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The Muppets Take Manhattan
If you're looking for a musical comedy that has all the gloss of an MGM musical but is still deeply steeped in realism, you need look no further than the 1984 classic The Muppets Take Manhattan.
This serious piece of film making is about a frog who, along with his other animal friends, including a pig, a bear, and a dog, have just graduated from a fictional college called Danhurst College and have decided that the musical, written by the frog and called "Manhattan Melodies" is good enough to bring to Broadway. The frog, whose name is Kermit, piles all of his friends on a bus, and arrive in Manhattan where they all move into lockers at Grand Central Station. Being unable to sell the show after a few days, most of the animals go home except Kermit and a pig named Miss Piggy who's in love with Kermit. Kermit eventually meets Ronny Crawford, the son of an important Broadway producer who decides he wants to produce "Manhattan Melodies" but then Kermit gets hit by a cab and develops amnesia.
Yes, this stark and grim musical comedy is just the kind of movie that all kinds of audiences can enjoy as long as you're willing to accept a few things: If you can accept that a frog is capable of writing a musical and if you can accept them finding a restaurant where the waitstaff consists of a girl named Jenny and a rat named Rizzo and if you can accept that Pete, the owner of the restaurant actually sent telegrams to all the animals instructing them to return to New York and if you can accept that five minutes after being released from the hospital with amnesia, the frog gets a job at an advertising agency run by three other frogs, then this musical will be right up your alley.
Needless to say, if you're looking for something realistic, just keep in mind that the principal characters here are felt puppets who sing, dance, compose music, run veterinary clinics, and appear in water spectacle shows. And for those of you who are true fans of the Muppets, the primary storyline that you expect from a Muppet movie is center stage as always: Miss Piggy is trying to get Kermit down the aisle but this evil girl named Jenny seems to be in the way. Miss Piggy also garners major laughs while chasing a purse snatcher and I also loved when Kermit learns from the doctor that he is really Mr. Ernest Tortellini of Passaic, New Jersey and five minutes later, becomes the Manhattan version of Darren Stephens.
Ralph Burns' breezy song score includes songs like "Together Again", "Right Where I Belong", "Saying Goodbye", "He'll Make Me Happy", and "You Can't Take No for an Answer."
Like most Muppet movies, the film features a plethora of cameos from people like Dabney Coleman, Art Carney, Joan Rivers, Linda Lavin, Gregory Hines, Elliott Gould, Liza Minnelli, Brooke Shields, former New York mayor Ed Koch, and director John Landis. Also appearing briefly as Mr. Winesop's receptionist is Frances Bergen, widow of Edgar and mother of Candice. No matter how hard you may resist, there is something about the Muppets that will always bring a smile to the face of even the grumpiest Gus and I won't lie, this movie still had me laughing throughout. The Muppets are always fun and always worth watching.
If you're looking for a musical comedy that has all the gloss of an MGM musical but is still deeply steeped in realism, you need look no further than the 1984 classic The Muppets Take Manhattan.
This serious piece of film making is about a frog who, along with his other animal friends, including a pig, a bear, and a dog, have just graduated from a fictional college called Danhurst College and have decided that the musical, written by the frog and called "Manhattan Melodies" is good enough to bring to Broadway. The frog, whose name is Kermit, piles all of his friends on a bus, and arrive in Manhattan where they all move into lockers at Grand Central Station. Being unable to sell the show after a few days, most of the animals go home except Kermit and a pig named Miss Piggy who's in love with Kermit. Kermit eventually meets Ronny Crawford, the son of an important Broadway producer who decides he wants to produce "Manhattan Melodies" but then Kermit gets hit by a cab and develops amnesia.
Yes, this stark and grim musical comedy is just the kind of movie that all kinds of audiences can enjoy as long as you're willing to accept a few things: If you can accept that a frog is capable of writing a musical and if you can accept them finding a restaurant where the waitstaff consists of a girl named Jenny and a rat named Rizzo and if you can accept that Pete, the owner of the restaurant actually sent telegrams to all the animals instructing them to return to New York and if you can accept that five minutes after being released from the hospital with amnesia, the frog gets a job at an advertising agency run by three other frogs, then this musical will be right up your alley.
Needless to say, if you're looking for something realistic, just keep in mind that the principal characters here are felt puppets who sing, dance, compose music, run veterinary clinics, and appear in water spectacle shows. And for those of you who are true fans of the Muppets, the primary storyline that you expect from a Muppet movie is center stage as always: Miss Piggy is trying to get Kermit down the aisle but this evil girl named Jenny seems to be in the way. Miss Piggy also garners major laughs while chasing a purse snatcher and I also loved when Kermit learns from the doctor that he is really Mr. Ernest Tortellini of Passaic, New Jersey and five minutes later, becomes the Manhattan version of Darren Stephens.
Ralph Burns' breezy song score includes songs like "Together Again", "Right Where I Belong", "Saying Goodbye", "He'll Make Me Happy", and "You Can't Take No for an Answer."
Like most Muppet movies, the film features a plethora of cameos from people like Dabney Coleman, Art Carney, Joan Rivers, Linda Lavin, Gregory Hines, Elliott Gould, Liza Minnelli, Brooke Shields, former New York mayor Ed Koch, and director John Landis. Also appearing briefly as Mr. Winesop's receptionist is Frances Bergen, widow of Edgar and mother of Candice. No matter how hard you may resist, there is something about the Muppets that will always bring a smile to the face of even the grumpiest Gus and I won't lie, this movie still had me laughing throughout. The Muppets are always fun and always worth watching.