Muppets From Space (1999)

As the years go on since Jim Henson’s death, some people say that the Muppet franchise is getting stale. I can’t help but agree with this instalment. Not that it’s bad, it’s still pretty good, but you can tell that it’s starting to waver, though I do still prefer this one over.

This film focuses more on the origins of Gonzo, rather than focusing on Kermit. While doing an origin story is pretty good, and the fact that it focuses on a different Muppet character is a nice change of pace, but the whole basis of this plot isn’t pulled off well. Gonzo has essentially become depressed at the fact that he’s the only...um...whatever on Earth, and all the other Muppet characters essentially don’t care and Kermit tires to avoid the issue. The problem is the running gag that Gonzo is “a...a...whatever” originated in ‘The Great Muppet Caper’ back in ’81, this film came out in 1999, why is Gonzo only now thinking about his origin? And why is he so fixated o finding out when he showed the same ‘don’t care’ attitude as everyone else in the previous films, television specials and television series?

The other problem is the fact that there’s too many Muppets. The film does focus on Gonzo, Kermit, Rizzo, Pepe the King Prawn and Miss Piggy, but there’s so many other Muppet characters in the film, and none of them are really touched upon. Sweetums is only seen one or two times, apparently Scooter had some lines (Voiced by Adam Hunt, since the original voice actor Richard Hunt died in 1992) but I can’t remember any, heck, even Fozzie Bear was hardly used until the Muppet’s are infiltrating a top secret base towards the end. Then there’s a few Muppets who I just don’t recognise. I can understand some were introduced in past films and the television show, but, look at this guy.

 

Who the Hell is this guy? He gets two scenes, walking around and putting his teeth in, then that’s it. So that was entirely pointless.

The story itself is also pretty dark for a Muppet film, everything thinks Gonzo is going nuts, Rizzo becomes a lab rat, Gonzo almost has his brain sucked out, and K. Edger Senior (Jeffrey Tambor) wants to kill Gonzo. As Pepe puts it later, “This is a Muppet Movie”! I suppose the film was trying to portray an animal cruelty message, but it’s just really dark for a family film.

Actually that’s a point, the human characters hardly have any screen time either. Jeffrey Tambor gets most of the screen time and does a pretty decent job, but any other human character gets probably five minutes screen time all together. General Luft (Pat Hingle) is in two scenes which last about a couple of minutes each, Shelley Snipes (Andie MacDowell) looked like she was going to be Miss Piggy’s main rival, but she only appears (at first) in a commercial, before reappearing for about thirty seconds towards the end. But the female guard (Kathy Griffin) falling in love with Animal was funny, I will say that.

We do have the traditional cameos, which include Hollywood Hulk Hogan (That’s right, the WCW Hulk Hogan) and David Arquette who do pretty good roles. Though you feel the film was reaching out for names when Rob Schneider pops up. Bizarrely we also have F. Murray Abraham as Noah, who refuses Gonzo’s request to get on the ark in his dream sequence. I’ll let that sink in. I mean, it’s not like this film is going to make people think Noah was a cruel man. And we also, bizarrely, have Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson, where Holmes has a few lines, and I don’t actually remember Jackson having any lines; glad to see they weren't pointless.

And guess what? We have yet another terrifying shot of Miss Piggy.

 

This franchise seems pretty damn determined to scare me.

The thing is though, this film is still pretty good. The acting, what little there is from the human characters, is pretty decent. Tambor’s relationship with the Muppet character Bobo the Bear (as Agent Rentro) was certainly a highlight, and the actually provide most of the humour.

The puppets still have life in them, they still look awesome, they still look like living and breathing beings. It’s just a shame that the spaceships aren’t that good looking, nor was the ending. Well, what I mean't was that Gonzo realising Earth was his home was a good idea, but ending it on Gonzo asking why his species asked him to build a jacuzzi (Rizzo and Pepe tricked him) was sort of an anti-climax. And don't get me started on the cosmic flying fish.

Oh yeah, the film is still pretty funny, not as funny as the other Muppet films though. While Tambor/Bobo provide most of the humour, Rizzo, and the other lab rats, as well as Pepe provide the rest of the humour. There aren’t that many fourth wall jokes, I think there was only two, but whilst Pepe’s joke was funny, Miss Piggy’s was just “wha?”, you really need to know who she’s on about in order to get it.

The film, whilst okay, there was something lacking. It lacked the magic of the other Muppet films, and when the legendary Muppet puppeteer is saying that the film was “not want it should have been” and “not the movie that we wanted it to be”, you know there’s something wrong! Anyway, it isn’t the best Muppet film out there, but it’s still a strong addition to the Muppet franchise.