Friday, October 26, 2007

Jim Henson was brilliant



It's easy to dismiss the work of Jim Henson as cute kid's fare. Stuff for 6 year olds. A lot of people overlook what Henson and his team did together. What they made together was nothing short of brilliant. Look at this scene from "The Muppet Movie". This is a song Gonzo sings after the gang's bus breaks down and it looks as though their plans to reach their goals have come to a dead end. Paul Williams' lyrics are elegant, poetic, and touching. Dave Golez gives a performance as Gonzo that is full of warmth and soul. It's an incredibly moving song that is easily overlooked. Not many films go beneath the surface and speak about something so deep and soulfull. I have no idea how this didn't win an Academy Award.

Oh, that's right...a puppet sang it.

9 comments:

Bobby Pontillas said...

I concur! for me its "Muppets Take Manhattan", not the greatest of them all, but it resonated with me. And I didnt even discover the Dark Crystal until later!

Marco said...

This is brilliant and has more soul than most kids series today...

Moxie said...

Actually, this is my favorite song in all the movies. My favorite line is: "There's not a word yet, for Old friends whove just met", resonded true many times for me.

spleenal said...

It seems easy to make something that only kids like. take the awfull barney as a case in point.

And it seems easy to please just the adults.
If some guys get shot and i see a girls ass i'm usually pleased.

it takes talent to please all the people most of the time

nateinabox said...

Funny how the old Muppets movies can have better acting than probably 95% (or more) of the films out there today, but they're not respected as merely "puppet" and "kid" movies.

The acting in these films was so convincing that you completely forget the fact that they're puppets; the audience unconditionally believes and follows the characters. The concept of a traveling band of crazies is far beyond the realms of believability, but we dismiss that and suspend reality to be what with the characters.

Anonymous said...

thanks for this.

I'm not sure what to write here.
I think Jim Henson lives on in the
hearts and minds of everyone who came in contact with his work.

It's up to the inspired to
inspire.

Robiscus said...

who is dismissing Jim Henson's work as simple cute kids fare?!??

Please don't tell me its people in the Los Angeles animation community. Because that would mean there is a significant contingent of total morons without a cinematic or comedic bone in their bodies.
Don't tell me that. I'm still in denial about these people walking amongst us...

:\

Kmann said...

it's sad, but there are plenty of people that turn their noses up at the muppets and ESPECIALLY puppets in general. Not so much people in animation thankfully.

unless you're an animation executive....

Clinton said...

i thought crankyankers would bring back the puppets on tv. i was real big on sesame street.