Summary
Jim Henson’s 1981 filmThe Great Muppet Capergets a rave review from VFX artists. This musical heist comedy, which serves asHenson’s feature directorial debut, follows Kermit the Frog, The Great Gonzo, and Fozzie Bear, three Muppet reporters who journey to London to investigate the disappearance of a missing, expensive jewel. Henson himself, Frank Oz, and Dave Goelz play the three Muppet characters respectively, and are joined by other names like Richard Hunt, Louise Gold, and Jerry Nelson.
Now, the VFX atCorridor Crewbreaks down the visual effects ofThe Great Muppet Caperdecades after its release.
The trio analyzes a scene whereMiss Piggy and Kermit are both riding a bike, and it appears seamless without a noticeable hand or person directing the bikes. They go in-depth into how this feat might have achieved this, calling it “such a flex” and very clever. Read their comments below:
“This is hard to figure out because there are no pictures of it, allIcan tell is from a shadow in the behind the scenes.”
“Yeah, you’re able to see him.”
“They’re probably just rotating it or sometimes its not way high up in the air but it’s way closer to the ground and it’s basically like a crane arm coming off a car or a truck and they’re just driving along.”
“Like these are such a flex.”
“It’s incredible and at the very end you’re able to see that they almost lose it because they have to keep the bike in contact with the ground so the wheel spins, but the bike doesn’t need to be in contact with the ground, the bike is actually hanging, so they’re just barely trying to keep it touching the ground, so they get the wheel spinning but not so much into the ground that it falls over.”
How Was The Great Muppet Caper Received Upon Release?
Unlike the glowing review that the above visual effects artists gave this musical heist comedy,The Great Muppet Caperupon release in 1981, was generally met with fairly mixed reviews. The movie came after the commercially successful and critically acclaimedThe Muppet Movie, the first movie to feature the famous ensemble of characters, and it was expected to receive similar success and acclaim. This was, however, not the case.
Commercially,The Great Muppet Caperdid not do as well as its predecessor,grossing only about $31 million domestically in the US, and currently sitting as the fifth highest-grossing movie in the belovedMuppet franchise. Critically,The Great Muppet Caperwas also a mixed bag. Critics praised the movie for its slapstick humor and great one-liner set-ups, but it also received criticism for its particularly imbalanced plot.
How The Muppet Movie Makes Kermit Ride A Bicycle
The original Muppet Movie included an impressive shot of a full-bodied Kermit the Frog riding a bicycle. How was this effect pulled off?
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes,The Great Muppet Caperholds a 78% approval rating. Regardless, even thoughThe Great Muppet Capermight not rank so high in Henson’s extensive Muppet franchise, it has gained more acclaim over the years, partially due to its clever use of VFX.
