Today is a good day to watch Brian Henson A Muppet Christmas Carol as the family holiday classic celebrates its annual theatrical release. A 1992 adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol-starring Michael Caine as Scrooge, the only human aside from the Muppets (in the tradition of the Henson Company) -still tells the story throughout.
For those ready to start planning a monthly holiday movie, A Muppet Christmas Carol is currently streaming on Disney+. However, film buffs and die-hard Muppets fans know that the only way to watch the film is in its original form, with the pre-cut song “When Love is Gone,” written by frequent Henson collaborator Paul Williams, restored to the film. This complete version comes thanks to a reel that included a newly discovered song and was used to prepare the 4K remaster of the classic film.
The setting is important: the song marks a sad moment in the film when Scrooge makes a choice between love and duty, leading to a bittersweet memory when he becomes a cold, heartless man.
Watching the full, extended version of a movie isn’t as easy as accessing the edited version, which is what will play when you search A Muppet Christmas Carol on Disney+. Instead, once you get to the main movie menu you’ll need to scroll down and click “More” to find the 89-minute “full-length version”.
It’s worth the effort, although (fair warning) there’s no way to restart the movie if you exit at any time; only rest seems to work which is wrong. It really needs it’s own Disney+ page (like another version of its version pages Moana again Encanto) to improve the reach of Henson’s film as it was intended to have.
All in all, of course, it’s full of beautiful songs being sung Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy, and the rest of the merry Muppets gang in their version of Dickens’s festive classic. The appearance of Williams’ understated love ballad early in the film helps make the film’s final song—”When Love Is Found/Feels Like Christmas”—brings even more emotional impact to the ending.
Find out A Muppet Christmas Carol on Disney+.
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