50 Greatest Muppet Movie Moments

Yet To Come

The Moment: Michael Caine's Ebenezer Scrooge comes face to face with the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, as The Muppet Christmas Carol drops the comedy in favour of a genuinely creepy piece of drama.

Muppet Magic: Caine, of course, is excellent, but the obvious decision to make the wraith a puppet gives it an uncanny movement far more effective than the usual 'man in a cloak' style of Dickens adaptations.

A Close Encounter

The Moment: Muppets From Space might be the weak link in the Muppets' big-screen adventures, but its epic ending at least answers the decades-old question of Gonzo's identity by confirming that he's an alien.

Muppet Magic: Gonzo's kin prove that showbiz runs in the family by putting on a performance of 'Celebration'.

(M)ad Frogs

The Moment: During The Muppets Take Manhattan , an amnesiac Kermit gets a new identity as an ad man working on Ocean Breeze Soap, "for people who don't want to stink."

Muppet Magic: Kermit offering some new advice to his colleagues - "just say what the product does? Nobody's ever tried that!" - is even funnier after Mad Men .

Darkness Falls

The Moment: The splintering of The Dark Crystal creates a thousand-year-old war between the cruel Skeksis and the benign Mystics.

Muppet Magic: Jim Henson's first film without Kermit and co. highlights that he was never entirely a feelgood guy - as the title suggests, this is a fairytale that can only find the light by first showing the darkness.

Party For One

The Moment: The girls get a chance to shine in The Muppets , as Miss Piggy and Mary duet to 'Me Party' via split-screen.

Muppet Magic: Amy Adams gets into the spirit of Muppety malleability by throwing some impressive moves.

Hitched

The Moment: 'Somebody's Getting Married.' Specifically, Miss Piggy tricking Kermit into marrying her by disguising a genuine marriage ceremony as a Broadway show, at the end of The Muppets Take Manhattan .

Muppet Magic: Inevitably, the cake has been created by the Swedish Chef.

Our Very Special Guest Star, Rocky Balboa

The Moment: In Rocky 3 , Rocky Balboa makes the most of his celebrity by appearing as the star guest on The Muppet Show .

Muppet Magic: A lovely grace note that lends realism to Rocky's story, even though by the time Rocky 3 premiered The Muppet Show was no longer being made. (The film uses redubbed footage from Sylvester Stallone's real-life 1979 appearance.)

Yeth?

The Moment: More of a series of moments, as The Muppet Movie revels in a glorious running gag about a woman (played by Carol Kane) who continually - and falsely - believes she's being summoned.

Muppet Magic: Here's how the gag works. Every time Kermit counters a misconception about frog biology, he yells "Myth, myth," and Kane crops up to answer: "Yeth?"

Diva Duo

The Moment: In The Muppets Take Manhattan , Miss Piggy gets a job on the make-up counter at a department store, working with Joan Rivers, only for everything to go wrong when the diva duo go crazy with the merchandise.

Muppet Magic: "My frog turned on me," Miss Piggy tells her. Rivers replies, "I had some bad tuna myself."

One Sail Short Of A Ship

The Moment: After six days lost at sea en route to Muppet Treasure Island , the crew of the Hispaniola get 'Cabin Fever', cueing the daftest show-stopper in the Muppets' repertoire.

Muppet Magic: The ship is turned into a Caribbean-themed nightclub. Of course.