The Balance of the Sacred and the Silly
I love the Muppets. I cannot recall a time I didn’t love them. I wouldn’t say that i’m “a super fan,” I have not watched every piece of media that they have put out but generally I really enjoy them and especially their movies.
There have been Eight Muppet Theatrical movies released into the world. The first came out in 1979 and the last one was in 2014. But which ones are the best?
Strictly speaking, I think the movies range from pretty good to amazing. But this is not a ranked list of my favorite Muppets Movies. I have some metics to this for the list, key word is “some.”
On May 21st 1990 during Jim Henson’s memorial service, Muppet screenwriter Jerry Juhl said in his speech that he will remember Henson “as a man who was balanced effortlessly and quite elegantly between the sacred and the silly.”
This balance of the sacred and silly is the metic I’m going to judge the movies on. Sacred meaning artistry and showcasing innovations of puppetry in film as well as genuine heartfelt moments and sentimentality. Silly is subjective, it differs culture to culture and person to person. However the muppets do have a few hallmarks to the humor. They can be witty, weird, surreal, with lots of running gags, one-lines and of course meta fourth wall breaking. Their humor runs the gamut of chaotic to dryly-subtle.
While rewatching these movies, two of them maybe tear up and it wasn’t the one I THOUGHT.
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