📍 SIFF Cinema Uptown: 511 Queen Anne Ave. N, Seattle
📅 Thursday, Dec. 11-Sunday, Dec. 14
🎟 Tickets here
“After all there’s only one more day ’til Chriiiiist-maaaaas.”
A good personality test: What is your go-to adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol?” Not necessarily the best, but the one you put on every year once all the decorations are up, the turkey is defrosting, and you just want to cozy up with some hot cocoa. My household has two: the 26-minute “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” (1983) and “The Muppet Christmas Carol” (1992). Yes, we are elder millennials; how did you guess?
The latter is from an interesting moment in Muppet history, made after the passing of founder Jim Henson but before Disney bought up all their rights. It’s relatively subdued offering from the gang, more dedicated to the emotional arc and themes of Dickens’ short story than, say, the anything-goes absurdism of “The Muppet Show” or their maniacal approach to Robert Louis Stevenson in “Muppet Treasure Island” four years later. Nay, it’s a legit adaptation that just happens to have freaky puppet creatures singing Paul Williams songs and bounding around gorgeous sets while a pitch-perfect Michael Caine holds the center as Ebenezer Scrooge.
And I’m betting SIFF Cinema Uptown will screen the full, uncut version, with the “When Love Is Gone” musical number back in its rightful spot. The people have spoken.
