DVD Review – "A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa" Extended Edition

Image copyright Disney.

The Muppets’ renaissance continues with a DVD release of their 2008 Christmas special, filled with classic Muppet humor and hysterical new outtakes.



By Blake



Originally posted December 23, 2009.




A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa Extended Edition DVD
Total Disc Running Time: About 79 minutes (about 1 hour and 19 minutes)
Highlight of Disc: Feature Presentation
Highlight Runner-Up: Bloopers



It’s been quite a year for Muppet fans. In the midst of online sensations, guest appearances, and Beatles parodies, perhaps the most significant aspect of the Muppets’ comeback thus far has been their new Christmas special, A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa, which debuted on NBC in 2008. The program has now arrived on DVD.


Letters to Santa follows Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, and the entire Muppet crew, who accidentally forget to mail a little girl’s letter to Santa Claus. Since it’s Christmas Eve and the post office has closed, the only way left to deliver the letter is to personally hand it to Mr. Claus himself in the North Pole.

Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, and friends have to come up with a solution to get their letters to Santa Claus. Image copyright Disney.

What ensues is pure genius, with just as much Muppet wit as ever. The humor is spot-on, with most jokes involving a play on words, some making fun of their own cheesiness. The music also blends a few snappy tunes and heartfelt ballads to create a memorable soundtrack. You can read more of my thoughts about the special itself in my review from last year.


The “Extended Edition” in the title refers to the several bonuses that have been integrated into the film itself, as opposed to being placed on a bonus features submenu. These include deleted scenes, which have been seamlessly woven into where they would have originally been featured in the special. Most of them aren’t so much full scenes as they are individual jokes or moments. The most significant of these sequences is one introducing two new snail characters, who are postmen. Snail postmen = snail mail. Get it? Laugh! Even though it’s not that funny, it’s very funny.


The rest (and majority) of the “Extended” portions of the film take place after the credits. If you usually turn off the TV once the credits begin to roll, I have one major piece of advice for you: this time around, DON’T! Make sure to watch all the way through. After the credits is a total of ten minutes’ worth of hysterical goodies. These include my-belly-aches-from-laughing-so-hard outtakes (possibly the best bloopers I’ve ever seen—seriously), as well as the “Glad All Over” music video that appeared on YouTube last year to the promote the special.


From the main menu, one last bonus feature can be accessed by clicking “The Muppets Stocking Stuffer Smorgasbord.” This takes viewers to another menu that displays the Muppets’ stockings hung on a fireplace. From there, several different object placed throughout the screen can be clicked on to view additional deleted scenes, a photo gallery, and interviews with the Muppets, Madison Pettis, and Jane Krakowski. Together these all total about eight minutes, and are rather mediocre to be honest. The items can be somewhat difficult to spot when choosing them on the screen, and since they’re not labeled I got confused with which ones I had and hadn’t seen. They’re ok, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to make sure to see them all.


As always, sneak peeks can be selected from the main menu, this time totaling about fifteen minutes and including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Diamond Edition, Toy Story 3, Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving 10th Anniversary Special Edition, Santa Buddies, Disney Movie Rewards, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey’s Choo-Choo Express, Ponyo, Up, Disney Blu-ray, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, Prep & Landing, and the re-release of Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed In at the House of Mouse.


Whether or not its bonus features are abundant with backstage peeks, the DVD release of A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa is stellar enough to make it an enthusiastic recommendation, especially to a Muppet fan. Would it have been nice to perhaps see a behind-the-scenes featurette (possibly with Muppeteers’ thoughts about the Muppets’ comeback)? Sure. But does the lack of such footage take away anything from the special itself? No. A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa succeeds at featuring beloved characters in a modern-day Christmas classic. Its comedy, music, and Christmas-ey fun, paired with its excellent outtakes, make it quite a satisfying release.

Image copyright Disney.

How do I rank A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa DVD? (Bolded is my choice.)
Very good feature presentation + good bonus features =

• Aaah!
• Blech
• Not good
• Good
• Very good
• Brilliant
  
  
  

A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa DVD will most likely please: Muppet Fans - Kids (ages 5-7) - Older Kids (ages 8-10) - Tweens (ages 11-13) - Teens - Young Adults - Adults

Related BlakeOnline articles:

• Channel Flippin' - A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (posted December 22, 2008)
• Disney Talk - They've Gotten Things Started (posted November 28, 2009)

By Blake; posted December 23, 2009. All images copyright Disney.