Cheap Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (DVD) (Jim Henson) Price

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Customer Reviews of Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas

DVD - about time!
well, i can't really rate the dvd, because its not out, but i can rate the film...this is a timeless classic that to me and my family has become synonymous with the weather getting cold....i can't remember a christmas without it...this is the Muppet retelling of "the Gift of the Magi" (which i learned later in life), and with the genious of Jim Henson, another master graces this film - the music of paul Williams...paul williams has been a major influence to me...he also wrote the music for the Secret of Nimh, and some may recognize his voice as the 'Penguin' on the "Batman Animated Series"...he was recently homaged on an episode of "Dexter's Laboratory" as dexter's music teacher...the songs in Jugband Christmas are songs that will stay with you forever..."Grandma's Bathing suit", "Barbeque", "aint no Hole in the Washtub", "Brothers" and my favorite "When the river Meets the Sea"...even if you never saw this film in the 70's or 80's, its never too late to discover it, maybe for your kids to discover it too...

I own both versions of the VHS...the one with more music and less dialog, and the one with more dialog and less music...it will be interresting to see if on this DVD they do one extended version with all the dialog and all the music...I am also curious to see if the quality is restored at all...
Either way, this is a movie to own.

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A meaningful and moving Christmas story
My sister, brother and I never missed this Muppet special when it used to air in the 70's. It remains a family favorite to this day, thanks to Nickolodeon re-runs and this edited-but-still-viable video copy. Emmet and his mother would like to "just once," have a "store-bought" Christmas for each other. In our materialistic culture, the love these characters have for each other and their pleasure in the small wonders of life are a lesson to us all. The sweet-faced animal characters, their beautiful voices, and the message about true giving make this a fun and very meaningful holiday special. Thanks to Russell and Lillian Hoban, who wrote the wonderful book upon which this is based, and to Jim Henson and Paul Williams for bringing it to life. They've given us a great gift, and I can't wait to share it with my own children someday. "Like a flower that has blossomed / In the dry and barren sand / We are born, and born again, most gracefully / So the winds of time will take us / With a sure and steady hand / When the river meets the sea."

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They should be required to indicate that it has been edited
This was one of my favorite Muppets features ever since the first time I saw it on HBO. Unfortunately, as other reviewers have indicated, this version has been clumsily edited and I was very disappointed in the changes. Kermit's narration has been removed, the ending is changed, and some of the lyrics of the songs are redone. The Muppets features always showed the whole range of emotions, from sentimentality to honest anger and a little cartoonish violence. These things have all been removed from the film. I am not sure if the changes were made to "sanitize" this for kids, or if it was just cut for time reasons, but the changes make no sense and really cut the heart out of the film. Save your money until they release the original HBO special.