|
|
The Movie:
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Muppets, Disney has released new editions of four films: "Muppet Treasure Island", "The Muppet Movie", "Muppet Christmas Carol" and "Great Muppet Caper". Although the only title with multiple extras is "Christas Carol" (the other three only have one supplemental feature), all four DVDs do offer the films in anamorphic widescreen.
The films themselves are definite classics, and appeal to both adult and child audiences. "Muppet Movie" (1979) is the first adventure for the gang, and sees Kermit headed off to Hollywood. The movie starts off with Kermit in the swamp, where he meets a Hollywood agent who just happens to be paddling by. The agent convinces the frog that he could be a star in Hollywood and so Kermit decides to leave the comfort of his swamp and persue stardom. Along the way, he picks up the other Muppets, including Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. Unfortunately for Kermit, he also finds himself persued by the head of a frog leg restaurant.
The film contains some terrific puppeteering work as well as a wonderfully hilarious screenplay, which contains some great lines and good messages. "The Muppet Movie" sends the characters on some fun adventures that still are just as entertaining today for both adults and children as they were in 1979.
"The Great Muppet Caper" was the second "Muppet" feature and it occasionally mines laughs from having the creatures cross the ocean and invade London. This film has Kermit the Frog (voiced by Jim Henson) and Fozzie Bear (Frank Oz) playing reporters who attempt to redeem a previous failure by heading to the UK to get the scoop on the details of a big jewel heist.
Their mission is to interview the victim of the theft, Lady Holiday (Diana Rigg), but of course, Mrs. Piggy finds her way into the proceedings and into Kermit's heart once again. The usual crew of Muppet characters returns, as well as the addition of some celeb cameos such as John Cleese, which are well integrated into the movie. "Caper" is somewhat thin on plot, but it's still entertaining and well-written.
"Muppet Christmas Carol" is one of the more popular "Muppet" features, and in it, the characters reinact the classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge (played superbly by Michael Caine.) It's a terrific holiday feature, and fun for the whole family. Finally, "Muppet Treasure Island" is a retelling of the famed Robert Louis Stevenson tale, and focuses on Jim Hawkins (Kevin Bishop), who inherits a long-lost treasure map and hires the ship Hispaniola in order to set out to find the loot. Helmed by Captain Smolett (Kermit) and lead by a crew that includes the villainous Long John Silver (Tim Curry), the adventure tale is one of the more fun "Muppet" adventures.
The DVD
VIDEO: All four movies are presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and 1.33:1 full-frame by Disney, with both editions offered on the same side of a single-sided, dual-layered disc. The different options are accessible from the main menu. "The Muppet Movie" (1979) offers a pretty decent anamorphic widescreen presentation, but there are some mild issues at times. Sharpness and detail are just fair, as the picture often looks on the soft side, although there are moments that look a bit crisper than the rest.
Minor-to-mild grain is definitely visible throughout the feature, although the movie could have always looked this way (it's been a long time since I've seen the film.) Thankfully, the print looks to be in pretty decent shape, with only the occasional speck and mark spotted. Edge enhancement and some mild instances of pixelation are also spotted in a handful of scenes, as well. Colors do flutter at times, but otherwise look fine, with nice saturation. While the film certainly didn't look terrible, I did think the presentation was uneven, with some scenes looking better than others.
"Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992) (presented in its original aspect ratio for the first time on DVD) generally looks quite good, with sharpness and detail that, while not outstanding, are at least consistently above-average. The picture does show some minor artifacts and slight edge enhancement, but these issues are only briefly spotted on a few occasions. Colors looked warm and rich, with nice saturation and no smearing.
Not surprisingly, the most recent of the features, "Muppet Treasure Island" (1996) looked the best of the bunch. Sharpness and detail were very good throughout the majority of the film, with only a few minor moments of softness. Some minor artifacts were spotted in some of the darker scenes, but thankfully, no edge enhancement, shimmering or print flaws were spotted here. Colors also looked terrifically warm and rich, with nice saturation and no smearing or other issues.
SOUND: All four movies are presented with remastered (aside from "Muppet Treasure Island", which was originally in 5.1) Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks. Largely dialogue-driven (aside from the occasional tune), the audio for all four films is largely basic to begin with. However, the movies at least do sound pleasing here, as dialogue, ambience and music sound crisp and easily understood, with no distortion or other issues.
EXTRAS: The most pleasant addition is a commentary from director Brian Henson for "Muppet Christmas Carol". Unfortunately, the commentary is only available on the full-screen version, not the widescreen edition. Making matters worse, not only does the full-screen version get the commentary, it also offers an extended sequence (3 more minutes.) I didn't listen to the entire commentary, but found what I did listen to to be an enjoyable look into the production and development of the feature. Also included on "Christmas" are a gag reel, "Christmas Around the World" and a "Pepe Profiles: Gonzo" featurette, where muppet Pepe interviews Gonzo. The only extras on the other three discs are "Pepe Profiles" for Fozzie Bear ("Muppet Treasure Island"), Kermit ("Muppet Movie") and Mrs. Piggy ("Great Muppet Caper").
Final Thoughts: While the presentation quality is somewhat inconsistent (although the newer two features look mostly quite good) and the only feature with multiple supplements is "Christmas Carol", these are definitely highly entertaining family features that are worth picking up.
|