The story retells Dicken's classic tale with the aid of Michael Caine and the post Jim Henson Muppets.

I feel no need to recap the story in its entirety as everyone in the entire world knows it and I don't feel like typing very much. More or less, Kermit plays the role of Bob Cratchit working for Caine as the miserly and cruel Ebeneezer Scrooge. Scrooge treats Kermit and local townspeople like crap and is visited by three spooky X-Mas ghosts who tell him to quit being a cock or he's going to go to Hell. Scrooge wakes up after having the... Dickens scared out of him and makes amends for his rotten ways.

Like most Muppet movies the film features some catchy songs, awesome Muppetry, and silly, foam slapstick. Unlike previous Muppet movies it lacks Jim Henson. It shows, but not by much as long time Muppeteer Steve "Gobo Fraggle" Whitmire took over the role of Kermit and Brian "Jim's son" Henson directed. They did a great job but Disney had purchased the Muppets by this point, and they don't show them the respect they deserve. The film suffered from being released around the same time as Aladdin and as a result had nearly no publicity when compared to the carpet pilot.

Regardless, the movie's still very good and, surprisingly, pretty close to the source material. They even added Charles Dickens (as portrayed by Gonzo) as the narrator for a framing device. I mean, come on, it's a Muppet movie, despite any short comings Henson's plush pals are always charming and endearing. And long before whacking Ninja's on the head with a golf club to save batman's sorry ass, Michael Caine was an Oscar winner.

All in all it's a good family flick for X-Mas and not only worth taking out of trash, it's worth buying. And I'm cheap. Hell, I got my own father public domain videos for a gift this year and if I didn't find it laying in puddle of waste I might have even paid for it.

Final Score:

A yo yo and 3 discarded holiday gift cards that still have a few bucks on them.

Dumpster Worthy:

Heck No!