YMMV / The Muppets Take Manhattan

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Was Kermit and Piggy's wedding real, or just part of the play? The flame wars that have raged over this... The official answer from Word of God is that it's a bit of both, with Kermit intending it to just be a part of the play, while Miss Piggy attempted to turn it into a real wedding by hiring a real minister behind Kermit's back, which is a big part for why the two are estranged in The Muppets (2011).
• Awesome Music: Every musical note in the film. Extra points for getting a Broadway orchestrator, Ralph Burns, to score the film...
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: "Gonna Always Love You". Piggy wonders, out of nowhere, what things would have been like if she and Kermit had known each other ever since they were little... cue an Imagine Spot featuring an entire musical number sung by, well, Muppet babies. When Piggy is snapped out of her imaginings, it never comes up again. As cute and adorable as it is, its existence makes very little sense except as a Poorly Disguised Pilot for Muppet Babies (1984) (and even that wasn't actually why it was made, as the cartoon was created in direct response to how popular the scene was).
• Harsher in Hindsight: The song "Saying Goodbye" seems strangely prophetic about the fate of the Muppets just a few years later. To wit:
  • Scooter sings a whole verse by himself. After Richard Hunt died, Scooter made no notable performances for over a decade (even being completely absent for seven years).
  • Rowlf literally getting Put on a Bus. After Jim Henson's death it was almost a decade before Rowlf so much as spoke again, and another decade before he started getting actual roles again.
  • A sad, forlorn Fozzie making a lonely exodus on his own, clearly missing Kermit terribly, almost seems to mirror Frank Oz's inexorable drift away from the Muppets to focus on his directing work after losing his best friend Jim.
  • Also, by their part in the song, Gonzo and Camilla have already separated from their group of longtime friends and are by themselves. As it turns out, Dave Goelz and Jerry Nelson would be the last of the pre-Muppet Show performers to stick with the group (until Nelson's semi-retirement in 2004 and death in 2012).
• Hilarious in Hindsight
  • "Those producers looked at us like we were from outer space!", says Scooter. Several years later, we find out that Gonzo IS.
  • The fact that the rats are working at a diner.
  • You don't think the Muppets would work on Broadway? It may not be as farfetched as you think.
    • And of course there's Avenue Q. (A Deconstructive Parody of Sesame Street that was created specifically for older viewers.)
  • The partial joke of Kermit's amnesiac name "Phillip Phil" is that is seems too ridiculous to be real. Now we know at least one person carries that name...
• Narm Charm: Miss Piggy's human stunt double — she's grown two feet and gets more human proportions.
• Nightmare Fuel: Kermit getting hit by the taxi. Even though anyone over the age of 5 should be Genre Savvy enough to know he'll be okay, it's still disturbing to see such a beloved, iconic character lying injured in the street as anxious people gather around him.
• Older Than They Think:
  • After The Muppets came out in 2011 there was a lot of debate about "depressed Kermit" and whether the character had become more downbeat in the post-Jim Henson era. It was even cited as a factor in Steve Whitmire's dismissal from the Muppet organization in 2016. But Kermit is quite glum and pessimistic for much of this film, especially the famous meltdown scene where he yells at the other Muppets.
  • Art Carney already had a bit of a history with the Muppets before he played Bernard Crawford, having co-starred with them in the TV special The Great Santa Claus Switch in 1970, plus appearing with them in The Perry Como Winter Show two years later.
• One-Scene Wonder: The song with the Baby versions of the Muppets was such a hit it led to the cartoon.
• Retroactive Recognition: Gates McFadden, who at the time was much more a dancer and choreographer than an actress. That would change, of course, with Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• Sequelitis: Although the film is generally well-liked, there are also some Muppet fans who feel it's one of the weaker installments due to most of the cast being Out of Focus and the realistic, un-Muppet-like tone. Even fans who like it still think The Muppet Movie was a case of First Installment Wins, and that The Great Muppet Caper was funnier and more ambitious.

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