Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (NR)

It's lower on the slapstick/action register than a lot of kiddie movies, and in fact one can practically imagine the whole tale done with live actors and human characters -- without significant change.  But it wouldn't be the same, of course. A good-hearted Jim Henson spirit, paying tribute to family, friendship, and music (an eclectic score by Paul Williams), pemeates Emmet Otter, even if muppetry here is of a simpler, lower-tech variety than productions such as as Muppet Treasure Island or Labyrinth.

But miniature sets are clearly painstakingly done, and the sight of Kermit on a bicycle or swamp creatures in the background ice-skating are Muppet-errific indeed. A leisurely pace gives it a nice bedtime-story flavor, and the setting -- not really the 1930s but with a sort of Depression-era milieu and attitudes -- endows a Waltons Mountain flavor. One complaint; maybe it's the beady little black eyes, but the lookalike, pouchy-cheeked otters just don't connect to the camera and the viewer the way Henson's other, more expressive creations do.