Mr Willowby’s Christmas Tree (1995)
In A Nutshell:- A family of mice go on an unexpected odyssey for the perfect Christmas tree while Mr Willowby prepares for his Christmas party.
The Background:- This special follows a fine Muppet tradition of adapting existing tales (for example, the Tales From Muppetland series which adapted Cinderella, The Frog Prince and The Musicians Of Bremen) with this one being based on a 1963 book by Robert Barry. It follows a mouse family as they attempt to cut down the perfect tree for Christmas and are thrown around from Mr Willowby's to a family of bears then owls and so on...
To give it that Muppety feel (and also in keeping with other holiday specials), Kermit intros and appears throughout to narrate. It’s an unusual ensemble cast - there aren’t many productions I’d expect to see Downey Jr, Neilsen and Channing acting in.
Muppetrivia:- The mouse family (Father, Mother, Ned, Beverly and Grandfather) are here recycled from The Muppet Christmas Carol (hmm, I don't seem to have talked about that one so far, curious…).
Thus could just be a personal view but Downey Jr looks particularly jittery given that this was pretty close to his most prolonged stint in rehab.
The bear puppet which would later become Bobo in Muppets Tonight and many subsequent Muppet productions was originally built for the film The Muppets Take Manhattan.
The writer of the special, Mitchell Kriegman, would later go on to create Bear In The Big Blue House for the Henson Company (more bears…).
Is It Any Good? I’m in serious danger of overusing the word “charm” throughout this series but, in the animal sequences, this special definitely has it. It’s lacking a little in the human scenes (and that’s not an uncommon occurrence in Muppet stuff - let’s face it, we’re here for the puppets) but, at 22 minutes, it’s short enough to not outstay its welcome.
Next Time:- A TV movie whose title is really somewhat misleading...
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