Change Your Image
![](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjQ4MTY5NzU2M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDc5NTgwMTI@._V1_SY100_SX100_.jpg)
maggiemurray-65017
Reviews
Kermit's Swamp Years (2002)
A terrible masterpiece
Kermit's Swamp Years is debatably the worst and the best Muppet movie ever made. The 2002 production was ordinally shown to Starz, an American cable company, then shortly after made its home video debut across America. The story focuses on a 12 year old Kermit the frog and his friends, Croaker and Goggles as they leave their home in the swamp for the first time. Unfortunately Goggles and the local bully Blotch are kidnapped by a nearby pet store owner. Kermit and Croaker must set out on a adventure to save their friends from their predicament and a 9th grade science teacher with a vendetta against frogs. It is as strange as it sounds however is easy enough to follow.
The production itself is rather low budget. Showing its obvious cash grad nature after the financial failure of Muppets in Space. The music is also just as lack luster, having only 1 musical number and at the end using a very 2000's rock cover of The Rainbow Connection. The puppets are surprisingly well made for such a low budget film, if not very simple and sometimes questionable. The human actors try their best, the cheesiness of their acting adds to the film in some ways. Making it feel more like a fever dream then an actual movie. The best part was the bloopers. They showed that there was actual humanity behind this madness and were often quite funny.
Many things are unsettling about this movie. Despite its G rating and aim towards children there are multiple scenes that raise some eyebrows. The worst offenders of these being a scene where Goggles gets violently beat up by Blotch on screen for about 30 seconds, A scene where a character gets run over by a car and a part in the story where it is implied that in his youth the science teacher had eviscerated a frog he knew was sentient. That entire scene was in fact very frightening, having a frog plead for his life by whispering in a voice that haunts me to this day a simple "Stop." Another question raised by this movie is; what exactly are Muppets? Kermit and his friends are implied to be a real frogs throughout the movie. Talking to people and other animals. One of which being a real dog, not a Muppet. They then meet a real pig who can't talk and chases Kermit without being provoked. This has lead me to believe that Muppets are the crossroads between man and beast, there is no other explanation that I can find.
Kermit's Swamp Years is not a good movie but I love it. You do not watch this film for thought provoking ideas or fantastic cinematography, you watch to see Kermit have a word fight using scalpels with a 9th grade science teacher, and that's all I could ask for.