The Muppets & Molly McGee Movie

The Muppets & Molly McGee Movie is a live-action/animation hybrid musical comedy movie on Disney+ directed by Brian Henson on the live-action/Muppet elements and Eric Goldberg on the animation elements, and an original screenplay written by Bill Motz, Frank Oz, and Brian Henson with the music and lyric of Rob Cantor and score of Hans Zimmer with the voices of Steve Whitmire, Ashly Burch, Dave Goelz, Eric Jacobson, Matt Vogel, Peter Linz, and David Rudman. The film is about how The Muppets and Molly McGee first meet, and through various adventures, both learn to depend on each other as friends.

A co-production between The Walt Disney Company and The Jim Henson Company, the movie was released on to Disney+ in May 31st, 2022 to widespread critical acclaim, with some critics calling it the best Muppets project that Disney has put out since the 2011 movie. Coincidentally, the release date was the 43rd anniversary of the release of The Muppet Movie in the United Kingdom. This movie also marks the first Muppets project that Steve Whitmire took part in since his firing from Disney in 2016.

Plot
Retiring from Hollywood due to the box office and critical failure of Muppets from Space, Kermit and the gang settle down in a small Illinois town called Brighton, which they stay for about 20 or so years. Life seemed to be mudane and boring for The Muppets until a spunky and optimistic teenage girl named Molly McGee moves into the town with her family, jet set on making the sleepy little town of Brighton into a happy town people will be proud to call home. As she moves into her quote un quote "bedroom", which just so happened to be the center of activity for The Muppet gang, Molly discovers The Muppets going on with their lives and immediately takes a liking to the lovable cast of characters. Not having any of it, Gonzo places a curse on Molly which turns back to The Muppets being bound to Molly McGee. Many misadventures ensue with The Muppets, especially Gonzo, trying to get the McGee family to leave, only to be unsuccessful, though they couldn't care less. After getting familiarized with the McGee family, The Muppets then get the worst news of their lives: The Muppets were to be bought out by a businessman by the name of Maxwell Davenport. The rest of the movie chronicles the many misadventures that the Muppets, with the help of Molly McGee and her friend Libby Stein-Torres, do to try to get Mr. Davenport to not buy out The Muppets name.

Cast
Steve Whitmire as Kermit The Frog, Rizzo the Rat, Statler, Beaker, The Muppet Newsman, Link Hogthrob, Ernie, Wilkins, Wembley Fraggle

Dave Goelz as Gonzo the Great, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot, Waldorf, Beauregard, Boober Fraggle

John Tartaglia as Gobo Fraggle

Donna Kimball as Mokey Fraggle

Karen Prell as Red Fraggle

Eric Jacobson as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Bert, Oscar the Grouch, Grover, Animal, Sam the Eagle

Matt Vogel as Big Bird, Floyd Pepper, Camilla the Chicken, Lew Zealand, Sweetums, Crazy Harry, Uncle Deadly

Peter Linz as Robin the Frog, Mayor Walter,

Bill Baretta as Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Teeth, Swedish Chef, Bobo the Bear

David Rudman as Scooter, Janice, Cookie Monster

Ryan Dillon as Elmo

Ashly Burch as Molly McGee

Lara Jill Miller as Libby Stein-Torres

Jules Medcraft as Andrea Davenport

Michaela Dietz as Darryl McGee

Jordan Klepper as Pete McGee

Sumalee Montano as Sharon McGee and Grandma Nin

Additional Voices: Jim Henson, Tom Kenny, Dana Snyder, Grey Griffin, Ashly Burch, Frank Oz, Richard Hunt, Eric Bauza, Frank Welker, E.G. Daily, Rob Paulsen, and Jess Harnell

Celebrity Cameos: Olivia Rodrigo, Travis Scott, Bruno Mars, Marc Anthony, Kane Brown, Scott Wozniak, James Rolfe, Gabriel Iglesias, and Harry Styles

Release and Distribution
The film was released worldwide on to Disney+ on May 31st, 2022 with the distribution done by The Muppet Studios, The Jim Henson Production, and The Walt Disney Company. The movie was originally slated for a January 24th, 2022 release date, but was halted from releasing due to, at the time, unfinished deals by Sesame Workshop to have the Sesame Street Characters appear in the movie. Though it was never screened at a movie theater, the film was given a PG rating by the Motion Pictures Association of America for "some mild rude humor, mild peril, action, some rude language"

Home media
The movie was released on to DVD and Blu-ray by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on July 24th, 2022. Special features include a behind the scenes documentary on the making of the film which detail the extensive use of blue screen/green screen done down to the very sets that the Muppets worked on to give the illusion that The Muppets were interacting with the animated world of The Ghost and Molly McGee, a making of featurette from Mercury Filmworks on the animation process, interviews with Frank Oz, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Ashly Burch, and Bill Motz, Commentary from Brian Henson, Frank Oz, and Bill Motz, Commentary from Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and Ashly Burch as Molly McGee, a blooper reel from The Muppets side of filming and an additional blooper reel animated from actual bloopers and/or improvisations by the voice actors. deleted scenes, and a Molly McGee led short film.