I got Andrew a load of Muppets/Sesame Street themed gifts for Christmas, including CDs, a book, a belt, cuddly toys, a Swedish Chef mug, and DVDs. One of the DVDs was A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa, a new Muppets movie! Well, a new TV movie, or special. As Xmas is now over, we thought we'd better watch it now or wait another 11 months. Following of the heels of the excellent Muppet Christmas Carol, and the great It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, Letters to Santa is shorter than the others at just 45 mins (plus 10 mins of hilaious 'outtakes') but no less funny and was infused with marvellous Muppet magic. Everyone is present and correct, including Kermit, Gonzo, Fozzie, Miss Piggy, Rizzo and the relatively new Pepe the Prawn, and there are some wonderful celebrity cameos from the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane and a dazzling Uma Thurman. Also cameoing for the most part are Sam Eagle, Beaker and the Swedish Chef, in 3 particularly memorable and funny scenes.
Beaker is particularly great - Doctor Honeydew invents a hat that creates whatever gift you think of while wearing it. Beaker is the usual guinea pig and he conjures up a beautiful (human) woman, who also speaks like Beaker! Genius.
There are some great modern gags about email, and computers (Pepe has to give up electrical equipment to go through an airport scanner, so deposits a Blackberry, a raspberry, a strawberry, and a photo of Halle Berry) which show that the Muppets can still be current, and their humour is not dated. This is proven by those wonderful YouTube creations from Muppet Labs - Beaker 'singing' Ode To Joy is a favourite. I'd say the only slight downside to this movie is the inclusion of several forgettable songs that seem a bit out of place. Andrew also thought the story was a bit Disneyfied, what with the message about Christmas being a time for family, but I thought it was a nice enough moral that wasn't too cloying.
More Muppets please!
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