Taking over my own husband's article for a week is hard… he's reviewed some awesome movies that everyone SHOULD see… which means… he's taken all the good ones. Damn you Ryan!

Well, except this one, and I'm taking it! Ha! In your face, Ryan!

Since I seem to be on a Muppet theme for my articles, I'm going to have to remind all of you just how GOOD 1979's
The Muppet Movie is.

Seriously, when's the last time you watched it? If you're me, it's only been a few weeks at any given time. If you're anyone else... chances are you've tucked it away into that lil' box of memories from you childhood and said, "I don't want to watch it again because it'll probably ruin it. It can't be as good now as it was then".

But you know what?

It is…

… and it's better.

As you get older, you tend to appreciate the humor found in the Muppets all that much more. As a kid, you don't think about how funny some of the cameos are... like Steve Martin popping up as a rude waiter in short-shorts or Mel Brooks, Bob Hope, James Coburn or Milton Berle popping up on screen just for a moment. Heck, even Orson Welles has a very brief, very funny line!

Another thing I didn't realize until recently was just how often all the characters break the "fourth wall". The Muppet Movie is a movie about the Muppets... making a movie about their origins. They KNOW they're in a movie and often discuss it amongst themselves. One of my favorite scenes in the entire piece is when Kermit and Fozzie meet up with the band, Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem. They come across the band rehearsing in an old church, and instead of how Kermit and Fozzie happened to come across them... they handed them the script for the movie and let them read about it on their own.

Hilarious.

Also, one of my all time favorite songs is in this movie. "Rainbow Connection" is a song that I always find myself humming and even chose as the song that I danced with my father to at my wedding. Him, being a big softy and the man that had to put up with me watching this movie to the point of wearing out 2 VHS tapes... teared up a bit. Also,
"Rainbow Connection" is an Oscar-WINNER for best song. Also, also… every road trip should BEGIN with someone popping "Movin' Right Along" into the CD player.

Everyone has heard my hero-worship tales of Jim Henson, but I think one of the things he does best is clever, fun approach to, well…

…everything. Kids love the movies as much as the parents because that's the way he wanted to make the films. It wasn't the attitude far too many take with family movies nowadays of "let's make this movie JUST for the kids". Jim took the "let's make a movie for everyone" road, and his characters are all the more successful for it.

So, go add The Muppet Movie to your Amazon wish list or Netflix queue... you won't regret seeing it again with fresh eyes and an older sense of humor.

I'm a little lost on how I should end this article.

Maybe I should try Hare Krishna.*

*SO hilarious. Tell me you remember that joke...