Given the fact that The Muppets had already tackled the Yuletide perennial "A Christmas Carol" in 1992, this would seem like a redundant effort (even if we stick to a contemporary setting now, with the various popular characters playing themselves rather than re-incarnated as literary figures) – which may also explain its relegation to video. Incidentally, the star cast (including David Arquette as an angel and Whoopi Goldberg as God!) roped in for this venture is perhaps the least impressive ever, with only Joan Cusack as a Scrooge-like tycoon entering into the spirit of the thing (since she gets the sole substantial role here). The premise, as can be gathered from the above description, is a variation on that other Christmas classic IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946), so that we have Kermit The Frog being shown what life would have been like without him after wishing he had never been born; as would be the case with THE MUPPETS' WIZARD OF OZ (2005), which I watched recently, the climax involves a duel between the villainess and Miss Piggy (where she was actually the baddie) – and, once again, the one to get the most screen-time is Pepe the playboy-ish and laid-back King Prawn (which is not in itself a bad thing). Tolerable enough as a kiddie film, then, but a long way from the best Muppet movies out there.
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
(2002 TV Movie)
IT'S A VERY MERRY MUPPET Christmas (Kirk R. Thatcher, 2002) (V) **
24 January 2010