The Muppets' Wizard of Oz
Dir: Kirk R. Thatcher
2005
**
The Muppets' Wizard of Oz represents a dark chapter in the history of the Muppets. It was watched on TV by a record breaking audience, the popularity of the Muppets themselves never waning but almost everyone agreed that it just wasn't as good as they could be. It does have some funny bits, the Muppet magic is there if you look hard enough ("Lunchkins for munchkins", "Are you related to Frank Oz") but the constant references to the most fleeting elements of popular culture became tiresome pretty quickly, as did the constant cameo appearances, as if the Muppets couldn't stand on their own feet (you know what I mean). That said, I liked the Quentin Tarantino scene a lot but I thought Ashanti was a poor lead choice and that her overall dream of entering a talent show was far too shallow for Muppet theology. There wasn't enough Muppets either, always a mistake in a Muppet film. The hired writers were too young and inexperienced, I have no idea why the Muppet performers themselves never wrote the scripts. I'm surprised at director Kirk R. Thatcher and producer Bill Barretta though. Thatcher (Punk seen on the Bus going to Sea World in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) and Barretta (Pepe the Kind Prawn) are both very talented and funny people, I think they should have produced something greater that they were both very capable of. It's the Muppets though, so I cherish it.