So I'm pretty sure that you can't make a bad Muppet movie. This surely isn't one. With that said, there are still some ways that they could have improved on this movie if they wanted to. Some of the basic Muppet trademarks, such as breaking the fourth wall a lot, is at a minimum for some odd reason. You only get to hear one of their great songs. Plus, while not a direct take off from any one work, it does borrow a lot of story lines from other Christmas movies. The alternate world part is easy to see that it is directly taken from It's a Wonderful Life, with the same sort of ending in this movie as well. I am disappointed that we never got to find out the villain's motivation for doing what she does. There's a lot of unmarked potential in that. But the movie is pretty good if you watch it all the way through. Enough of the stuff you know and love about the Muppets is in here like it always is.

I will say, this was quite a good movie, full of fun and pleasure for the whole family. It did remind me of Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life", in part. This movie holds up on its own too, with a storyline just its own. Some good actors make cameos in this movie, and small parts, most notably Whoopi Goldberg, and Joan Cusack. Whoopi plays the all mighty Lord, but not the best. Cusack on the other hand plays her part great as a SCROOGE like person. Seeing all the MUPPETS in a new Christmas movie makes you feel GOOD all over. Kids will enjoy this movie more than adults, except those adults who grew up with these characters. This movie definitely deserved the 10/10 that I gave. And going with my Summary title, it would have to be a DRAW between Kermit and Jimmy Stewart, just because in all fairness, you can not judge two great Christmas movies.

I think that the people who made this film had the people who grew up with the Muppets (people in their 20's and 30's) in mind. But that's the problem. We watch the Muppet movies to "escape" from the crap that other movies dish out, not wanting to see a movie that celebrates it. Basically, instead of using a plot, the movie tries too hard to use "pop cultural references" (such as referring to Britney Spears, or Triumph the Insult Comic Dog) and also uses inappropriate characters and situations (such as using seemingly gay characters; a rave scene where they have Scooter dancing as a cage dancer in a club, the Shrimp, Pepe, even using the word "sexy", etc.) It's not that we viewers can't "handle" more mature and modern Muppets, it's just that we don't want to. And I don't think parents want their kids to watch this. I just think this kind of stuff would confuse them. Plus the violence, although mild and cartoonish, is unnecessary. They have characters who say "let's go beat up" Fozzie, and fight scenes between humans and Muppets, and Muppets and Muppets, that are uncalled for, and not humorous at all. Bizarrely enough, the humans in this movie (except for one) all have these bizarrely happy smiles on their faces, and don't talk. It's just weird. It's almost like the Muppets are acting worse off than the innocent-looking humans. This movie just failed with me. I was upset how the people who wrote this tried to "sell out" and break something that don't need to be fixed. I will never watch this again, and I would not want to let kids see it. The Muppets have little personality in this, and any plot is substituted with references to other movies, as if the Muppets don't have any worth of their own. Which they should.

On Christmas Eve Kermit sits alone on a park bench - a broken frog. His lost cries reach the angels but they can do nothing, until one of them, Daniel, takes the case to God herself and shows Her what brought Kermit to this state in the hope that She will send an angel to help him.While the TVM status of this film might suggest that it is a lesser product that the Muppet movies that used to be cinema draws, let me assure you that this is not the case and that this film actually benefits from being on TV and keeping the humour of the show rather than having the pressure of becoming a big screen outing. The overall plot is `It's A Wonderful Life' however the back story watched by the angels and us holds spoofs of Moulin Rouge and Scrubs as well as references to A Beautiful Mind, The Grinch, Entrapment and lots more. The downside of this is that the plot is very episodic, but the plus side is that the film is funny and will easily engage adults as well as children.Opening with the stage manager removing a snowman narrator by calling him a `Burl Ives wannabe' the film keeps this sense of humour that you've come to expect from the TV show. My favourite line from the whole film is Bunsen replying to Beaker with `thank you Beaker - I think you have a beautiful mind too'!The cast of muppets are very good - with all the new characters from the television show having a bit of time, including Pepe, Risso the Rat, Johnny Fiama and his monkey etc. The voices are not done by the original cast for a variety of reasons but they are still very good - I had to look at the credits to spot that it wasn't Frank Oz doing Fozzie (and Yoda!). The human cast is amusing even if it doesn't all work. The cast of Scrubs are wasted and not funny apart from showing up but cameos from Arquette, Macy, Goldberg and Lillard are all amusing and Cusack seems to enjoy herself.Overall this was a fun festive film, it has the usual message to it and it has moments that just don't work and the plot really is just a salvage job from other films, but it still works and is surprisingly funny with lots of film references. The downside of this I suppose is that the film won't stand the test of time as the topical references get forgotten over time, but that's why it was a TVM I guess, cause that won't matter.