User reviews

Just for the record, I am a big fan of the Muppets, The Muppet Show and Muppet Babies were part of my childhoods, and I love all their specials and movies, excepting Letters to Santa, Muppet Wizard of Oz and this. Kermit's Swamp Years is not terrible, it's just that I had a very lukewarm reception towards it. The costume and set design are splendid, the voice work is great especially from Steve Whitmire and Dave Goelz and there are some cute moments such as the outtakes. However, the songs are mediocre, especially the uninspired lyrics, the script and jokes fall flat due to a lack of comic timing with the human cast with little of the material coming across as memorable or quotable, the story is dull and very basic with too much emphasis on the comic elements consequently the wit and heart is gone and the human cast range from so-so(Drew Haggard) to quite bad(John Hostetter). All in all, didn't do much for me, as much as I do love the Muppets. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Oddly, "The Swamp Years" is about Kermit's adventures away from the swamp. The plot takes its good-hearted turns rather abruptly, without much signalling in advance. There are some in-jokes like Kermit's first encounter with a pig-- the sort of joke more likely to inspire a knowing nod than a guffaw. There are some poop jokes, which I don't think Jim Henson would have put up with. Kermit's voice is pretty good, except for an occasional underpronounced vowel. The music is well chosen, but there isn't enough of it and some of the lyrics are lame. I think my favorite character was Kermit's mother, who is more obviously a human hand than today's Muppets usually are. For some reason, I found it rather touching that when you go back in Kermit's ancestry you find the human creator more thinly disguised.

It has been many years since Kermit has been home so he gets on his scooter and heads back to the swamp. Driving down the road to the swamp Kermit reminisces about the first time he saw that road. He was only a small frog when he and his friends ventured out onto it for the first time – only for two of them to get picked up by a driver in a red truck. Kermit and his other friend were forced to set out after the truck to try and rescue their friends from the terrors of the outside world.

Using the hook of the famous Muppet character in his early years, this film delivers a version of Toy Story where Kermit is forced out into the unfamiliar world to rescue his friends (although where this leaves Muppet Babies in the Muppet universe is beyond me). The plot is basic though and lacks any real emotion or intelligence in the way that Toy Story was and the total film is pretty basic. It has a few laughs along the way for adults but mainly this will appeal to younger children who will be amused by the puppets and engaged by the bad guy of Dr Krassman. I doubt very much though that such basic antics will appeal to older viewers – certainly not to adult viewers who have fond memories of the wit and energy of the Muppet Show.

The voice work is all fine, with Whitmire doing a good job as Kermit, while Barretta, Goelz, Mazzarino and others all fill in well enough. The human cast are so-so; Haggard's not great and try as he might, Hostetter isn't that great a bad guy and can't pull of genuine menace and comedy – so he ends up doing neither particularly well. The tone of the film is overly comic and it does prevent it do anything of significance. Overall a so-so film that will please young children but doesn't do anything else well enough to be of greater value.

Kermit's Swamp Years will likely be a delight for little kids - very little ones - preferably those who have not been acquainted with the Muppets. I employ this statement with emphasis because I feel that anyone who has had any kind of relationship with the Muppet characters we've come to know and love will find this film dreadfully childish and a few steps away from being an insult to the iconic characters' respective legacies.

I can't say they'd be incorrect; this is a pretty immature affair, combining an annoying amount of bathroom humor with a subpar, obligatory fish-out-of-water story that results in tedium and boredom with only a seventy-five minute runtime. It concerns Kermit (voiced by Steve Whitmire, who, I'll say, does a pretty damn good job) who is returning back to his homeland, the swamps, after an extended absence. While cruising down the road on his scooter, he recaps a keen adventure he had with his pals Croaker the Frog and Goggles the Toad, as they naively ventured outside the boundaries of the swamp into, gasp, the land inhabited by shiny creatures (automobiles) and humans.

This lands them in a direct battle with a high school biology teacher (John Hostetter) who wants to collect amphibians for his class's forthcoming dissection. When they team up with a dog named Pilgrim (Cree Summer, who has voice credits on Clifford The Big Red Dog, Drawn Together, and Rugrats), they try and find a way to survive out in the newland and return to their homeland.

For a film titled "Kermit's Swamp Years," very little of the film actually takes place in the swampland. We open with widescale shots, mostly aerial ones, of the swampland and its inhabitants. The scenes provide one with almost a travelogue-esque image of the swamp and warm our hearts with the beauty and the incomprehensible majestic qualities below. Then a fly swoops into the picture, makes some horribly childish jokes, and then we see Kermit on his scooter and the plot begins. We're in the swamp maybe fifteen minutes before we're taken to the archetypal territory of the mainlands, which are no fun in comparison.

In addition, I can't help but feel that Kermit's Swamp Years, in itself, is disrespectful to the proud, invaluable legacy Jim Henson left behind. His Muppet characters had heart and wit, and would never stoop down to the level of inane bathroom-talk as a means of humor and cheap laughs. The relationships with each other - man or Muppet - felt genuine and real; the characters' names you knew for a reason. Watching several Muppet shows when I was a child, I never wanted to get up and leave the couch or have the show end. It was a magical, priceless world I was inhabiting, and I had no intention of leaving it; the real world seemed monotonous and drearily perfunctory. I almost couldn't wait to be done with Kermit's Swamp Years for the exact opposite reason.

I return full-circle to the point I began this review with; this film will be enjoyed by little, little kids. Seven and up may want to move on to old-school Nickelodeon.

Starring: John Hostetter. Voiced by: Steven Whitmire and Cree Summer. Directed by: David Grumpel.

Not that great. Perhaps very young children might enjoy this. I would be surprised if many folks over 9 or 10 find Kermit's Swamp Year's entertaining. It's lacking in charm, wit and humor. The best part of the DVD is the Behind-the-scenes featurette with the armadillo and the on the set interview with Kermit. If the movie were as funny as the special features, it would be worth having.

Kermit's Swamp Years (2002, Dir. David Gumpel)

Kermit the Frog whilst on his travels back to the swamp he grew up on, remembers one of his earlier adventures. Kermit, Croaker, Goggles and Blotch are sent on a wild adventure into the outside world, when Croaker and bully Blotch and kidnapped and placed in a pet store. It's now up to Kermit and Goggle, with help from a friendly dog called Pilgrim to save them. But someone else has his eye on them. Dr Krassman wants to buy all the frogs and use them in biology lessons.

When you first look at 'Kermit's Swamp Year's', it should be obvious at first, that it is not going to live up to the fun you get when watching a 'Muppets' title, but after watching Kermits life, it's obvious what is missing; The Muppets. Most things are here. The suitable story, the quality of the puppets and even Waldolf and Statler. The songs are slightly disappointing, with the longest song being quite bad. It can sometime feel very drawn out, and makes you really miss the likes of Miss Piggy and Gonzo. But still if you are a Muppet fan, then you should at least catch up on this story, but youngest are gonna like it more.

"I'm not a froggy pants." - Young Hugo Krassman (Hampton Dixon)

stars: Steve Whittemire as Kermit and other. Bill Barretta as Croaker and D'fly. John Kennedy as Arnie the alligator and others. Dave Goelz as Waldorf. Jerry Nelson as Statler.

Interesting little movie about Kermit when he was little. The good things about it were the great look the movie had due to the cameras they used to film it. It had funny references to the Muppets as they are today, including Kermit mentioning that he doesn't like pigs, an appearance by young men Statler and Waldorf and Arnie the alligator which was a character that appeared on the show and was in the Muppet Movie. The plot was that Kermit and Croaker the frogs are going to be dissected for a school project, but escape. Meant for little kids, but adults will enjoy it too.

My rating: B minus. 81 mins.

Kermit's Swamp Years is a lacklustre direct to video film aimed at younger kids as older kids will find it too childish and boring. Adults will just find it lacking the wit and imagination of The Muppet Show.

The older Kermit returns to the swamp where he grew up after many years away and reminiscences on his younger days when he and his his frog friends Croaker and Goggles ventured out of the safety of the swamp into the outside world where they were hunted down by a biology teacher looking for frogs to dissect at school. Goggles is captured by a pet store owner and the other two with the help of a stray dog called Pilgrim who knows more about the outside world go to look for him.

The story has a hint of Toy Story films but without the charm. It just looks like a cheapo sequel with vary little care put into it and some not very good songs. You also of course miss the other Muppet characters, although you see a few variations of them. You do see younger versions of Waldolf and Statler though.

I try not to rip on films made specifically for young children because I know there were films I loved when I was a kid that established movie critics trashed. For instance, I have fond memories of watching "The Chipmunk Adventure" (1987) as a child. However, at the time it was released into theaters, Siskel & Ebert were unabashed at expressing their hatred for the film, stating how the Chipmunks' and Chipettes' voices annoyed them the most, and the diamond theft operation plot was unoriginal. Hey, I still love the movie, even though it was a box office flop.

"Kermit's Swamp Years" is a direct-to-video film that will probably appeal to children, but probably not to adults. I admired some things about the story, but it has nothing on "The Muppet Movie" (1979), "The Great Muppet Caper" (1981), or "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992).

This movie could be considered a prequel to "The Muppet Movie", since we see Kermit in the beginning of that movie famously playing a banjo in his swamp homeland. Here, Kermit returns to the swamp, and breaks the fourth wall by telling the viewers about when he was 12, and his frog friends Croaker and Goggles, decide to venture out from the safety of their swamp into the "real world". Almost immediately after seeing the dirt road outside the swamp area, Kermit and company are hunted down by haughty, 9th grade biology teacher Hugo Krassman (John Hostetter) and his cute, but inept, assistant Mary (Kelly Collins Lintz). While escaping them, Goggles is captured by a well-meaning pet shop owner and taken into the town of Leland. Kermit and Croaker, with the help of a stray dog named Pilgrim, go into the town to find him, and the story really takes off.

The main strength of this movie is the conflict, namely frog versus world. I liked how the climax involved a high school biology class, and how frogs were routinely taken in to be dissected (in my high school, we dissected pigs, but that's another story). While John Hostetter was delightfully over the top, I couldn't help but think of Peter Ustinov when I watched him act. I suppose that's good for his character. If Ustinov was alive today, this would have been a great role for him.

While the conflict had the power to elicit a good story, I wasn't a big fan of Goggles. I got that he was an obsessive compulsive frog who was afraid of, or allergic to, everything, but he came off as very whiny to the point of sheer annoyance. Of course, Kermit had to put up with other Muppets with annoying character traits on "The Muppet Show", so it would be natural to still save his friend anyway. I have always respected that nobility of Kermit. Seriously.

I also thought there was a nice subtle tribute to Jim Henson in this movie, as Kermit walks along and passes by a boy who sees him. The boy is standing in front of his house, and the mailbox you see has the name "Henson" on it. The closeup on the mailbox wasn't necessary, though, as if the audience couldn't figure that one out for themselves. Also, I wish the boy did more than just look at Kermit.

Probably one of the main reasons this film went directly to video was because the songs weren't very memorable. There could have been a better song written for Kermit to sing as he gases upon a star in the sky. "When You Wish Upon A Star" (from "Pinocchio" (1940)) can't be the limit to songs about stars in kids films. I also thought the song the rabbit sang about how great it is to be a pet was not good enough. Given the great songs Paul Williams wrote for "The Muppet Movie" and "The Muppet Christmas Carol", it was a shame they could not get him to write songs for this movie.

Also, being a huge Muppet fan, I was a little let down that only two Muppets from "The Muppet Show", Statler & Waldorf a.k.a. "The Two Old Guys On The Balcony", made a cameo in this movie. Although an overload of Muppets would have hurt this movie, I thought it would have been cool to have Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker appear even briefly in the high school lab. The voice of the star calling for Kermit sounded quite a bit like Miss Piggy too, yet that cameo would have been a stretch, especially considering how hard it must be to hire Frank Oz these days.

The film also had a missed opportunity to see the other frogs all grown up. The familiar older Kermit serves as a framework for this story. When it ends, it shows him heading into the swamp because, he says, he is still friends with Croaker and Goggles. You hear their voices, but you don't see them, and that made for a clunky ending.

So Muppet fans like myself may be disappointed that this film doesn't live up to the high quality of the previous, theatrically-released Muppet films. However, I bet kids will like it, and I can't fault them for liking such a movie. If "Kermit's Swamp Years" obtains a cult following, what right do I have to tell people they can't like a film? It's something I try not to do anyway.

I bought this movie for my 2 and 3 year old because they've recently become interested in The Muppets and it barely held their attention... that is until there was a scene toward the end when there is apparently a scalpel fight between the Dr. Krassman and Kermit. They couldn't take their eyes off of it, and I couldn't believe mine! Jim Henson would be so disappointed. Why would a children's movie show a fight with scalpel? Yes, I know that no one was killed, but seriously... couldn't they have just let Kermit release the little guy from a cage or something? Does he have to wield a scalpel? My kids won't be watching this movie again, but now I'm waiting for them to start a sword fight with butter knives in the kitchen. Why was this movie given the rating of G instead of PG? Like I said, Jim Henson would be so disappointed at this. This was not his vision of a children's production.

This recent Muppet film has been greeted with accusations of cynical "cashing-in" on the part of the producers. These can be easily batted away, however, when one comes to personally experience this re-imagining of Kermit's origins.

With a batch of new, but undeniably 'muppet' friends, Kermit begins life as just another ordinary frog - but it is the fact that he could love and can dream that sets him apart and on the road to fame.

I was reminded of the opening scenes of 'The Muppet Movie', when 'Rainbow Connection', and the spindly-legged creature singing it, stole my infant heart and replaced it with a font of dreams and wandering imagination. At that age I wondered what Kermit was doing on the swamp planet of Dagobah,not recognising the Florida everglades. In a way, I feel that this was a correct, spiritual link to make - between Henson's musical amphibian and Oz's diminutive sage the common truth that it is "not easy being green" is shared.

With Kermit's name in the title, the film is a must for fans, or rather, kin of the muppets. The 'Disney's franchise' years are behind it, unsavoury memories of the corporate-flavoured 'Muppets in Disneyworld' TV special are expunged from the memory and the renaissance engendered by 'Muppets in Space' continues apace.

The original muppet-makers' hands are less in evidence on this film, but don't let that turn you away. In many ways this is the spiritual cousin, and, oddly, natural accompaniment to the Star Wars prequels.

This film is a shoddy and unfortunate attempt at muppetry. The plot is poorly developed, the writing is sadly missing spark, the jokes are not funny, the songs were uneven and flat. The movie didn't even hold the attention of my 3-year old, and he LOVES the muppets.

There are MUCH better muppet videos out there including any of the muppet movies and many other small productions (see Muppet Classic Theater PLEASE!!).

Avoid this one...it was a major disappointment.

It's always nice to see Kermit, but this film (aimed squarely at young children one suspects) sadly isn't that great.

I just want to say one thing that I know I shouldn't be too hard on this film. This is a straight to video film, and they're not always good. I do understand, but we're talking about the Muppets. And Kermit's Swamp Years could be the worst to come out of it. The 2000s was a terrible decade when it comes to the Muppet films, and this is heads down the biggest example. This is supposed to be an origin film about Kermit The Frog, but the film failed on doing any of that. The movie is just about Kermit and his childhood friends discovering outside the swamp as a rescue story, which makes it very dull and predictable. There are only some musical numbers but unlike other Muppet films, this has the least amount of that. And they're easily forgettable. The logic in this movie makes no sense, even when we get to the school scene. The characters are really annoying, really bland and really useless. The humor doesn't get any effective, and that's exactly the big problem with the film. Not just that it would contain gross jokes and pop culture references, but mostly with the tone that makes the movie an insult to The Muppets. The cameos the movie would use are the things Kermit would discover what he would experience in The Muppet Movie, and the movie sets him like it would never happen. This movie is shameless in the way they use those cameos. The only thing the movie got right is the puppetry. But even so, the editing feels completely wasted. Honestly, there isn't really the point watching this film judging how it doesn't care anything that it wanted to be Kermit's origins. If you really want to watch the origin to The Muppets, go watch The Muppet Movie. It does a much better job setting up to take place how they got famous before The Muppet Show. In fact, it does contain much useful characters. As a failure as a prequel, the Muppets have been at their worst in this film.

Kermit's Swamp Years was something my 5 year old nephew enjoyed, but really didn't pay much attention to it. Having bought a series of Muppets movies the same day as this one (Muppets Take Manhattan and Muppets in Space) and having seen those before this one in that week, I was a bit disappointed at the quality drop. The human actors in this movie are terrible, terrible. Overacting and completely 2 dimensional, more so than the Muppets themselves.

I enjoyed the behind the scenes with the Armadillo more than the actual movie, as well as the blooper reels and the end credits with more bloopers. But there is something gone in the post-Henson Muppet productions. There is a kind of innocence lost and some of the jokes mentioning poop are not what I would expect in a Muppet movie. There are also some tongue in cheek moments which do not add to the experience.

There is a moment when scalpels are used in a kind of sword fight, and it doesn't seem very appropriate. especially for a kid's movie.

Overall, a fun experience for the young children, but I have seen a lot deeper and much better stories from previous Muppet movies. This one feels watered down.

It is almost unfair to the movie makers who work so hard to produce an entertaining piece of art. I am asked to grade their work solely based upon what I saw on the screen. The key phrase here is "what I saw." If I choose the "see" the whole movie, then a fair opinion can be respected. But what if I cannot bear to sit through a poor opening; one where I cannot embrace the characters or situation enough to care? This is the problem with Kermit's Swamp Years. Because of this, I truly believe that no matter how the story begs to be told, movie makers better hook you in for the long haul or else. I am a big Muppet fan and could not get past the first 10 minutes. That is sad. Brian Henson, Frank Oz, where were you?

although I couldn't put my finger on why. I could have picked it up at Wal-Mart for five bucks, and yet I didn't. There was something about the packaging and the ads I'd seen that made me think "This isn't a Muppet film. This is a kids' movie by people who think they know what kids like" and I didn't know what made me think that way.

Until a few minutes ago, when the answer struck me like a lead brick: Color.

In most, if not all, Muppet productions to date, it has been much easier to ignore the fact that the characters are fairly brightly colored, felt objects, because of the surrounding color. The Muppet Show took place in a dimly lit theater, with dark burgundy curtains serving as Kermit's introductory backdrop. Sesame Street is, for the most part, dark grey. Fairly subdued, real-type places. The Muppet Movie ranges the gamut, but it always takes place in real locations, with no bright colors added for the sake of bright colors. And that's what was missing from (at least the promotional portions of) this movie. It seemed like they were aiming for kids because nothing seemed real. Including the grass. Including the swamp. None of it seemed like it was even *attempting* to be real, and so it was difficult for me to take it seriously enough to even desire to watch it.

It might be a good movie. I don't know. Maybe I'll learn different sometime.

But for this Muppet fan, it was just asking for one unbelief-suspension too many.

My 3 year old daughter loves this movie. We've seen it too many times. It was hard to watch the first time. The acting is horrible! The puppets out-act the humans. I'm only to guess that the message is don't dissect frogs in science class. Lame unless you're really little.

There is also something deeply weird about this movie. It's like it keeps changing its character. At first it's one style and then the next style. I actually feel bad for the actors and actress in the movie. It's like they sold out any chance of doing a future movie for this horrible creation. The music is weird too. Bits of 80s pop, sad hard rock attempts and other forms that just don't sound right in a children's movie.

I also don't like the fact that they keep saying "shut up" and insulting each other. It's just not a good example. The animals are loving, the humans are not. Bad.

You may wonder why I gave it a five. Um... well. I'm not 3 years old.