The Great Muppet Caper (1981)

My personal favorite of all the Muppet movies is also the only one directed by Jim Henson coincidentally. Watched most of this the other day with my little girls on Netflix and I was still chuckling at the dumb jokes. I actually didn’t really see the first Muppet Movie first and if memory serves, not a lot either. Caper I had on tape from HBO and watched constantly despite not getting most of the jokes which is the bets thing about Henson’s Muppets. Young kids alike can enjoy the puppetry and goofiness and there’s a lot of jokes that go over their heads. Then when you revisit them years later you can still enjoy them too. I’m really bummed that the Muppets didn’t have the longevity or the popularity that Sesame Street or other franchises and properties of the era had. Star Wars is still going strong and thats about 3 generations now. I feel like the Muppets peaked at Take Manhattan and then dipped after Henson died. They made mediocre “spoofs” like Muppet Treasure Island and Wizard of Oz and never gained the creative spark again until Jason Segel and Disney came along to rescue them from obscurity. I honestly feel a whole generation missed out on the greatness of Henson’s Muppets. But even with the new movies today, they pale in comparison to the first few Muppet movies from the 80s. They had an edge, sarcasm and weren’t afraid to be adult-themed. 

But anyway, we’re here to bask in the best aspects of any Muppet movie and that’s the musical numbers. So here we go: