Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

brusty1 This film has a special place in my heart. Long ago, when I was a little boy and in love with the Muppets, I saw this movie on HBO and was enchanted. Considered a trial run for Jim Henson in order to see if making a feature length Muppets was possible, it has become much more than that to the many fans of this wonderful holiday film. Wonderful songs and equally great puppetry meet up with a sugary sweet story that will warm your heart on the most important holiday of the year. Songs like "Our World" and "Barbecue" will ring in your head long after you've seen this. Message of love and giving are sure to have people of all ages happy during Christmas time. I cannot recommend this movie enough!

ojaymontreal We originally saw EOJBC on CBC (public/commercial)in Canada, as they were co-producers. What's not to love about Emmet and company? We have a stuffed toy otter which we named for him. And have a few VHS copies which we watch every Xmas, with Kermit, who we think of as a Muppet version of Alastair Cooke, when he used to introduce the "Masterpiece" dramas on PBS. The songs by Paul Williams are spot on, and think of the "Nightmare" number as a spoof of all hard rock genre bands, except that it beats all the real live bands for quality of performance. The whole show is timeless magic. One of the most touching moments is when Alice (Ma) Otter tucks Emmet into bed and gives him a goodnight kiss. There are many memorable quotes, and as others have noted, some gems("...fall off the dock" maybe considered too malicious) have been deleted. This is one case where the movie is a great improvement on the book (which we bought), thanks to Jim Henson and the wonderful cast.

MartinHafer Back in 1977, just after "The Muppet Show" debuted but before "The Muppet Movie", Jim Henson decided to make a project to help them work out the kinks for the upcoming movie. "Emmett Otter's Jug-Band Christmas" is that project--more ambitious than the show but not a full-length theatrical release like the movie. While the show isn't as as refined as later work (you can see strings when some of the characters move) but they did try some DIFFERENT techniques and styles of puppets. For the most part, it's quite sweet and successful--and mostly it's really, really cute. My only reservation about this sweet show is that there is A LOT of singing and it might have worked better with less. Heck, with just a few less songs I would have given this one a 9--but the songs tended to disrupt the story and seemed, at times, like filler.As for the story, it's a reworking of the O. Henry story "The Gift of the Magi". However, instead of a husband selling his watch and a wife selling her beautiful hair to buy presents for each other, it involves poor Emmett and his mother trying to win a talent show so they can buy each other nice presents. Naturally, it doesn't work out as they expect--but it's all quite charming, nonetheless. Well worth seeing--particularly if you are a kid or a kid at heart.

mmde-1 This is my all-time favorite Christmas-time movie. My parents taped it off HBO back sometime in the mid-80s, and we would watch it every year (and sing along to all the songs). I don't know why nobody out there seems to have heard of this movie, but it's definitely worth a look (unless you're one of those people who don't like sort-of sad stories, although it's not really a sad story when you think about it). When I was in college, I was organizing a Christmas-movie viewing and when I said I wanted to show Emmet Otter, not a single person knew what I was talking about! And it's such as shame, because the sweet story about how all Emmet & Ma really need is each other is a real classic.Definitely check it out, even if you have to buy it.P.S. There are many different versions out there - personally I like the Kermit-narrated version, with the shorter songs, but probably because that's the version my parent's taped off TV years ago (and the more recent VHS version I bought about 5 years ago cut out the great "...fall off the dock" line, which was a travesty, and the songs just seemed to drag a little too long, especially the final song).