THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN (1984)

My first introduction to The Muppets was watching reruns of Muppet Babies at a very, very young age which, although I enjoyed well enough for a toddler, wasn't a revelatory discovery in the same way that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was, for example. 

It wasn't until seeing a television broadcast of The Muppets Take Manhattan that I developed an affinity for Jim Henson's gang of tongue-in-cheek, absurdist puppets. What I found so captivating about the Muppets, first and foremost, is how distinct and human each and every one of them is. They all display ego and pretension and selfishness at times, all the while remaining laughably self-aware of who they are. In a time where animators spend millions of dollars making CGI characters look and feel human, Henson was able to accomplish the same thing with just his voice and some felt. 

The third entry into the Muppets' feature film series, Muppets Take Manhattan finds the Muppets fresh out of college (which could have been a film unto itself), migrating to New York City to get a musical made on Broadway. The film has all the staples of a Muppet movie; guest stars, songs and lots of meta humor. 

Even as a kid seeing this for the first time, what felt so refrsehing about Muppets Take Manhattan is how flawed and, ultimately, human the Muppets feel. Though certainly protective of his creations, it never felt like Henson was so precious as to avoid making the Muppets relatable. Miss Piggy's abrasive, angry and, often greedy, demeanor has always made her a standout female character that breaks the dainty, nice-girl mold. And her relationship with the more subdued, yet still quick to anger in his own way, Kermit is a fascinating one. They argue and misunderstand each other, but it never goes too far and you never doubt that there's a genuine, mutual love between them. 

In watching the film again in 2017, there were a few things which stuck out that were ever-so-slightly uncomfortable: The song "You Can't Take No For An Answer", though in the context that film uses it is mostly fine, obviously has some different connotations today. Bizarre, too, is the extended sequence where we see live-action Muppet Babies. Their designs are... not as cute as they were surely intended. 

Though perhaps not as beloved as The Muppet Movie (1979), or as laugh-out-loud funny as The Muppets (2011), The Muppests Take Manhattan nonetheless a timeless feature and one of the stronger feature films by the Henson Company.