Thanksgiving Double Feature - The Muppets and Hugo

The roommate and I have suffered through a self-inflicted media "fast" this month. The idea was we would not indulge in any frivolous electronic stimulation for the entire month - primarily, this has meant no video games, movies, TV, or music (well, the occasional bit of classical WAS permitted). However, we allowed ourselves a bit of a loophole - any SOCIAL events centered around movies, music, etc., would be permissible.

And, wouldn't you know it, we had a WHOLE BUNCH of movie parties this past weekend.

Now, I tend to be a little bit... "discerning" in my movie selection (a better word might be "snobbish"). I didn't pick the movies that I saw lightly - if I was going to break my media fast, I was gonna make DARN sure I enjoyed it. And, boy, did I!



Thanksgiving Day I caught the new Muppet movie. I'm a long-time fan of The Muppet Show, after catching an episode guest starring Julie Andrews and a mysterious cow while on a trip to Disneyland back in eighth grade. Before that, all I knew about the Muppets came from A Muppet Christmas Carol (one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies) and Muppet Treasure Island(which was... um... Tim Curry was in it!).

I didn't really have high expectations for The Muppets, so I don't know what I wanted to see when the lights went down in the theater. Once the movie started rolling, though, I knew that what I wanted was right there on the screen in front of me. Bright colors! Smiling faces! Sincere song and dance numbers with only a HINT of irony!

Oh, and Amy Adams... Man, I like that girl.

The "plot" of the movie, as it were, really only served to bring the cast of characters back together for another great installment of The Muppet Show. From there on out, the movie played like a pretty typical Muppet movie - silly jokes, great character moments, and, of course, obligatory celebrity cameos.

(A note about the cameos: there weren't a whole lot of A-list celebrities in the movie. Maybe one or two. However, if you KNOW who the celebrities are, then just about all of them are incredibly funny. I about bruised my knee from slapping it so hard - they're that good.)

More than anything else, though, I found myself loving the music. Some classic Muppet songs mingle with new numbers written by Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords. The songs are straight up hilarious - McKenzie's comic background shines through in the music he writes. There's a particular number highly reminiscent of "I'm Not Crying" that about had me falling out of my chair.

It's not a PERFECT movie, but the Muppets never really were about perfection. Their first feature film in over ten years is a perfect "welcome back." Hopefully they'll stick around - at least long enough for The Muppet Show Season 4 to come out on DVD.


And then we have Hugo, a movie I had very strong opinions about, despite the fact I didn't know it existed until about a month ago.

Hugo is based on a book called The Invention of Hugo Cabret, one of my favorite books that I've read in the past several years. The story focuses on a young orphan boy, living within the walls of the Paris train station. He fixes the clocks their for his uncle, who has disappeared, and survives on food stolen from railway vendors. Eventually, Hugo's story dovetails with the history of early cinema. The young boy finds himself drawn to these first silent pictures, which inspire him as much as they entertain him.

The book Hugo Cabret is filled about half full with pictures - finely detailed pencil drawings by author Brian Selznick. The illustrations help the book to present its story wordlessly at points - an appropriate choice for a story about silent movies. Since so much of the book relies on silence, I found myself a bit worried that the story wouldn't survive screen adaptation.

Again, it's not a PERFECT movie - there are a couple of jokes that feel out of place, and the movie feel a bit preachy at points. Also, I'm starting to get a little tired of Sacha Baron Cohen's typical pratfalls. I think he's a brilliant actor, but he's almost always brought in strictly for comic relief. In Hugo, it's kind of disappointing.

But that's not to say it's a bad movie. I loved Hugo - probably more than I loved The Muppets, to be honest. Hugo explores what it means to be an artist and a dreamer. Its morals are subtle, the mood almost dreamlike, and the actors perfectly cast all the way around - even Sacha Baron Cohen.

Hugo does everything right, but I wish at some points it would do MORE of it. It's the first movie I've ever watched in 3D where I've said, "You know, this could actually use MORE 3D effects." Since one of the central themes of the movie is film's ability to capture unreal scenarios and make them magically come to life on screen, additional 3D effects could have been used to recreate a similar effect for modern audiences who are more used to refined projected images.

Still, Hugo is ultimately a celebration of the movie as a medium and its ability to inspire while it entertains. On that level, it's a brilliant success. I only hope the eventual DVD release comes complete with some of the great Georges Méliès films references throughout the story.

Anyway, if you're interested in catching a movie this holiday season, those are MY suggestions. It's a great time of year for quality movies. Shame not to take advantage of it.