History YMMV / TheMuppetChristmasCarol

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Only a little, and he doesn't let the joke carry on for too long, but even post-redemption Scrooge fails to see the problem with showing up at the Cratchits' house on Christmas morning and briefly making Bob think he's been fired. At least in the book he waits to do it until Bob comes back to the office the next day, without interrupting the family's holiday. (Granted, he's intentionally trying to Make A Funny in-universe by playing on his reputation and mask a surprise gift of turkey, but it's still a ''bit'' of a dick move to stress out Bob like that for a hot minute.)
* VindicatedByHistory: Achieving only modest box office when it was first released, likely due to ''Film/HomeAlone2LostInNewYork'' taking away a majority of its family audience and after Disney's platform release system at the time got crushed by ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' rather quickly, the film now has a cult following among Muppet fans and people who find it a great Christmas movie, and it's become a holiday institution among Muppet and Charles Dickens fans in particular, especially in the UK.

** Many doubted how anyone could replace Jim Henson as Kermit, but after the film, most would say that he's in good hands with Steve Whitmire, though not quite as good as Henson.

* MemeticMutation: Captioned screenshots from the "One More Sleep 'til Christmas" sequence have been frequently used on Tumblr to express excitement over an upcoming release date.
-->''"There's only one more sleep till (insert thing being hyped here)..."''\\

** Many fans took issue with Belle's ballad, "When Love is Gone" getting cut from the Blu-Ray and Disney Plus versions of the film, later restored after outcry. ''WesternAnimation/MisterMagoosChristmasCarol'' had a similar tumultuous history with their Belle ballad, "Winter was Warm", which was cut from broadcast television airings starting in the late 80s but was added back for the DVD release.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Several years prior, a Muppet-based adaptation of ''A Christmas Carol'' appeared in comic form in an issue of ''Muppet Magazine''. Although it was an all-Muppet-character cast (including Sam the Eagle as Scrooge and Animal as Jacob Marley), it did cast Kermit as Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy as his wife, and Robin as Tiny Tim; and Gonzo as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (he didn't say anything because he forgot his lines).

** Some fans love the song for its TearJerker quality and as a hauntingly tragic sum-up of how Scrooge's life has essentially lost all semblance of happiness and humanity at this point. It shows Scrooge's grief and pain even decades later, and finally leaves him open to hearing what the spirits are saying. Plus, without it, the crying reactions of everyone else seem out of place.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Only a little, and he doesn't let the joke carry on for too long, but even post-redemption Scrooge fails to see the problem with showing up at the Cratchits' house on Christmas morning and briefly making Bob think he's been fired. At least in the book he waits to do it until Bob comes back to the office the next day, without interrupting the family's holiday. (Granted, he's intentionally trying to Make A Funny in-universe by playing on his reputation and mask a surprise gift of goose, but it's still a ''bit'' of a dick move to stress out Bob like that for a hot minute.)

* CantUnHearIt: Creator/MichaelCaine's performance in this film is widely considered to be one of the most iconic cinematic portrayals of Scrooge.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Lampshaded and subverted during the opening number, as sung by a choir of old lady muppets:
-->''He must be so lonely,''
-->''He must be so sad!''
-->''He goes to extremes''
-->''To convince us he's bad!''
-->''He's really a victim''
-->''Of fear and of pride!''
-->''Look close and there must be''
-->''A sweet man inside!''
-->[Scrooge walks by them without putting any change in their bucket]
-->''...Nah! Uh-uh!''
** Intriguingly, the old lady muppets were right: There really was a sweet man inside Scrooge — you just had to dig really deep inside to even see him, let alone get him out!

* WTHCastingAgency:
** "Oh sweet, they're going to do a version of Christmas Carol with Muppets. Fun! Wait, with ''Michael Caine?!"'' It worked, however, and Caine is one of the most memorable actors in the role; he's completely serious and crotchety. Caine went on record as saying he had a ball with the production, adding that the best way to interact with the Muppets is to treat them all as though they're members of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Smart guy.
** Averted with most of the Muppet characters, who fit their roles like a glove. Highlights include Kermit as the put-upon Bob Cratchit, Robin the Frog as Tiny Tim, and Gonzo narrating the movie as Creator/CharlesDickens himself.

* GeniusBonus: Look very closely in one of the crowd sequences. One of the background Muppets is a lobster hanging out of a basement window. This is a reference to the line, "like bad lobster in a dark cellar," one of Charles Dickens' weirder turns of phrase.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Only a little, and he doesn't let the joke carry on for too long, but even post-redemption Scrooge fails to see the problem with showing up at the Cratchits' house on Christmas morning and briefly making Bob think he's been fired. At least in the book he waits to do it until Bob comes back to the office the next day, without interrupting the family's holiday.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Several years prior, a Muppet-based adaptation of ''A Christmas Carol'' appeared in comic form in an issue of ''Muppet Magazine''. Although it was an all-Muppet-character cast (including Sam the Eagle as Scrooge and Animal as Jacob Marley), it did cast Kermit as Bob Cratchit and Miss Piggy as his wife; and Gonzo as the Ghost of Christmas future (he didn't say anything because he forgot his lines).

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Only a little, and he doesn't let the joke carry on for too long, but even post-redemption Scrooge fails to see the problem with showing up at the Cratchets' house on Christmas morning and briefly making Bob think he's been fired.

** "Oh sweet, they're going to do a version of Christmas Carol with Muppets. Fun! Wait, with ''Michael Caine''?!" It worked, however, and Caine is one of the most memorable actors in the role; he's completely serious and crotchety. Caine went on record as saying he had a ball with the production, adding that the best way to interact with the Muppets is to treat them all as though they're members of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Smart guy.

** Some fans love the song for its TearJerker quality and as a tragic sum-up of how Scrooge's life has essentially lost all semblance of happiness and humanity at this point. It shows Scrooge's grief and pain even decades later, and finally leaves him open to hearing what the spirits are saying. Plus, without it, the crying reactions of everyone else seem out of place.

* VindicatedByHistory: Achieving only modest box office when it was first released, likely due to ''[[Film/HomeAlone Home Alone 2: Lost in New York]]'' taking away a majority of its family audience and after Disney's platform release system at the time got crushed by ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' rather quickly, the film now has a cult following among Muppet fans and people who find it a great Christmas movie, and it's become a holiday institution among Muppet and Charles Dickens fans in particular, especially in the UK.

* {{Narm}}: Michael Caine plays Scrooge throughout the film as if he were in a non-Muppet production, so it's a bit silly when he says he used to work at "Mr. Fozziwig's Rubber Chicken Factory."
** The way Scrooge says his own name as he reads it off his grave; while effective, there's just the vaguest undertone of "Gosh darn it!"

* {{Adorkable}}: Scrooge of all people during the song "It Feels Like Christmas," [[DefrostingIceQueen when he finally starts loosening up and enjoying himself]]. After facing the tragedy of his past, he starts to smile and laugh with the Christmas Present, who shows him the joys of the holiday. Then he tries to imitate Christmas Present's swinging dance, but he is so stiff that it looks silly, and misses that Christmas Present stops.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Honestly, the entire score, fondly remembered as some of Music/PaulWilliams' best Muppets work.
* BrokenBase: "When Love Is Gone". The opinions about this song and whether or not is should be in the movie at all vary wildly.
** Some fans love the song for its TearJerker quality and as a tragic sum-up of how Scrooge's life has essentially lost all semblance of happiness and humanity at this point. It shows Scrooge's grief and pain even decades later, and finally leaves him open to hearing what the spirits are saying. Plus, without it the crying reactions of everyone else seem out of place.
** Others think the movie is better off for not including it, at least partly because Belle is such an underdeveloped character and her relationship with Scrooge has been entirely off-screen and so it feels a little like overkill to dedicating a four minute song to lamenting it end. The website Tough Pigs summed it up thusly when [[https://toughpigs.com/xmascarol-1/ they talked about the movie]]:

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: This is ''the'' Christmas movie in the United Kingdom. During its original release it topped the box office for two weeks in a row. Its popularity endures in the country to this day - until it was bought out by cable network Sky in 2019, Channel 4 aired the film every Christmas[[note]]Traditionally on Christmas Eve, although occasionally on the day itself in the morning or early afternoon[[/note]], and ever since 2012, the uncut version of the film is released into theaters every Christmas in a select number of theaters, alongside ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'' beginning in 2014.

* NewerThanTheyThink: A lot of people assume that Statler and Waldorf always said "dohohohoho" when laughing. However that specific laugh started with this film after Dave Goelz and Jerry Nelson took over the characters. Prior to that on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' their laugh was closer to "ehehehehe"

** The Ghost of Christmas Past is otherwise well-portrayed with eerie effects that still hold up years later, but the close-up shot of Scrooge grasping her hand make it very obvious that Michael Caine is grabbing on to a piece of plastic.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Without "When Love is Gone", the scene of Scrooge and Belle's breakup is incredibly short and lacks emotional weight, even though Scrooges pleading with the Spirit of Christmas Past suggests it's massively painful moment in his life, and makes the crying at the end (both Scrooge's and Rizzo's) feel a bit overdone. With the scene, Belle sings passionately about how much she believed in their love, but now sees he has chosen a path she can't follow but genuinely wishes him well. Young Scrooge tries a half-hearted effort to stop her, before choosing to walk away. Belle briefly turns to see he is gone as she expected, and Present Day Scrooge joins in song at first with her, then gradually breaks into silent tears as he recalls she is a shadow of the past and nothing he can do will stop her walking away again.

** "Oh sweet, they're going to do a version of Christmas Carol with Muppets. Fun! Wait, with ''Michael Caine''?!" It worked, however, and Caine is one of the most memorable actors in the role; he's completely serious and crochety. Caine went on record as saying he had a ball with the production, adding that the best way to interact with the Muppets is to treat them all as though they're members of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Smart guy.

* UncannyValley: The Ghost of Christmas Past. The effect of a human-like puppet operated in a water tank and added in via green-screen is eerie. Scrooge is both entranced and scared, since she is meant to be a physical representation of his past and innocence.

** "Oh sweet, they're going to do a version of Christmas Carol with Muppets. Fun! Wait, with ''Sir Michael Caine''?!" It worked, however, and Caine is one of the most memorable actors in the role; he's completely serious and crochety. Caine went on record as saying he had a ball with the production, adding that the best way to interact with the Muppets is to treat them all as though they're members of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Smart guy.

* EvenBetterSequel: A unique case and even really debatable. This is widely considered the Muppet movie that can come the closest to rivaling ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'' as the best. Due to millennials likely being more exposed to ''Christmas Carol'' growing up than the aforementioned ''Movie'' and its current status as an iconic Christmas movie, it can be considered by a certain, more vocal audience the best Muppet film. Though that said, most of the fandom leans toward ''The Muppet Movie'' more often than not.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: An intentional in-universe example. The choir of elderly lady Muppets saying that Scrooge must be lonely and sad, then changing their minds when he ignores them, is PlayedForLaughs. Then we discover his backstory, showing they were right.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Honestly, the entire score, fondly remembered as some of Paul Williams' best Muppets work.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Without "When Love is Gone", the scene of Scrooge and Belle's breakup is incredibly short and lacks emotional weight when Scrooges pleading with the Spirit of Christmas Past suggests it's massively painful moment in his life and makes the crying at the end feel a bit overdone. With the scene, Belle sings passionately about how much she believed in their love, but now sees he has chosen a path she can't follow but genuinely wishes him well. Young Scrooge tries a half-hearted effort to stop her, before choosing to walk away. Belle briefly turns to see he is gone as she expected, and Present Day Scrooge joins in song at first with her, then gradually breaks into silent tears as he recalls she is a shadow of the past and nothing he can do will stop her walking away again.

* AudienceColoringAdaptation: Thanks partly to the influence of this version, many productions will portray Christmas Past as a female, or at least played by a woman. ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaTheAnimatedSeries'' lampshades this when Hilda is playing Christmas Past, and Sabrina gets annoyed at her for dressing too glamorously.

-->“When Love Is Gone” is everything that’s wrong with this movie. What made them think that I wanted to see a character who we just met one scene ago singing a slow song about the end of a relationship we haven’t seen? I don’t even know this girl.