no offense to Matt Vogel, but they need to get someone that can actually do Kermit's voice properly. maybe they can get Steve Whitmire or something idk
Whoever is writing for the Muppets needs to be removed immediately because they don't get them.
Cute but should have been great
Very fun and easy watch. Quick muppets and haunted mansion fix. Lots of laughs and so much from the ride. I agree that kermit’s voice isn’t up to par, but I’ll add this to my Halloween yearly movie binge. A definite watch if you love the muppets and the Haunted Mansion ride. Enjoy!
The film doesn’t make full use of the Muppets or even the haunted mansion. The actors who show up are at least in good form though. Especially Taraji P. Henson as a black widow looking for her next victim. As well as Will Armett as the host of the mansion.
That was surprisingly entertaining. Had some really good laughs. And it's nice it didn't center around Kermit and Piggy for once.
Inspired by the Disney amusement park ride, Muppets Haunted Mansion is an entertaining Halloween special. When Gonzo and Rizzo are invited to the Great MacGuffin’s mansion for the Halloween challenge, they’ll have to survive the night amongst the spooks and spirits that inhabit the mansion. Will Arnett and Taraji P. Henson lead the cast, with cameo appearances by Edward Asner, Danny Trejo, Craig Robinson, Pat Sajak, and John Stamos. Unfortunately a couple of the voice actors doing the Muppets sound off, especial Kermit, which can be distracting at times. Also, the songs are pretty mediocre and the plot is really thin. However, a lot of jokes work and stay true to the Muppet brand of comedy. Additionally, the Muppet characters are used well, with each getting their moment to shine. Muppets Haunted Mansion is one of the weaker Muppet specials, but it delivers some laughs as well as some spooky fun.
Very pleasant, nothing more nothing less.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2022-10-18T03:35:02Z
[6.7/10] I know The Muppets very well. I haven't ridden Disney’s Haunted Mansion attraction in at least twenty years. So I come to this special only half-prepared. I can’t help but think if I were more invested in the theme park ride, and not just the puppet pals recreating it, I might have enjoyed this more.
As it stands Muppets Haunted Mansion is fine. It’s replacement level muppet shtick with a quick runtime and enough set pieces and pace to keep from being boring. But it’s also thin as a wafer. There’s barely a premise, let alone a story, so the whole thing becomes more of a collection of sketches than anything with momentum.
That approach can work! (It’s basically what The Great Muppet Caper did.) But the skits and bits here are fairly middling. There’s a handful of solid puns and plays on words. Statler and Waldor’s routine remains funny in any setting. And there’s some creative muppets as ghosts and plant monsters that show the puppet designers haven't lost their touch. But on the whole, this one isn’t amusing or creative enough to justify its scattershot approach.
There’s a vague, very nebulous theme about facing your fears, and the moment when it comes to fruition is the most compelling the special is. Gonzo looking in a mirror, fearing that he’ll grow old and forgotten, that his friends won’t care about him if he doesn’t continue to do great stunts, adds a touch of humanity to the little whatever. His elerly design is inventive and a little grotesque, and the sequence of him looking through a one-way mirror at the party he missed out on for his latest stunt gives the TV movie its only ballast with some neat staging.
Otherwise, the bits here vary from the disposable to the forgettable. The s songs don’t offend the ear, but are nothing special. Taraji P. Henson and Will Arnett hamming it up (sorry Piggy) hould be a hoot, but Henson is a little too much and Arnett isn’t quite enough. (Though Yvette Nicole Brown and John Stamos get the tone right.) Pepe has never been my favorite muppet, and the bits of him trying to find a celebrity party or almost marrying a black widow are tepid and middling at best.
Visually, the special looks cheap, with flat lighting and conspicuously digital sets that prevent something already a little unreal and artificial from having a real sense of place amidst its famed setting. And not for nothing, this is the first Muppet project I’ve watched since Steve Whitmire was fired, and Matt Vogel’s Kermit voice just sounds wrong to me.
Again, some of this might be more enjoyable if I was more familiar with the Haunted Mansion right, and so could better appreciate the melding of the two properties. But as someone who knows the Muppets but not the spooky attraction they’re placed into, taking this as a standalone project, the story and the humor alone weren’t enough to make this a thumbs up from me.