Heard this once said: Caine played his character as a very straight human, while Tim Curry played his character in Muppet’s Treasure Island like he’s himself an unhinged muppet. To the credit of both of these actors, it works perfectly in their respective movies.
Someone described respectful ways of interacting with children similarly — you can bring yourself down to their level, or you can bring them up to yours. Both are respectful, and there’s no “talking down” to anyone.
Bringing yourself to their level is real neat.
Why would you give the child the curse of ripping them from childhood? Why rob yourself the opportunity to revisit the magic of childhood?
Hand them the Scout action figure, grab the Batman, because Rita Repulsa wants to blow up the sun, and only you two can stop her!
Repulsa wants to blow up the sun, and only you two can stop her!
Just want you to know we’re all rooting for you!
The Jim Henson Company was excellent at that. They always approached young audiences with respect above all. That’s how Sesame Street works.
Speaking of which, I saw that HBO was pulling out of their deal with Sesame Street. Should we organize like a fundraising drive for that? The idea of Big Bird being off the air…isn’t okay.
According to an interview with Brian Henson, the director, when he reached out to Michael Caine for the role, Caine responded, “I’m going to play this movie like I’m working with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I will never wink, I will never do anything Muppety. I am going to play Scrooge as if it is an utterly dramatic role and there are no puppets around me.”
Which was absolutely the right call. If I can borrow a line from Jay Bauman, Ebenezer Scrooge does not sanction this buffoonery. In his eyes (at the beginning of the story at least) hanging decorations and singing and playing and such make everyone looks ridiculous to him.
The whole goddamn story is about Scrooge being a man who takes himself too goddamn seriously.
Caine is the latest of many human actors (including the great Orson Welles) to fight for screen space with the Muppets, and he sensibly avoids any attempt to go for a laugh. He plays the role straight, and treats the Muppets as if they are real. It is not an easy assignment.
- Roger Ebert
The great thing about the Muppet movies is that all the characters are treated as if they’re human. It’s like nobody realizes they’re talking to a felt frog.
It’s even better than that - they sometimes acknowledge they’re talking to a frog, or a rat, or even a puppet. It’s just normal.
I think we can all agree that, creatively, it worked perfectly.