A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa

A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008) is a movie I recently watched on Disney+ with my daughter. The storyline follows Gonzo making a mistake causing letters to be not sent to Santa in time for Christmas. He talks to Kermit and they decide to setout on a trip to hand deliver them to Santa in the North Pole just in time for Christmas.

This movie is directed by Kirk R. Thatcher (Crank Yankers) and stars and/or contains the voices of Steve Whitmire (Muppets Christmas Carol), Whoopi Goldberg (The Color Purple), Eric Jacobson (Sesame Street), Jesse L. Martin (Rent), Dave Goelz (Fraggle Rock) and Uma Thurman (Kill Bill).

The Fozzie jokes were easily the best part of the movie. He had me cracking up from beginning to end. There were some good cameos in this and the rats were fun also. The old men are always fantastic too. Unfortunately the songs were below expectations and the storyline was just okay, nothing you feel too invested in.

Overall this is a very average addition to the genre and doesn't meet expectations of a Muppet movie. It's fun seeing the characters but felt a bit hollow in terms of storyline. I would score this a 5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

The Muppets in NYC are lined up to get their Christmas letters mailed. Gonzo screws up the post office machinery. Little girl Claire gives Gonzo a letter but Gonzo forgets. It's Christmas Eve. The post office is closed and the gang has to deliver 3 letters to the North Pole. Everybody gives up but Gonzo convinces Kermit and Fozzie to try. Rizzo and Pepe come along.

I wonder if the post office paid to get the Muppets to do this special. I would have prefer the group stays together. It's always more fun with more Muppets. The cameos are fine but they are not the big draw for me. I'm also not a big fan of Rizzo and Pepe as being the main characters. I love Kermit with Miss Piggy. I like that Gonzo, Fozzie and Kermit are together but I miss Miss Piggy. The songs are OK but nothing special. The letter from the airport security guy doesn't really make sense. It's not the strongest Christmas special but it's still the Muppets.

I had never actually heard about this Muppets Christmas movie titled "A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa", but of course I opted to sit down and watch it, as part of my 2024 Christmas movie marathon.

Did I harbor great expectations to this 2008 movie? Not really, as I had just sat through the somewhat bland 2002 "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie" prior to watching this 2008 movie. But still, since I hadn't already seen this one, of course I gave it a chance.

Writers Hugh Fink, Scott Ganz, Andrew Samson and Paul Williams put together a rather enjoyable and entertaining script and storyline. I have to say that I was genuinely entertained throughout the course of the 43 minutes that the movie ran for. "A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa" was definitely a step up from the 2002 "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie", so I was pleasantly surprised.

The live cast in the movie was good, and they had a great ensemble of talents for the various roles and parts.

With "A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa" being a Henson movie, of course the Muppets are great. There are many familiar Muppets on the screen, and also a bunch that I wasn't familiar with.

While no Christmas classic, I will say that "A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa" definitely is an entertaining Christmas movie for the family.

My rating of director Kirk R. Thatcher's 2008 movie "A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa" lands on a six out of ten stars.

This is a slight but fun Muppet entry, that has a certain charm about it.

I enjoyed the film, I thought there were some nice moments and celeb cameos.

It is however very brief, even with the extended/deleted scenes on the DVD, and this meant the storyline felt a bit rushed.

Good overall though.

It's Christmastime in New York, and the Muppet gang have posted their cards and wishlists, but after causing mayhem at the Post Office Gonzo is left with three undelivered letters to Santa. When he gets back he discovers that the office is closed and he must deliver them to the North Pole by hand. After a few false starts he and a few of the others manage to get to the spot with an all-southern view and save Xmas, for three people. Cameos from Uma Thurman, Nathan Lane, Mayor Bloomberg (!), and, obviously, Whoopie Goldberg come and go.

Directed by Kirk Thatcher, the "Punk on Bus" himself, this is a lot better than his previous attempt at Yuletide Muppetry. I found A Very Merry Muppet Christmas to be rather flat and TV-ish. There's nothing wrong with the TV platform as many Xmas specials have become classics, a few Muppet efforts among them, but the atmosphere matters and Letters to Santa is slightly better than the 2002 in that regard. I don't know what it is, I can't put my finger on it, but maybe the real locations detract from the feeling. I think that the Muppets work best when they are shot entirely in studios where the lighting and effects can be more competently controlled.

It's worth watching, but not up to the better Muppet Xmas specials.