The Wizard of Oz and the Muppets are American institutions, beloved by generations. Why not then bring the two of them together? The Muppets' Wizard of Oz has a few positives in terms of staying close to the original L. Frank Baum story and with a good cast. However, the television movie never decided to be more kid-or-adult friendly, leaving a very disjointed end result.
Young Dorothy Gale (Ashanti) dreams of leaving her Kansas home to become a singing superstar. Her big chance comes when The Muppets come to town to hold auditions. Dorothy's Aunt Em (Queen Latifah) opposes Dorothy auditioning, telling her that true happiness does not come from fame but from loving herself. Dorothy's Uncle Henry (David Alan Grier) is more supportive, quietly encouraging her to go. She misses the audition but does quickly meet the Muppets before they leave, handing her audition tape to Kermit and a very jealous Miss Piggy.
An argument between Em and Dorothy is interrupted by a sudden tornado, but Dorothy goes back to save Toto, her pet king prawn. With that, she and Toto, who is now Pepe the King Prawn, find themselves in the world of Oz. They also find themselves having killed the Wicked Witch of the East (Miss Piggy), after the house fell on her a second time when she could not lift it off her. Warned by the Wicked Witch's sister Tattypoo the Good Witch of the North (Miss Piggy) to avoid offending their sister the Wicked Witch of the West, they go off to find the Wizard of Oz.
On their way to the Emerald City, they meet up with the Scarecrow (Kermit the Frog), the Tin Thing (Gonzo the Great) and the Cowardly Lion (Fozzie the Bear), each joining her to get brains, a heart and courage, with Dorothy's great dream to become a pop star. They get briefly distracted at the Poppyfields Club before making it to the Emerald City. Here, the Wizard, coming in various forms, tells them that he will grant their wish if they can get the Wicked Witch of the West's magic eye.
The Wicked Witch will not go down without a fight and a song. Will Dorothy and her friends outwit and outlast the Wicked Witch? Will Dorothy become an international sensation or find that there really is no place like home?
I found The Muppets' Wizard of Oz to have something of an identity crisis. It wants to appeal to children, no surprise given that L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's story. However, The Muppets' Wizard of Oz also wants to be daringly adult bordering on obscene. Early on, one of the Muppets comments on the difficulty of finding wholesome American girls to be part of their show. Rizzo the Rat replies that he can't believe that given how Girls Gone Wild can find them easily. Hearing a Girls Gone Wild shoutout in a Muppet movie is not daring. It is flat-out shocking.
Children are hopefully not going to get the reference. That is clearly something adults would understand. However, including something like Girls Gone Wild in what is targeted at families is to my mind, highly irresponsible. There are other moments in The Muppets Wizard of Oz that I think are not appropriate for children or that at least would not make sense to them. When we see the various forms the Wizard takes place, one of them involves a very sexy but creepy-looking CGI woman attempting to seduce Gonzo's Tin Thing. This version ends up shifting into Gonzo's chicken love Camilla, and the whole thing is quite strange to disturbing. Quentin Tarantino appears out of nowhere, attempting to pitch more violence in the special. Apart from being pointless, it is highly unlikely that kids would know who this crazed, intense figure is.
When Dorothy and her friends arrive at the Emerald City, the Guard (Sam the Eagle) asks her who she is. She states that she is Dorothy. Looking at the others, he asks who they are. "We're friends of Dorothy," Fozzie states, with silence following. I all but did a spit take when Fozzie basically comes out as gay.
There are four writers for The Muppets Wizard of Oz: Adam Goldberg, Tom Martin, Steve L. Hayes and Debra Frank with the last two having a story credit. They could all make the argument that yes, technically Fozzie was correct in calling himself and the others "friends of Dorothy". It is also a fair argument that kids would hear that on a surface level and not think anything else.
However, it is, I think, absolutely absurd to think that the writers did not know or intend to say anything more than that despite the phrase "friend of Dorothy" being longstanding code for saying that one was gay. Granted, the phrase "friend of Dorothy" has fallen out of use. However, to say that they were thoroughly unaware of the euphemism or did not intend to slide a gay joke in a Muppet movie is to my mind disingenuous. They knew what they were doing when they selected "friend of Dorothy" as the term used.
To be fair, there were some clever bits in the script. I think either Fozzie Bear or Kermit asks the Wizard, "Are you by any chance a relation to Frank Oz?", Oz being a longtime puppeteer. There was also a bit where Pepe was commenting how everything they were going through was connected to 80's bands. Kansas? 80's band. Toto? 80's band. They were all on a Journey, which is an 80's band.
However, these bits were few and far between. Most of the bits fall flat, such as when Dorothy enters a makeover machine and ends up coming out like Kelly Osbourne. "You've been reborn," one of the friends of Dorothy says. "No, you've been Osbourne," is another's reply. Pointless and unfunny, one just shakes their head.
Out of the human performers, Latifah and Greer came out best, mostly because they came across as people. Ashanti exceled in the singing, but the acting was on the weaker side, consisting of mostly puzzled or irritated reactions. Jeffrey Tambor was the worst of the lot, looking bored as the Wizard. I was surprised that one of the Wicked Witch's lackeys was not voiced by Chazz Palminteri as he sounded exactly like Chazz Palminteri.
The songs are surprisingly forgettable save for the first two. Kansas speaks about Dorothy's desires to find a better place from which to launch her life and hoped-for musical career. When I'm With You is a nice, charming number about how nice it is to be around supportive friends, of Dorothy or otherwise. As for the other three, well, The Witch is in the House is, curious.
I think it would have been best to have fully embraced The Muppets' Wizard of Oz as a thoroughly family-friendly to children-oriented production. Too many contemporary bits will fly over kids heads and not be particularly appealing to adults. It simply could have been better.
2/10
The Wizard of Oz: The Conclusions
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