The Muppet Christmas Carol review – Michael Caine shows spirit in magical extravaganza | Family films

There may be some people who can watch Kermit the Frog’s nephew Robin give his heart-wrenching performance as Tiny Tim in The Muppet Christmas Carol without choking up. I am not among them.

When Dickens was writing A Christmas Carol in 1843, he was said to have taken long night walks through London in a state of passionate euphoria, covering 10 or 15 miles at a time, dreaming his masterpiece into existence. I like to think if in the course of these walks some spirit could have taken him into the future to show him the adaptations to come, this is the one he would have especially favoured. Only an obtuse snob would not see the sweetness and good-nature of The Muppet Christmas Carol from 1992 and now on rerelease, a musical extravaganza featuring Michael Caine as Scrooge, Kermit the Frog (voiced by Steve Whitmore) as Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy (voiced by Frank Oz) as Emily Cratchit and the Great Gonzo (voiced by Dave Goelz) as the narrator, Dickens himself.

The director is Brian Henson, son of the Muppets’ creator Jim, who had died two years previously, at the age of 53; the film is dedicated to his memory and to that of puppeteer Richard Hunt, the voice of Statler, among others, who died of an Aids-related illness during pre-production.

This adaptation has the biggest laughs, especially Scrooge’s rage at seeing a tiny carol singer on his doorstep. And the muppety busts of Aristotle, Dante, Molière and Shakespeare in his boyhood schoolroom are a joy.

There may be some people who can watch Kermit the Frog’s nephew Robin give his heart-wrenching performance as Tiny Tim in The Muppet Christmas Carol without choking up. I am not among them.

When Dickens was writing A Christmas Carol in 1843, he was said to have taken long night walks through London in a state of passionate euphoria, covering 10 or 15 miles at a time, dreaming his masterpiece into existence. I like to think if in the course of these walks some spirit could have taken him into the future to show him the adaptations to come, this is the one he would have especially favoured. Only an obtuse snob would not see the sweetness and good-nature of The Muppet Christmas Carol from 1992 and now on rerelease, a musical extravaganza featuring Michael Caine as Scrooge, Kermit the Frog (voiced by Steve Whitmore) as Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy (voiced by Frank Oz) as Emily Cratchit and the Great Gonzo (voiced by Dave Goelz) as the narrator, Dickens himself.

The director is Brian Henson, son of the Muppets’ creator Jim, who had died two years previously, at the age of 53; the film is dedicated to his memory and to that of puppeteer Richard Hunt, the voice of Statler, among others, who died of an Aids-related illness during pre-production.

This adaptation has the biggest laughs, especially Scrooge’s rage at seeing a tiny carol singer on his doorstep. And the muppety busts of Aristotle, Dante, Molière and Shakespeare in his boyhood schoolroom are a joy.