Customer Reviews

Kermit's Swamp Years

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I am a huge fan of the Muppets and have been since I was growing up watching THE MUPPET SHOW. I've seen every Muppet movie and mourned on the day Jim Henson died. However, I wasn't sure what to expect with KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS. I knew it was the Muppets, but it was a direct-to-video release and I haven't seen very many good direct-to-video movies.

Well, I had nothing to worry about because KERMIT'S SWAMP YEARS is a great family movie full of the wit and humor that's so characteristic of The Muppets. The story is a bit cheesy, but much better than most other direct-to-video movies. The editing is great and the soundtrack isn't too bad. The film introduces several new Muppets who are friends from Kermit's youth, including Blotch the bully Bull Frog, Croaker the Frog, Goggles the Toad, Horace the Horsefly, and Pilgrim the Dog.

Kermit returns to the swamp he grew up in and tells the story of the first time he left the swamp when he was 12 years old. Blotch and Goggles get in a fight and are amphibian-knapped by a pet store owner. Kermit and Croaker set out to free their two friends and along the way meet Pilgrim, are chased by a pig, and are almost captured by a mean biology teacher.

The extras on the DVD are a real treat. They include an on set interview with Kermit, a behind the scene featurette, trailers, and a blooper reel. The blooper reel is particluarly hilarious and the behind the scene featurette is hosted by Joe the Armadillo and is really entertaining. Youngsters may not enjoy these extras as much, but older viewers will find them to be a real treat.

My husband purchased this video for my 3 year old son on a whim (we both grew up watching the Muppets and thought he might enjoy it) and he absolutely LOVES it. The storyline is easy for younger children to follow, but not so simple that it bores older ones or even parents. The laughs are plentiful for children and adults alike (Jim Henson Productions is great at reaching all generations.)

It has now become one of my son's favorite movies and is pretty much watched on a daily basis. I would highly recommend adding it to your family's collection of movies.

After 10 years of being shuffled back and forth between corporate gurus, the Jim Henson company is trying it's best to remain what it once was....a genuine entertainment company. This is getting harder and harder to do, since many of the Muppet trademarks have been sold off, piece by piece. I believe that this is a last-ditch effort to keep the Muppets alive in some form.

As far as actual Muppets, the only one familiar is Kermit (with the exception of a VERY short appearance by "younger" versions of Statler and Waldorf). Most likely the reason for this is lack of original Muppet performers. Jerry Nelson, and Dave Goelz, once principal players, are reduced to 10 seconds with the old hecklers, and Frank Oz, Henson's one-time partner, has nothing to do with this film. Again, this seems like a sign that the Henson name is slowly slipping.

As for the film itself, I very much enjoyed it. As for the people who did not approve of it's violence, they apparently never watched the original Muppet show (where Gonzo was routinely fired out of cannons and there was even a performer who literally beat little musical fur-balls senseless, all in the name of entertainment). This is what the Muppets are known for. And the creativity, although not quite as sharp as Jim Henson's, is still there (including a VERY clever reference to Henson is worth the price of the DVD alone!).

In my opinion, while this is not quite what it could have been, it is still a great movie. It's the Muppets. How can you NOT like it?!

However, it is not bad on its own. I am glad they are attempting to keep things going. The guy running Kermit does a good attempt but he is not Jim H.

The story has a simple theme and the villans really didn't interest me but I still watched the movie.

I guess the true critic would be my two year old and she asked for it so much that I had to buy it to keep her quiet! ;-) For some reason she likes the Croaker as she keeps asking for the blue frog!

Also to add to the violence defence. It is not that bad, my girl is rather sensitive to violence and she did not react at all. So it is not that bad.

I find this movie to be absolutely hysterical. I am not a little kid and I still find it to be quite amusing, as does the little boy I babysit for. He is obsessed with this movie, and I must say, it is one of the few movies I don't mind watching again and again. I especially love Goggles, especially when he moons the big frog. I forget his name. I am also not a huge fan of the muppets, yet I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, which I suppose is a good thing, since I guarantee I will probably have to watch it another 10 times within the next year or so. All in all, I love it!

I loved every bit of this movie! I adore Pilgrim(she made me fall in luv with Bearded Collies)And also my fave highlights of the movie are: #1: the turtles in the pet shop. If you've ever see the muppet show, U will remember the 2 old guys(the ones that made jokes all the time) #2: SEEING the 2 old guys in the movie theater (with black hair!)my sister and I loved that! #3: I liked the inside joke about Kermit passing a kid with the last name Henson. #4: on the bloopers, some band plays a sped-up version of the song that Kermit sings in the beginning of "the Muppet movie" It was really cool! My only question is: was pilgrim a Bearded Collie? I would love 2 know!

Henson Studios flails for the cash in a Disneyesque straight-to-video maneuver. Oh, Return of Jafar, what havoc you've wrought! Like every single one of Disney's "milk the cash cow til it drops dead" releases, Kermit's Swamp Years is low on original ideas (let's recycle every previous plot into one huge unimpressive "new" plot!), low on production value, and low on humor (at least relative to the original Muppet stuff). Seeing a young Statler and Waldorf is nice, and some of the "outtakes" are kind of funny, but even those feel so calculated. Finally, what's with all of the talk of killing and knife-fights? Since when was it cool for that kind of stuff to be so overt with the Muppets? Sure, I'm a diehard soldier of the nostalgia wars when it comes to Henson, but surely many people must agree that Jim would've never allowed a story like this to see the light of day. Bogus.

As with most things Muppets this can be taken on many levels with lots of gags aimed primarily at adults while still being very entertaining for the little ones. It has rapidly become one of my 18 month old's favorite movies to watch and gives us a welcome break from Elmo/Sesame Street. The outtakes at the end of the movie and in the special features also give some "behind the scenes" insight into what goes into a muppet production. Pilgrim the dog is also the most lifelike yet expressive muppet I have ever seen.

In many ways this movie is a muppets "Stand by me", a coming of age movie for Kermit and his buddies that isn't always pretty. If you are easily offended stay away, but otherwise step back and enjoy this little romp that gives us some insight into why Kermit became the frog he is today...

To respond to the other posters who object to the "violence", it has to be said that the bully bullfrog ultimately learns the value of friendship, helping others and self-sacrifice. Most kids will meet real life bullies soone enough, and I hope they can learn something from how these frogs deal with that situation. The dissection-happy ninth grade biology professor also soon learns the error of his ways.

This movie is very different from any of the other muppet movies I have seen to date, for a number of reasons. Firstly, the muppets had the brilliance to appeal to children and adults at the same time--this movie focuses solely on the first group. There is little of the witty rapport between the characters that really makes the muppets have their zing. Its on level with "Bear in the Big Blue House" except it lacks the sweetness of that show as well, its straddling some middle line with humour that its quite un-muppet like (the mooning--which will probably get laughs from the right audience, but it seems demeening and below what muppets should do) very juvenile. The plot is only so-so. the songs, none of them really stand out except for the Me First and the Gimme Gimmes cover of the Rainbow connection, which wasn't even original to the movie.

What I did enjoy were many of the new characters introduced. Croaker and Goggles are very enjoyable in terms of muppet aesthetics, they really fit in, but in new ways. Blotch is a fun character but I didn't enjoy is character design as much he seemed a little too stiff in the body, the facial close ups though really highlighted the innovantions they have made with allowing the puppeteers more control of over the face--such as the eyes and the eyelids. Pilgrim--eeeeh, the puppet design was sort of weak I though, she looked too much like a puppet trying to look real, they should have gone one way or the other.

I did not enjoy the disection scene (uh didn't we already go there in ET? maybe they should have found a way to pay homage to that) Originally when the Mister Doctor guy was collecting frogs I was thinking Steinbeck's character Doc in Cannery Row (which is similar but not quite what they had).

There are enjoyable little homages to Henson in the film ("Let me give you a hand") and if you watch the movie with the selected audio commentary on kermit points these things out--but the commentary is kinda boring really. The bloopers are kinda funny--they are the best extra feature followed by the behind the scenes footage with Joe the Armadillo.

Very cool movie. My two year old son can't get enough of Croaker, Kermit and Goggles. DOn;t listen to other's about the disection part. Give me a break!!! It's all in good fun. It's too bad society has changed to the point of not finding humor in an old school classroom's science methology. It's not disturbing! Great movie and cool to see how Kermit started out in his life.
Highly recommended!