis and directed by Kirk R. Thatcher, plays as an obvious parody of It’s a Wonderful Life, signaling a franchise that has run out of ideas. Also Joe Rogan is in it.
The movie finds the Muppet Theater again on the brink of foreclosure, and Kermit wishing he’d never been born. To save the theater from aggressive banker Rachel Bitterman (Joan Cusack), Kermit has to reassemble the gang—which includes coaxing Piggy to leave her lucrative gig as an extra on Scrubs—and help him mount a production of Moulin Scrooge. Despite the fact that the show is a hit, Bitterman’s tactics force the foreclosure, driving Kermit to wish he had never been born and… well, you can guess what happens from there. A trip through memory lane follows, including a nod to The Muppet Movie, which only highlights the severe dip in quality that It’s a Very Muppet Christmas Movie represents.
8. Muppets From Space (1999)
Muppets From Space will always have a bad rap, as it’s the first movie to break the Muppets’ original theatrical run, leading to the aforementioned straight to TV and video entries. And, to be clear, it is easily the worst of that bunch, a ramshackle tale written by Jerry Juhl, Joseph Mazzarino, and Kenn Kaufman that Tim Hill directs without much discernible style beyond a strange decision to feature a lot of funk music on the soundtrack. Yet there are some solid gags and some fun bits with next generation Muppets, particularly with Bobo the Bear, that makes Muppets From Space better than its reputation would suggest.
Muppets From Space seeks to answer the biggest unanswered question of the original cast: what, exactly, is Gonzo? After being struck by lightning, Gonzo is convinced that he’s an alien from outer space, and he begins to maniacally search for a way to contact his people despite the warnings of Kermit and his friends. Gonzo’s efforts draw the attention of secret government organization C.O.V.N.E.T., ran by the hapless K. Edgar Singer (Tambor), who kidnaps Gonzo and sends him to be vivisected by Dr. Phil Van Neuter (Brian Henson). That synopsis just scratches the surface of the plot, which too often mistakes lots of incident for zaniness, drowning out the movie’s few genuinely funny bits.
7. Muppet Treasure Island (1996)
As this list will show, The Muppet Christmas Carol is the triumph of the post-Henson projects, a perfect encapsulation of what the Muppets can do as characters and performers that points the way to new storytelling avenues. That movie’s immediate successor, Muppet Treasure Island, mostly follows the Christmas Carol model. And yet, where Christmas Carol is vibrant and beautiful, Treasure Island is merely competent and enjoyable.
Brian Henson is back to direct, with Kirk R. Thatcher and James V. Hart joining Jerry Juhl as screenwriters. The late, great Tim Curry takes the lead human part as Captain Long John Silver, the notorious pirate captain who is surrounded by Muppet versions of the characters from the Robert Louis Stevenson novel, including Kermit as Captain Abraham Smollett, Piggy as Benjamina Gunn, and Statler and Waldorf as wise-cracking ship figureheads. However, the movie also features a number of human characters, including Kevin Bishop as lead Jim Hawkins (joined by his best friends Gonzo and Rizzo, of course) and Billy Connolly as former pirate Billy Bones. Perhaps it’s the unbalanced human-to-Muppet ratio, perhaps it’s the lesser source material, but Muppet Treasure Island never matches the treasure that is its predecessor.
6. Muppets Most Wanted (2014)
Like Muppets From Space, Muppets Most Wanted abruptly brought to an end the characters’ second theatrical run, and Muppets Most Wanted also is better than its reputation would suggest. Yes, the film does feature Ricky Gervais as the human lead, and it does have a general sense of resignation, the feeling that it’s just repeating past beats. After all, the movie begins with a number about the diminishing returns of sequels and ends with “Together Again, Again,” which just repeats the song from The Muppets Take Manhattan.
That said, director James Bobin’s second effort, working from a script that he co-wrote with Nicholas Stoller, in some ways improves upon 2011’s The Muppets—mostly by downplaying Walter—and stands a solid caper in its own right. The plot involves the evil frog Constantine, an Eastern European doppelgänger of Kermit who escapes prison and swaps places with the green hero, leaving our favorite frog stranded in a gulag run by Nadya (Tina Fey in one of the all-time great human performances in a Muppet movie). Constantine does get a little too much screen time and Gervais is grating, but the songs by Bret McKenzie are a delight, and Sam the Eagle does some of his best work playing off Ty Burrell’s Interpol agent.
5. The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)
The Muppets Take Manhattan is the worst of the original three Jim Henson and Frank Oz Muppet movies, which means that it is still fantastic, just not quite perfect. Directed by Oz from a script that he wrote with Tom Patchett and Jay Tarses, The Muppets Take Manhattan is the best filmic representation of the show’s celebration of all things Broadway, and even its utter disregard for continuity is one of its charms.
The Muppets Take Manhattan opens with the cast graduating from college, hot off the success of their show Manhattan Melodies. Full of stars in their eyes, the crew makes their way to Broadway where they’re certain that they’ll be greeted as stars. But after being nearly fleeced by a con artist (Dabney Coleman, of course), the gang loses hope and goes their separate ways. Worse, Kermit gets hit by a car and suffers amnesia, thinking he’s an ad executive named Phil. Muppet movies often use separation as a plot point, and while this isn’t the best example, it does build to the sweetest climax, the song “Together Again” and the marriage of Kermit and Piggy. The fact that the whole thing plays as an alternate universe story only makes it more dear, a special bit of Hollywood magic.
4. The Muppets (2011)
It’s amazing how well The Muppets has aged, given how legacy sequels and the self-congratulatory nostalgia they invite have become the banes of blockbuster cinema. Even more than The Force Awakens, which came out a whole four years later, The Muppets set the mold for movies that celebrate fans for being fans and turn songs and beats originally designed to entertain children into dirges about lost innocence. Also The Muppets introduces Walter, whose whole special talent is whistling, and that’s not even the most annoying thing about him.
The Muppets once again deals with the gang getting back together after a long estrangement, specifically to save the old Muppet Theater from being destroyed by businessman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper). After overcoming their differences, they all reconvene, put on a show, and sing “Rainbow Connection” together, and it’s beautiful. The thing that keeps The Muppets from turning unbearably self-referential is the infectious energy brought by Jason Segel, who takes the human lead and co-wrote the script with Stoller. The movie also features a charming romantic turn by Amy Adams and the incredible songs by Flight of the Conchords‘ Bret McKenzie. The Muppets may just be about how great it is to love the Muppets, but it makes a pretty compelling case.
3. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
By this point on the list, it’s clear that Muppet movies fall into three categories: origin/coming together stories, standalone adventures, and adaptations. Each of the top three films represent the best entries of those categories, starting with the greatest adaptation, The Muppet Christmas Carol. Directed by Brian Henson and written by Jerry Juhl, The Muppet Christmas Carol justifies its entire existence by casting Fozzie Bear in the role of Scrooge’s old boss Mr. Fezziwig, renamed here Mr. Fozziwig.
That bit of happy coincidence signals just how well-suited the Muppets are to the Dickens tale. Michael Caine still deserves every bit of praise he’s earned for his committed take on Scrooge, playing the old miser’s redemption arc without a hint of irony despite the fact that he’s surrounded by Muppets. Likewise, the songs by Paul Williams stand as some of the best in any Muppet movie or Christmas movie. But the true magic of the film is just the Muppets themselves, who map perfectly onto the original characters, whether it’s Kermit as the guileless Bob Cratchit, Piggy as his resentful wife, or Gonzo as, who else, Charles Dickens.
2. The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
Of the three categories of Muppet movies, standalone adventures are the toughest sell. They eschew the origin stories and character dynamics established by other films, but they aren’t adaptations, so audiences have a hard time realizing that they’re watching the Muppets play characters, not themselves. That confusion is too bad, because the standalone adventures can be really fun, as demonstrated by The Great Muppet Caper.
Directed by Jim Henson from a script by a team of writers, The Great Muppet Caper casts Kermit and Fozzie as twin reporters, who go on assignment to England with their photographer Gonzo. There Kermit falls for Miss Piggy, just as fashion designer Lady Holiday (Diana Rigg) has the priceless Baseball Diamond stolen by her ne’er-do-well brother Nicky (Charles Grodin) and his band of supermodel thieves. Does any of it make sense? No, but The Great Muppet Caper has so many great gags and commits so hard to the pretense of the actors putting on a show that it somehow feels like the most pure Muppet movie, even if the gang never gets on a stage.
1. The Muppet Movie (1979)
The appeal of the original Muppet Show came from the way Henson and Oz turned their love of Broadway and showbiz into manic shenanigans. Ask most kids, and they’d tell you that the manic shenanigans were the most important part. But The Muppet Movie understands that it was always about the love too. The Muppet Movie, directed by James Frawley and written by Jerry Juhl and Jack Burns, has plenty of wacky nonsense, including a gigantic Animal chasing away the evil Doc Hopper (Charles Durning) and his sidekick Max (Austin Pendleton). But its most indelible moments are all heart.
The Muppet Movie is the first origin story film, one that begins with Kermit alone in his swamp singing “Rainbow Connection,” one of several fantastic Paul Williams songs in the film, and ends all of Henson’s characters—including those from Sesame Street and Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas—performing it together on stage. But The Muppet Movie stands out because of its road movie format, which allows the cast to encounter strange human characters every time they stop to pick up a new hopeful going to Hollywood. That hope with every new walk-on allows The Muppet Movie to sustain its sweet sensibilities, proving that no matter how wacky the Muppet stories get, it’s always about love.
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