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" It says a lot about the enduring appeal of Charles Dickens&amp;#039;s A Christmas Carol that it&amp;#039;s been able to withstand so many different movie retellings. From Alastair Sim&amp;#039;s Scrooge through to Jim Carrey&amp;#039;s cutting-edge 3D performance capture version, this festive tale of a bitter old miser who finds redemption over the holidays has well and truly stood the test of time. Every Christmas these films crop up in the TV schedules, but there is one above all others that we always make an appointment to view. We&amp;#039;re talking, of course, about The Muppet Christmas Carol. Michael Caine takes on the role of the tight-fisted Ebenezer Scrooge, while the Muppets fill a host of the supporting roles. There&amp;#039;s Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy as Emily Cratchit, Fozzie Bear as Fozziewig and Statler and Waldorf as Scrooge&amp;#039;s old business partners Jacob and Robert Marley (the latter an addition to the original text). The Great Gonzo takes on the role of Dickens himself, narrating the tale with the aid of Rizzo the Rat.   A Christmas Carol isn&amp;#039;t a tale completely without humour, but in Gonzo and Rizzo the film finds a clever way to offer up a fresh and funny angle on events. The pair act as the audience&amp;#039;s way in to the story, providing plenty of humourous commentary and pratfalls as director Brian Henson faithfully retells this iconic story. Rizzo manages to serve as a window wipe, act as fireside bellows and gets set alight (&amp;quot;light the lamp, not the rat!&amp;quot;) over the course of the film. In one brilliantly sweet and funny moment, after at last finding his misplaced jellybeans, he even leans in and gives the aggrieved Gonzo a kiss on the nose.      Kermit, one of cinema&amp;#039;s great everymen, is also perfect casting as the down-on-his-luck Cratchit, who wants to see the good in miserable boss Scrooge when others don&amp;#039;t dare look. His relationship with Piggy plays out nicely in the Cratchit household, and if there&amp;#039;s a sight more heartbreaking in this movie than a baby frog Tiny Tim, we haven&amp;#039;t yet found it. The Kermit/Piggy brood is made up of all-pig or frog kids, something that reassures us that their eventual offspring won&amp;#039;t be some strange cross-animal hybrid! Special praise also needs to go to Michael Caine for his terrific turn as Scrooge. So often the venerable Brit actor is asked to simply play &amp;#039;Michael Caine&amp;#039;, but here he has a role that allows to display some acting range. People hold great affection for Caine, the Muppets and the Christmas Carol story, and all three combine here to create a heartwarming film that works whether you&amp;#039;re 8 or 80.      As a musical it isn&amp;#039;t too shabby, either. Songs such as &amp;#039;Scrooge&amp;#039;, &amp;#039;Marley and Marley&amp;#039;, &amp;#039;It Feels Like Christmas&amp;#039; and &amp;#039;Thankful Heart&amp;#039; are all outstanding, while the track &amp;#039;When Love Is Gone&amp;#039; - clipped from the theatrical release and elusive on DVD and TV - really needs to be added to the film definitively.  This was the first Muppet movie to be released after the death of Jim Henson and long-serving puppeteer Richard Hunt, and it&amp;#039;s one that would have made both proud. Henson&amp;#039;s son Brian does a fine job in putting a uniquely muppety spin on a beloved tale. The Muppet Christmas Carol never quite took off on its original theatrical release, but as a fixture on the December TV schedules, it&amp;#039;s now firmly cemented as a festive classic. It wouldn&amp;#039;t feel quite like Christmas without it.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/re-viewed/feature/a538086/re-viewed-disneys-festive-classic-the-muppet-christmas-carol/>