Muppets Haunted Mansion

First thing I noticed was Kermit's voice. It wasn't like his normal one. I didn't really understand what was happening in this film, felt like there was no story. Bang average.

Believing they're going to a celebrity bash, Gonzo and Pepe The Prawn spend the night in a haunted mansion.

While it hasn't all the dynamics of a film, it excels as at TV movie, director Kirk Thatcher utilising some clever modern technology and virtual sets delivers a sterling production. This tonally line films from the past including Muppets Treasure Island and A Muppets Christmas Carol. It has all the the charm, fun and wit you'd expect from The Muppets. Those who love the Disneyland attraction of the same name will find this a blast with its surprises and Easter eggs all the way through.

Although Rizo the rat only appears in paintings (his character being retired due to some off screen issues), Pepe is a good stand-in/replacement having grown a fan favourite over the years. The performers, voice actors, crew, writers and Thatcher bring all Jim Henson favourites to life; from Kermit to Miss Piggy, Scooter to Rowlf the Dog as and everyone in-between. Even adding some genuinely likeable new ghost characters too.

Just like the original Muppet Show it delivers a real family experience. Will Arnett is great throughout as they encounter all kinds of Muppet-inspired ghouls, celebrity cameos including, Taraji P. Henson, Yvette Nicole Brown, Danny Trejo (who appeared in Muppets Most Wanted) and Ed Asner in one of his final roles.

The Muppet version of The Haunted Mansion thankfully delivers all The Muppet goodness we love. Sharp, punchy, brilliant. It's The Muppets!

I was disappointed when I learned they were not going to capitalise on the fact that the parks were closed due to Covid, which would have been the perfect opportunity to film inside of the actual mansion at Disneyland. I was hoping for more of a backstage feel of the actual attraction featuring the muppets.

Overall this was cute and entertaining. The songs were good and the puppetry was alright. Unfortunately these later Muppet outings will never live up to what the original artists could deliver. Doubt that? Go and watch the original The Muppet Show, or The Muppet Movie. In this case, Kermit was all wrong. His voice was so far off as to be almost unrecognizable. Bring back Steve Whitmire! At least his Kermit voice was close to Jim Hensons. Miss Piggy was also off, not just the voicing, her character was missing all of its nuance. At least we had Dave Goelz there for Gonzo.

Muppets Haunted Mansion: my wife's favorite IP and Disneyland ride blended together; she was happy as a clam throughout. And to an extent, I enjoyed this vicariously through her. I liked it; it's a decent holiday special, good message, it's got plenty of feels.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that this is all that Disney plans to do with the Muppets: advertise other Disney stuff. That vertical integration has already leeched onto The Simpsons (cross-breeding it with Star Wars and Marvel) and that's toxic for these characters.

It's not lost on me that I should be happy we're getting new Muppet content at all, but at what cost? There's a GEICO commercial that features Animal, and it's not bad; and this property absolutely needs more pop culture visibility. But it feels dirty if they're just pimping the Mouse's wares.

I hope I'm wrong.