Musical Mondays Week 82 (Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas)

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

So, it's a winter Christmas movie and the big song everyone wants to sing is about barbecue?!?  We watched...

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

If you want the Barbecue shirt (and who doesn't?), TeePublic has you covered.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

I really liked this movie, now that I know I've seen it.  It was very sweet and not a lived-happily-ever-after ending but accepting that things had improved.  I was very worried when The Gift of the Magi short story was apparent in the plot but this wasn't as dark as I find Magi.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Well, grudlian, it only took us two years to get to your suggestion.

 

[grudlian. 4725]

It's been a few years since I last watched this and I'm going to get to it tonight. So, I don't have much to say now. But I think the River Bottom Nightmare Band put on a better performance.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

55 minutes ago, grudlian. said:

I think the River Bottom Nightmare Band put on a better performance.

Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, my affection for Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath, which I think the Nightmare Band is definitely inspired by, prejudice me towards them pretty heavily. I love the Jim Henson Universe version of heavy metal.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

57 minutes ago, grudlian. said:

It's been a few years since I last watched this and I'm going to get to it tonight. So, I don't have much to say now. But I think the River Bottom Nightmare Band put on a better performance.

We've found Chuck's login.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Also, I just really dig how dark this movie starts with. We know Emmet's father is recently deceased and he and his mother are so poor, that he has to make a makeshift musical instrument out of a wash basin, but the loss of that might very well drive his mother out of business. Even so, there are no characters more capable, more together than the Otters. It's rather inspiring.

[Cameron H. 23786]

As others have stated, what I like about this movie is it doesn’t just end with them getting everything they wanted. In a competition, as much as we may want the Otters to win, they really were fairly beaten. However, just because things don’t work out the way they planned, the ended up working out better in the long run. I think that’s a really important message for children.

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

I loved it. I'm not sure what else I have to say about it, so I'm gonna post Emmett Otter gifs to warm the heart

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

ooh Tee Public has some funny designs too

Here's them as The Beatles

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

And Queen

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

There's just something so comforting and warm about Emmet and his mother rowing on the river, having a conversation. It's the kind of quit, sincere moment that Jim Henson excelled at, and it makes you root for the Otters so fervently (even if their opposite number in the battle of the bands was basically Swampy Black Sabbath, something a given-to-grimness metalhead like myself might be more inclined to root for).

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

2 minutes ago, Quasar Sniffer said:

There's just something so comforting and warm about Emmet and his mother rowing on the river, having a conversation. It's the kind of quit, sincere moment that Jim Henson excelled at, and it makes you root for the Otters so fervently (even if their opposite number in the battle of the bands was basically Swampy Black Sabbath, something a given-to-grimness metalhead like myself might be more inclined to root for).

[Cameron H. 23786]

This is (I think) our second Paul Williams Musical. He really does have a distinct, quirky style. You know when you’re listening to one of his songs in a second.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

27 minutes ago, Cameron H. said:

This is (I think) our second Paul Williams Musical. He really does have a distinct, quirky style. You know when you’re listening to one of his songs in a second.

Third at least.  Phantom of the Paradise and The Muppet Movie were the others I can remember.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

5 minutes ago, Cinco DeNio said:

Third at least.  Phantom of the Paradise and The Muppet Movie were the others I can remember.

Also, I read that Paul Williams was asked to write the songs for Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas.  He was told Emmet was a trial run to see if the studio could handle the technical tasks a feature would need.  I assume they saw the good job he did and asked him to do The Muppet Movie.

[tomspanks 9039]

The muppets in this movie were so adorable, not just the design of the animals themselves but also their costumes.  I loved Emmet's Paddington-meets-babushka style.

The songs were adorable too.  And I'm glad they didn't do the "a special guest, Kermit, is in the audience, why don't you come up on stage and sing" thing.

[grudlian. 4725]

Bret Mckenzie is working on a reboot. Pretty sure that's going to be a big miss for me. Don't think it can really live up to this.

https://slate.com/culture/2019/10/bret-mckenzie-muppet-emmet-otter-jug-band-christmas-reboot.html

[Cameron H. 23786]

Just a heads up, The Christmas Toy is currently on Prime - the real Toy Story.

[Cam Bert 8145]

7 hours ago, Cameron H. said:

Just a heads up, The Christmas Toy is currently on Prime - the real Toy Story.

According to my mom I use to refer to this movie as "Scary Christmas"

[Cam Bert 8145]

I will jump on the bandwagon and say this movie charmed and delighted me. Otters are some of the cutest animals and their muppet equivalents are equally cute as well. I liked the song and I do like how it uses the Gift of the Magi but does a good twist on it. Also that him and his mom are stronger together is a good message on top of the other messages as well.

Here is my one nitpick though. As much as I liked The Riverbottom Nightmare Band they just seem a bit out of place for me. Emmett and his town seem old fashion and as a result a bit timeless, and then Swampy Black Sabbath comes in and is very modern and of their time. Their song as well is a bit more of the moment. For whatever reason this just sort of bothered me a bit. I can't explain why. Look I get the argument that that's what they're suppose to be. They're chaos in this quaint little town and the fact they are so polar to everybody and everything sells that fact. I get that and understand that but don't like it. It also bothers me that these clearly semi-professional or professional musicians enter a talent contest for amateurs and win. Well, duh. If they had lost to that the "Barbecue" guy I think it would have been more tragic.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

13 hours ago, Cam Bert said:

Well, duh. If they had lost to that the "Barbecue" guy I think it would have been more tragic.

I don't agree that he should have won.  He stole their song!

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

4 hours ago, Cam Bert said:

I will jump on the bandwagon and say this movie charmed and delighted me. Otters are some of the cutest animals and their muppet equivalents are equally cute as well. I liked the song and I do like how it uses the Gift of the Magi but does a good twist on it. Also that him and his mom are stronger together is a good message on top of the other messages as well.

Here is my one nitpick though. As much as I liked The Riverbottom Nightmare Band they just seem a bit out of place for me. Emmett and his town seem old fashion and as a result a bit timeless, and then Swampy Black Sabbath comes in and is very modern and of their time. Their song as well is a bit more of the moment. For whatever reason this just sort of bothered me a bit. I can't explain why. Look I get the argument that that's what they're suppose to be. They're chaos in this quaint little town and the fact they are so polar to everybody and everything sells that fact. I get that and understand that but don't like it. It also bothers me that these clearly semi-professional or professional musicians enter a talent contest for amateurs and win. Well, duh. If they had lost to that the "Barbecue" guy I think it would have been more tragic.

I agree about the band being out of place.  They weren't even entered in the talent show until they bullied their way in at the end.  I was expecting a mini-scene where they bully the mayor or the judges into awarding them the win.  I was somewhat mollified when the mayor explained the jug band needed some zing but still...

I guess I need to read the original book and see how they explain it.

Here's an article about it.

ADDED: In pasting the picture I saw these were the authors of the Frances series.  I LOVED the Frances books!  Now I need to see if the library has them.  I adored one with Frances and the gumballs.