Line #45 Film/TheMuppetsWizardOfOz


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5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/muppets_wizard_of_oz.png]]
6	''The Muppets' Wizard of Oz'' is a 2005 MadeForTVMovie adaption of ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'', with Franchise/TheMuppets. Staring Music/{{Ashanti}} as Dorothy Gale, Kermit as the Scarecrow, The Great Gonzo as the Tin Man (here called Tin Thing), Fozzie Bear as The Cowardly Lion, Pepe the Prawn as Toto, and Miss Piggy as the witches of the East, North (Tattypoo), West, and South (Glinda). Despite many changes to suit the Muppet cast, it is actually more faithful to the book in some places than [[Film/TheWizardOfOz the classic film]].
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8	Dorothy lives in Kansas and works as a waitress for her Aunt Em's diner. She dreams of becoming a famous singer, but one day, a tornado whisks her and her pet prawn to the land of Oz. The denizens tell Dorothy that the Wizard of Oz could make her dreams come true. On her way, she makes friends with the Muppets, who each have a desire for the Wizard to grant. When they meet the Wizard, he gives them a task to do before he can help them: defeat the Wicked Witch of the West.
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10	Notable as the first Muppet production after Disney bought the franchise the previous year, though it had a largely negative critical reception, and Disney hasn't attempted any further literary adaptations starring The Muppets. Followed by ''Film/AMuppetsChristmasLettersToSanta'' in 2008.
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13	!!''The Muppets' Wizard of Oz'' provides examples of the following tropes:
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15	* AccidentalRhyme: Pepe says "rats in hats" at one point.
16	-->'''Pepe''': "Hey, that rhymes. I'm a poet and didn't realize I had such a capability."
17	* AdaptationSpeciesChange:
18	** Toto is a king prawn instead of a dog. Justified, since after Dorothy ends up in Oz, Toto is played by Pepe. Pre-tornado, he's an actual prawn in a goldfish bowl.
19	** In the book, one of the Wizard's forms is a hairy, rhino-faced monster with five eyes and ten limbs. Here, his monster form is simply a dragon.
20	** Averted with the Cowardly Lion: he's still a lion, even though his "actor", Fozzie, is a bear.
21	* AdoptTheFood: The reason for Toto being a prawn instead of a dog is explained as Dorothy not being allowed a dog, so she rescued a prawn from the diner.
22	* [[AscendedFanBoy Ascended Fan Girl]]: Dorothy.
23	* BandOfRelatives: The four witches, when they sang together as The Four Little Pigs.
24	* BigDamnHeroes: The Munchkins, played by the rats and led by Rizzo teach Dorothy a song to summon them if they are needed.
25	* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Dorothy starts off as this. She gets better, though.
26	* BringingBackProof: Dorothy and her friends Scarecrow, Tin Thing, and the Cowardly Lion, played by Kermit the Frog, Gonzo, and Fozzie Bear, have to get the magic eye from the Wicked Witch of the West. They can bring it back to the Wizard as proof they can grant their wishes.
27	* TheBurlesqueOfVenus: The Wicked Witch of the West keeps her own version of Creator/SandroBotticelli's [[Art/TheBirthOfVenusBotticelli painting]] hanging in her lair, with herself posing as Venus and one of her flying monkeys in place of Zephyr and his assistant.
28	* TheCameo
29	** In the uncut version, Dorothy steps into Dr. Honeydew's Makeover Machine to try on a punk look, and comes out played by Kelly Osbourne.
30	** Creator/QuentinTarantino appears in a CutawayGag to tell Kermit some plans he thought up for the fight between Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West.
31	* TheCastShowOff: Ashanti
32	* CastingGag
33	** Gonzo and Fozzie dressed as the Tin Man and Cowardly Lion, respectively, in the 1981 TV special ''The Muppets Go to the Movies'', when they joined Miss Piggy (dressed as Dorothy) and Scooter (as the Scarecrow) for a medley of songs from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.
34	** Kermit, Gonzo, and Fozzie previously played the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion, respectively, in the ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984'' episode "By The Book".
35	* CelebrityParadox:
36	** As noted above, Dorothy enters an Image Makeover machine, and steps out as Kelly Osbourne; however, the others feel that Ashanti is a more suitable look for her.
37	** The Muppets are a real performing troupe who Dorothy wants to perform with. Their similarity to her Oz friends is not explored (and there's no AllJustADream explanation).
38	* CompositeCharacter:
39	** The Munchkins (played by the rats) also take the role of the Field Mice in the book.
40	** In something of a meta example, and possibly a coincidence, Pepe has more in common with Billina the Chicken than Toto. He can talk when in Oz[[note]]''Tik-Tok of Oz'' would reveal that Toto ''can'' talk when in Oz, like all animals, but chooses not to[[/note]], is a DeadpanSnarker, and chooses to stay in Oz since his prospects in Kansas is being cooked and eaten.
41	* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: After Glinda tells Dorothy she could have just used the silver shoes to return to Kansas, Dorothy glares at Tattypoo, for not telling her. Tattypoo reminds her that fantasy stories often end with the protagonist realizing [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong what she needed was with her all along]].
42	* DangerouslyGarishEnvironment: Just like the literal poppy field in the original movie (and the [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz book]] it was based on), the nightclub called "Poppy Fields" qualifies. It has vibrant neon signs and is decorated with a flower motif, but it knocks the protagonists unconscious.
43	* DarkerAndEdgier: The movie definitely has traces of this compared not only to other Muppet productions, but to other Oz productions as well. The scene where the Flying Monkeys rip apart the Scarecrow and the Tin Thing is probably one of the most disturbing scenes in any Muppet movie.
44	* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: Whereas she was splashed with water in the original book and movie, the Wicked Witch of the West is kicked into a tub full of water here. It even gets established that bottle water won't kill her. If only one of her mooks didn't finish filling the tub up using a hose.
45	* TheDissTrack: The song sung by the Wicked Witch of the West, portrayed by Miss Piggy, sings to Dorothy about how she will never [[IJustWantToBeSpecial be famous like she wants]].
46	* EvilIsHammy: And you thought Piggy was already a LargeHam?
47	* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: The Wicked Witch of the West melts quite graphically.
48	* GenderFlip: As noted above, the Munchkins are also the Field Mice from the book. Which makes Rizzo's role as Mayor of Munchkinland equivalent to the Queen of the Field Mice.
49	* IChooseToStay: Toto stays in Oz.
50	* IWantSong: "Kansas"
51	* LastMinuteHookup: Between Glinda and the Scarecrow.
52	* MythologyGag: Kermit, Gonzo and Fozzie previously played the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion in an episode of ''Muppet Babies'' and the TV special, ''The Muppets Go to the Movies''.
53	* OutSick: The reason why the witch sends the Flying Monkeys instead of the Angry Bees is because the bees have stomach flu.
54	* PoweringVillainRealization: At one point, the characters must cross a bridge guarded by two trolls who resemble [[TheHeckler Statler and Waldorf]]. Their taunts make people fall off the bridge, but Dorothy realises that if they ignore their words, they won't fall.
55	* RaceLift: African-Americans portray Dorothy (Ashanti), Aunt Em (Music/QueenLatifah), and Uncle Henry (Creator/DavidAlanGrier), a la ''Theatre/TheWiz''.[[note]]Incidentally, all three of those performers had and/or would later have experience performing in ''The Wiz''. Before ''The Muppets' Wizard of Oz'', Queen Latifah played Dorothy in her high school's play of ''The Wiz''. After ''The Muppets' Wizard of Oz'', David Alan Grier played the Wiz in the 2006 La Jolla Playhouse production, Ashanti portrayed Dorothy in a 2009 Off-Broadway New York City Center performance, and Queen Latifah and Grier respectively played the Wiz and the Cowardly Lion in the 2015 Creator/{{NBC}} telecast.[[/note]]
56	* ShoutOut: "Are you related to Creator/FrankOz?"
57	** The weatherman alerts Kansas that the Tornado went from right foot green to right foot yellow is a reference to the Parker Brothers board game, ''Twister!''
58	* ShownTheirWork: The movie includes a lot of references to Oz trivia that come from the books and not from the MGM movie. Most notably, the name of the Good Witch of the North, Tattypoo, is taken from the Ruth Plumly Thompson book ''The Giant Horse of Oz'', which was the twenty-second Oz book.
59	* SweetAndSourGrapes: Dorothy eventually realizes that she shouldn't value fame and fortune more than family, so she goes back home to Kansas. Then, she accepts an offer from the Muppets to go on tour with them, subsequently leaving her family ''again''. Although, they imply that Dorothy will do a better job keeping in touch with her family than she did in Oz. In the end, she realized it wasn't really so much fame and fortune she was after, it was simply being able to have a life for herself as a singer (much like Kermit wanting to sing and dance and make people happy in ''Film/TheMuppetMovie''); at the same time, Aunt Em tells Dorothy that she's realized that even though she may not be with her and Uncle Henry in person, she'll always be with them in their hearts, which is why Aunt Em ''finally'' lets loose the reins, since she had been overbearing with her at the beginning of the movie.
60	* TruerToTheText: Unlike most Wizard of Oz films after the release of [[Film/TheWizardOfOz the classic film]], this film depends far more on the original book, including several things that the original film did not (such as the monkey-controlling hat, the four witches and Dorothy's shoes being silver instead of ruby).
61	* VillainSong: "The Witch Is In the House."
62	* WeaksauceWeakness: The Wicked Witch of the West melts after landing in a tub filled with tap water. (She usually bathes in bottled water.)
63	* WhyAreWeWhispering:
64	-->'''Scarecrow:''' I'm not good at anything because... (''looks round for eavesdroppers'') (''whispering'') I don't have a brain.\
65	'''Dorothy:''' (''whispering'') You don't have a brain?\
66	'''Scarecrow:''' (''whispering'') Right.\
67	'''Dorothy:''' (''whispering'') Why are you whispering?\
68	'''Scarecrow:''' (''whispering'') Uh, well, I can't really answer that, because ... (''looks round for eavesdroppers'') I don't have a brain.
69	* YouLookFamiliar: This isn't the first time Jeffrey Tambor (the Wizard) and David Alan Grier (Uncle Henry) were involved with the Muppets before. Jeffrey Tambor was previously the main antagonist in ''Film/MuppetsFromSpace'', whereas David Alan Grier was an in-universe stage manager in the ''Series/SesameStreet'' special ''[[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Elmopalooza Elmopalooza]]'', and later appeared as Aladdin on ''Series/SesameStreet''.
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Context Film / TheMuppetsWizardOfOz